Due to the COVID-19 crisis, small businesses in Escambia County (Fla.) being impacted by loss may get some financial help and Century Mayor Henry Hawkins encourages small businesses in Century and the surrounding areas to apply.
“They should apply,” said Hawkins. “We've been affected like everybody else in the county. Small businesses are closed up.”
The $150,000 grant, awarded at $2,500 per applicant or business, is intended to assist for-profit businesses located in Escambia County with their immediate cash flow needs as a result of a demonstrated economic injury due.
The opening date to apply is Monday, April 20 at 8 a.m. and the deadline is Monday, April 27 at 5 p.m.
The application will be available online starting Monday, April 13, but applications will not be accepted until Monday, April 20 at 8 a.m. Applications will be reviewed in the order they are received.
The Florida Small Business Development Center (SBDC) at the University of West Florida (UWF) will assist eligible for-profit businesses with applying for the grant, and UWF will distribute the appropriate funds to businesses who have been awarded grant funds. A third-party review board will be created to review applications, determine eligibility and approve the award of grant funding to each applicant on a case-by-case basis.
Small businesses interested may visit the website http://www.sbdc.uwf.edu and select request SBDC consulting and complete the online request form. Identify 'Escambia COVID-19 Grant' by name in the request form.
Hawkins was optimistic that the program can help businesses in Century pull through the crisis.
“We've cut back in the office,” he said. “We don't have the front lobby open, we're just using the window. I cut some of my staff back. If I need them, they are on-call, I expect them to respond. We are not doing business as usual in the town we are using this opportunity to do critical work.”
Hawkins said town workers are fixing water leaks and picking up big trash around Century.
With little traffic on the streets, Hawkins said town workers do some work at night.
“If we have to cut off a couple of water lines and fix a couple of things, that will be done at night and we are coordinating that now,” he said. “When we have to turn water off, to be off about an hour or so, we want to make sure we have minimum usage. Town employees get out to the site by 8 p.m., shut it off about 9 p.m., and hopefully it will be back on by 10 p.m.”
Hawkins said just about all the water leaks in the town are fixed.
“Thats a good thing,” he said.
Recently, in a public letter regarding the coronavirus and social distancing to council members and citizens of Century, the mayor wrote 'Escambia County has the largest reported cases in Florida' as part of the letter. Hawkins quickly resent the corrected letter, stating, ' Escambia County has the largest reported cases in the westernmost area of Florida.'
Councilman Ben Boutwell emailed the town hall pointing out the misinformation and requested no response due to the Sunshine Law.
“I resent the letter and said the northwestern area of Florida,” said Hawkins. “That was an 'uh-oh' on my end. I sent a retraction right after that. There's five cases in our zip code, 32535, which is Century and the surrounding area.”
