Iron Range Resources & Rehabilitation last week awarded $2 million in grants to communities across the region that have been negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

·    City of Hibbing: $400,000.

·    Cook County/Grand Marais EDA: $250,000.

·    City of Grand Rapids: $200,000.

·    Itasca Economic Development Corporation/Greater Itasca County: $200,000.

·    City of Virginia: $200,000.

·    City of Eveleth: $200,000.

·    East Range Joint Powers Board/Cities of Aurora, Biwabik, Hoyt Lakes and Town of White: $150,000.

·    City of Chisholm: $125,000.

·    City of Ely: $125,000.

·    City of Silver Bay: $50,000.

·    City of Babbitt: $50,000.

·   Tower Economic Development Authority/City of Tower: $50,000.

Cities, townships and tribal units of government located within the Iron Range Resources & Rehabilitation service area were eligible to apply for the Taconite Area Community Relief Grant Program that was established last month by a unanimous vote of the agency’s Board. Twelve applications were received, and all were funded at various levels with financial participation from each community.

“The COVID-19 relief program enables the communities to utilize the resources locally as they best see fit,” said Matt Sjoberg, Iron Range Resources & Rehabilitation executive director of development. “The grant will serve as a lending program from the community to the businesses for small or large loans. The communities then retain the loan repayments for future economic development purposes.”

According to John Tourville of the Hibbing Economic Development Authority, Hibbing is providing loans to help sustain the community’s businesses during the current stressful and uncertain economic times. The city recently added $500,000 to help re-capitalize its existing loan program. With $400,000 from the Taconite Area Community Relief Grant, Hibbing will offer a total of $850,000 in financial assistance through low to no interest loans to Hibbing businesses negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The city of Eveleth is using a similar approach to help its businesses. City Administrator Jackie Monahan-Junek explained that the city had its own COVID-19 relief funding in place and used it as matching funds to secure the additional relief funding from Iron Range Resources & Rehabilitation.

“The businesses located within our city are central to our community and our residents. We all rely on them for the many goods and services they provide,” said Monahan-Junek. “When the Taconite Area Community Relief Program became available, our city acted quickly to apply for and leverage its own funding in order to provide the biggest financial impact to our businesses. It is so critical that we support them now and give them access to as many resources as possible as we press through this difficult time.”

The agency also funded the Taconite Area Business Relief Loan Program at $5 million. Local businesses that have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic are eligible to apply for 2% interest loans of up to $40,000 to be used as working capital or any legal purposes. No repayment on the loans will be due for the first six months, followed by 60 payments of principal and interest. Applicants must intend to re-open if currently closed due to the pandemic.

The Entrepreneur Fund is administering the Business Relief Program. Over 100 businesses have inquired, $2 of the $5 million has been approved for lending, and funds are still available. It is anticipated that when completed, approximately 200 local businesses could receive a low-interest loan. Click here for details.

“The response to both the community and business relief programs has been tremendously strong,” said Mark Phillips, Iron Range Resources & Rehabilitation commissioner. “COVID-19 has created extraordinary challenges to businesses and communities in northeastern Minnesota. Businesses have been disrupted on a financial level, on a supply and demand level and on a workforce level due to the need for social distancing. Our agency is committed to assisting the region through its long-term recovery.

”For more information on the Taconite Area Community Relief Grant Program or Business Relief Loan Program email Matt Sjoberg or call him at 218-735-3037.