Update on Greenville County CARES Act Funding from GPP – Greenville Philanthropy on Vimeo.
As we’ve previously reported, Greenville County received $91 million in Coronavirus Relief Funds from the CARES Act to be used to “navigate the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak,” according to the US Treasury Department.
Greenville County must spend this in full by 12/30/20, or whatever remains must be returned to the federal government. It must also do this within the guidelines established by the US Treasury Department.
South Carolina also received Coronavirus Relief Funds, and this week, it opened up applications for small businesses and nonprofits to receive grants, which include funding for revenue replacement where there is a drop in revenues from March – December of 2019 compared to this year.
To date, a little over $30 million of the Greenville County’s $91 million has been spent – $60 million remains with just two months until the deadline. You can see a running tally of dollars spent here (compiled regularly by Councilman Lynn Ballard) and a listing of grant recipients posted on the Greenville County website.
A formal report on CARES Act funds was not provided in this week’s County Council meeting, but council members Liz Seman and Lynn Ballard did ask for an update from County Administrator Joe Kernell. You can see video of the discussion in the embedded video above.
Feedback we’ve heard from our nonprofit colleagues thus far includes positives of extremely quick replies from staff – both in terms of giving approval or denial, answering questions, and sending checks – and appreciation for the funding programs, as well as frustration that the federal guidelines are so narrowly interpreted and that things allowed by Treasury or included in other jurisdictions’ programs (such as payroll related to personnel working on COVID health or economic mitigation) are not being approved for funding.
Kernell also said during the meeting that he welcomes good ideas for funding. I spoke with Nicole Wood at Greenville County today, and she concurred, and urged nonprofits that have not yet applied for the $5,000 or $10,000 grants to do so. If you applied previously and did not include rent or utilities, they would be willing to reconsider that as well. In addition, if you’re unsure if your request may be funded, please contact Nicole and Meredith Papapieris at cares@greenvillecounty.org to discuss.
