SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WAND) - For business owners like Giovonni Thomas, who owns and operates Community Dollar, the chance to be awarded a $100,000 grant makes a huge difference.Â
"It's going to help with the building," Thomas said. "We have roof leaks, add a parking lot so people can have parking spaces where you can pull up things of that nature. Just right now, getting the building safe and another thing to get inventory."Â
Thomas said many of the businesses in his East Side neighborhood have been abandoned and are not kept up. By feeding money back into the community through the city's cannabis tax, he says the neighborhood will approve.Â
"That's the right thing to do with the money, to help provide jobs and to put the money back in the community where it's going to keep circulating," Thomas said. "It's more than just us selling things to the community; it's more like serving the community."Â
In this round of grants, the city awarded five businesses a total of more than $400,000. They awarded over $150,000 to eight homeowners.Â
This program is only available to people living in a specific area of Springfield's East Side, which was selected as the neighborhood most impacted by cannabis convictions before marijuana was legalized.Â
The program works on reimbursements of 90%. For example, if a business is awarded a $100,000 grant, the city will pay 90% of any invoice related to the project up to $100,000.Â
"AÂ lot of times for businesses, if their roof is leaking, they might not have the funds to cover it up front," said Julia Griffin, Operations Coordinator of the Springfield Office of Economic Development. "So if we take care of this problem, then they can focus on what their stores is trying to accomplish, whether it's selling something or providing a service."Â
Griffin said this year the City was able to provide $186,000 more in this round of grants than last year. All of these awards are pending agreements between the recipients and the city.Â
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