Kendall County hands out another $436,000 in small business grants

YORKVILLE – The Kendall County Board has now awarded half of the $2 million in federal COVID-19 relief money it had budgeted for local small businesses that have suffered revenue losses during the pandemic.

County board members approved 20 grants totaling more than $436,000 in American Rescue Act funds at their Feb. 15 meeting.

Along with two previous rounds of grants, the county has awarded $1 million to 44 eligible small businesses, according to county Budget and Finance Analyst Jennifer Karales. Another 270 small businesses have applications pending, Karales said.

Most of the most recent awards were for the $25,000 maximum. They included Trinity Electrical Service, 165 Kirkland Circle, Oswego; Brew Avenue Events, 184 Chapin Way, Oswego and Best One T.K.D. Corporation, 1012 Douglas Road, Oswego.

Others included Scott Eyecare, 2075 Wiesbrook, Oswego; Drive Home Safe, 1168 Douglas Road, Oswego, and Cornish Chiropractic, 624 W. Veterans Parkway, Suite A, Yorkville.

Also receiving a $25,000 grant was Monkey Megastore, 118 Kirkland, Suite F; Prism Mechanical, 66 Stone Hill Road, Oswego and Aquaduct Plumbing Services, 74 Stone Hill Road, Oswego.

Included as well were MWK Construction, 181 Wolf St., Yorkville; Willman & Groesch General Contractors, 28 Laurel Court, Yorkville and Treasure Breads, 305 W. Main St., Yorkville.

In addition, $25,000 grants were awarded to Master Uniform Manufacturing, 2101 Albright Road, Oswego; Altitude Oswego, 1600 Douglas Road, Oswego and Emporium Merchandise, 11 Fieldcrest Drive, Oswego.

The board also awarded five of the business grants in smaller amounts.

They included Reinert Structures, 1208 Badger St., Yorkville, for $16,000; Cleaning by Dawn, 507 W. Dearborn St., Plano for $4,425 and Dr. Liza Marie Saviano, 60 Main St., Oswego, for $17,502.

Finally, the board approved grants to Blue Heron Estates, 301 Illini Drive, Yorkville for $12,771 and to Oswego Family Restaurant, 69 S. Main St., Oswego for $10,700.

County board member Dan Koukol, chairman of the board’s economic development committee, said he believes the board should allocate additional monies to the small business program, as the remaining $1 million will be insufficient to cover the applications.

Businesses with fewer than 50 employees and that meet statutory requirements under Section 3 of the Small Business Act may apply for the grant money.

The key qualifications for receiving a grant are that the business must be physically located within Kendall County, have operated during 2019 and 2020, have filed tax returns for those years and are currently open.

The businesses must demonstrate that they lost revenue, as shown through tax filings, because of the pandemic.

Grants covering 25% of lost revenues between 2019 and 2020, or a maximum of $25,000, may be awarded. The application page may be reached at https://kendallcounty.smapply.io/