Grants aim to help small businesses revitalize Main Streets in Wisconsin. | Pixabay
Grants aim to help small businesses revitalize Main Streets in Wisconsin. | Pixabay
The Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) wants to breathe new life into Main Streets across the state by ensuring businesses have the financial ability to stay vibrant and thrive.
According to TMJ4, the agency is offering $10,000 grants called "Main Street Makeover Grants" and "Main Street Bounceback Grants" to help revive businesses on a city or town's main strip.
"We've all seen those empty blighted buildings and it really stands out as an eyesore in a community, on a Main Street," Missy Hughes, secretary and CEO for the WEDC, told TMJ4. "So, to have them occupied, to have somebody move in there, put in some new furniture and a fresh coat of paint really revitalizes what otherwise could look like a missing tooth on Main Street."
Gov. Tony Evers (D-WI) set aside $50 million in federal funding for the grants to reinvigorate Main Streets by helping small businesses recover from the hardships endured during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to TMJ4.
Recent grant winners have said they put the money awarded toward making improvements to the facade and upkeep of the building so it doesn't lose its value, TMJ4 reported.
TMJ4 reported so far, more than 2,400 businesses in 70 of Wisconsin's 72 counties have benefitted from the grants.
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