Intuit QuickBooks and Mailchimp Small Business Hero Program

The Phoenix Office of Arts and Culture believes that investing in arts and culture builds community and enhances the quality of life for residents. The agency offers various opportunities, including funding and professional development, designed to support the work of arts organizations, artists and educators who provide quality arts programming, activities and experiences to residents, neighborhoods and communities.

Through funding from Racine County, a Matching Grant Program (MGP) was established with the goal of providing a means for existing small and medium-sized companies to obtain the professional services necessary for a strong foundation for continued business growth and to provide jobs for Racine County residents. This grant reimburses up to 50% of eligible cost – up to $5,000 per applicant. Additional grants are available specifically to residents of both Burlington and Sturtevant.

The Signage Improvement Program is a grant available to developers, business, and commercial building owners in Oxford, AL that wish to improve their signage. The program is divided into two types of funding for either a “brick and mortar” business or a mobile unit. The “brick and mortar” fund has a total pool of $7,000 and the mobile unit has a total pool of $3,000. The program is a 70/30 grant that may not exceed the amount of $1,000 per address, per year for the “brick and mortar” category and mobile units may not exceed the amount of $500 per unit, per year for the “mobile unit” category. Applicants may not apply for both, but only one category.

The Technical Skills Training grant was first developed in 2020 in response to the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. The program supported new and expanding accelerated skilled workforce training programs for displaced workers. The Technical Skills Training grant program aims to offset the cost for program providers and employers in their effort to support the development of highly trained skilled workers to meet the demands of our labor market.

The Arizona Route 66 Historic Revitalization Grant provides commercial businesses in rural Arizona with reimbursement grants of $10,000 to $100,000 to support the rehabilitation and adaptive reuse of historic properties along Arizona’s stretch of Route 66. Administered by the Arizona State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) and funded through the Paul Bruhn Historic Revitalization Grant from the National Park Service (part of the federal Historic Preservation Fund), the program was created in honor of the Route 66 Centennial and is designed to pair historic preservation with the economic revitalization of rural communities along the historic route. Eligible applicants include 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations, cities, towns, counties, or other government agencies, Tribes, and commercial businesses, with projects limited to rural communities (defined as cities or towns with populations of 50,000 or fewer, consistent with USDA Rural Business Program eligibility). Eligible project types include rehabilitation and adaptive reuse of historic buildings that are listed or eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places, including motels, gas stations, restaurants, trading posts, heritage sites, and other historic properties that contributed to the Route 66 travel experience in Arizona. Properties that are eligible but not yet listed in the National Register must include a nomination as part of the project scope. Projects in cities or towns with populations over 50,000, projects not related to the Route 66 travel experience, privately-owned non-income-producing residential properties, and projects that do not bring economic revitalization to the community are not eligible. Projects must include both historic preservation (following the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Rehabilitation of Historic Buildings) and economic revitalization, with the latter defined broadly to include job creation, increased business activity, increased tourism, improved infrastructure, and other activities that create thriving, sustainable communities. Grants are issued on a reimbursement basis after approval of a signed agreement, and a 20 percent match of the total project cost is required (match can be either cash or in-kind, including volunteer time, services, materials, and equipment). Grant recipients must sign a Preservation and Conservation Easement Deed filed with the County Recorder’s Office, which ensures that the property is maintained and its historic character preserved. The duration of the easement depends on the grant amount: awards up to $50,000 require a 5-year minimum preservation agreement, while awards of $50,001 to $100,000 require a 10-year minimum easement. Applications are accepted through the State Parks WebGrants system, where interested applicants first register for an account at azparkgrants.com. A pre-application meeting with SHPO grant staff is required before the full application opens. The pre-application process serves as a checkpoint to confirm project eligibility and provide guidance that strengthens the eventual full application. Once the pre-application review is complete, applicants may submit the full application, which is scored to determine the final award of funding. Awarded projects cannot begin until a fully signed agreement is in place and the applicant has received an Approval to Proceed from both NPS and SHPO. Quarterly status reports are required throughout the grant period, and for-profit businesses are advised to consult a tax professional to discuss possible tax implications of receiving grant funds.