Centre County received $14.7 million in COVID-19 relief in 2020. Here’s how it was spent
With roughly six months to spend $14.7 million in COVID-19 relief funds, Centre County has allocated its CARES Act money to support the local community — providing aid to municipalities, businesses, front-line workers and schools.
“This is the largest grant ever administered by the county, and it probably will be for the foreseeable future — maybe ever,” Commissioner Michael Pipe said Tuesday.
The county was awarded funds in June after the Pennsylvania legislature announced plans to distribute about $2.6 billion in relief money to help individuals, small businesses and county governments affected by the coronavirus. Wanting to allocate the money fairly and effectively, Centre County hired Mary Kay Williams to serve as grant coordinator and assembled a team to establish a distribution program.
“It’s been a great ride, a wild one, but it’s been a great one,” Williams said Tuesday after presenting a program overview to the commissioners.
Counties had until the the end of the year to spend the relief funds.
Here’s a look at how Centre County funds were spent:
Health and safety
Centre County used $862,014 in CARES Act funds to fund the pop-up coronavirus testing site at the Nittany Mall, which served more than 5,000 people. The funding allowed for 11 weeks of testing at no cost to patients.
“That saved a lot of spread of COVID-19, and we again, at Centre County, put the CARES Act funding right to work where it should have been at the heart of making sure that the spread stopped,” Williams said.
In addition to testing, the grant funds were used to purchase and distribute personal protective equipment to first responders, elected officials, health care workers, schools, nonprofits and small businesses. A total of $800,000 was used to buy face masks and shields, thermometers, hand sanitizer and gloves.
Municipal assistance
All 35 Centre County municipalities had the opportunity to ask for reimbursement from the county to cover expenses related to pandemic response; 30 received payments.
CARES Act dollars were also used to help pay for “vital” municipal services — police, safety and security. In total, $1.42 million grant funds were used to help local governing bodies.
“This helps everybody in Centre County ... this will help the municipalities make sure that they have more money in their bank account because we were able to help them,” Williams said.
Education
Ten educational institutions received a portion of $499,375 in county CARES funds. All five area school districts were reimbursed for coronavirus-related expenses.
Cen-Clear, Keystone Central and Tyrone Area School District also received some relief funds, but Williams said the county only reimbursed the institutions for Centre County students.
Nonprofit grants
To assist nonprofits struggling to fundraise during the pandemic, Centre County awarded 107 area nonprofits a portion of $864,500 in grant funds.
The grants awarded by Centre County range from $1,000-$20,000. Applications were open to any registered area nonprofit that provides serves in the county and has suffered financial impacts due to the coronavirus. To assist with the design and grant allocation, the county partnered with the Centre Foundation and the CPA firm of Zelenkofske Axelrod.
Recipients included health and human services, first responders, arts and community organizations, K-12 private and charter schools and organizations that support veterans.
Small business grants
Centre County awarded $5.53 million in funds to 437 businesses to help offset the cost of lost revenue, pay bills and employees.
“So many small businesses are hurting, still are hurting, but I’ve heard from so many businesses that said, ‘You were the lifeline. If I hadn’t had this funding, I wouldn’t have been able to pay my rent, or my taxes or my payroll,’” Williams said.
The grants ranged from $900-$30,000. Applications were open to any local business operating in and headquartered in the county that experienced a decline in revenue as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. Small businesses also had to employ fewer than 100 people and could not be delinquent in federal or state taxes to be eligible.
More than 500 businesses applied, and recipients include salons, retail shops, law offices, fitness studios and more across the county.
Economic development
As a “lift up” to aid in small business support, the Chamber of Business and Industry of Centre County and the Happy Valley Adventure Bureau received CARES funds.
The CBICC was awarded $45,780, and HVAB received $43,400.
