Huron County's Community Futures program now has funding for individuals or small businesses that weren't able to access any of the existing Federal relief programs.
Community Futures General Manager Paul Nichol says the COVID-19 pandemic has created uncertainty for many small business owners and the goal of the Regional Relief & Recovery Fund is to help individuals or businesses that are falling through the cracks.
"It's really meant for those individuals and those businesses that are falling through the cracks, basically the sole-proprietorship or the small five or ten employees that didn't fit the criteria for other programs. So the attempt here is just to make sure that everybody has some form of safety net," says Nichol.
Nichol says the goal is to provide loans to make sure that everybody has some form of safety net as we work our way through the pandemic.
"That may not seem like a very long-term strategy, but the emphasis is that's going to be a way for us to help as many businesses as we can in a short period of time and if we can get them through to the fall, we'll then see what does the landscape and climate look like," added Nichol.
Nichol points out they're short-term loans to help people cover immediate expenses and he asks that people only ask for what they need so they can get limited funds to as many people as possible.
More information and loan applications can be found on the Huron Community Futures web site at cfhuron.ca.