The Sweet Home Active Revitalization Effort’s Commercial Exterior Improvement Program has received a funding boost this year in hopes that it will attract more participation by Sweet Home businesses.
The Sweet Home Economic Development Group Board of Directors approved its annual budget last month. The budget included a funding increase from $8,000 to $19,000 for the program.
The program provided grants of up to $500 to help pay for exterior improvements for local businesses, but it was hardly used last year, Tom Hammonds, SHARE Steering Committee chairman, told the SHEDG board.
SHARE received just four applications, totaling about $1,500 in 2009, said Mike Adams, chairman of the SHARE Planning Committee, which handles the program.
“We were taking applications out to people and saying, you might want to consider this,” Adams said.
Business owners can use the grants to improve facades, paint, signs and other modifications to improve the appearance of their business, Adams said. The program is similar to one operated by SHEDG for the several years.
In response to the low participation, SHARE members started asking themselves how to get the money into the community and why people were not taking advantage of the program, Adams said. Given the economy, some theorized, $500 worth of help may not be enough to convince a business owner to take on an improvement project.
The $500 would help, but projects may remain unfeasible, Adams said. If those assumptions were true, SHARE members figured more cash might help.
How the Planning Committee will run the program and create incentives is not set yet, Adams said. The committee may create another, similar program that can combine grant funds for more costly projects, or it may award amounts larger than $500.
Right now, the grant application still lists grant awards at $500, Adams said. “I encourage people not to hesitate to ask for more.”
If it requires $600 or $1,000, “ask us,” Adams said. “We’ll see what, if anything, we could do.”
More cash may entice business owners to take advantage of the program, Adams said. They may look at the opportunity and think, “If I could get a third covered in a grant, maybe I’ll move forward with the project.”
The new program could also work some kind of incentives into the program for spending money locally on projects, Adams said, but that’s just brainstorming at this point.
Most importantly, SHARE just wants to see applications and ideas, Adams said. Given that, higher levels of funding may be available.
“We have funded full projects,” Adams said. “We have funded partial projects. We want to see the requests.”
SHARE doesn’t want to dictate how business owners improve their buildings’ appearances, he said. Rather it would rather business owners decided what to do, tell SHARE and then look at the ideas and decide whether to fund and how much to fund.
The grants are reimbursements paid on receipts after completion of a project, Adams said. The program requires a detailed proposal, including a total cost projection.
The grants are available anywhere in Sweet Home, he said.
For information or an application call Carlene Erickson at 367-3061 or stop at 1331 Main St., Suite B.