County officials and partner organizations presented results of the second round of the underestimated small business grant program at the July 30 Johnson County Board of Supervisors work session, reporting that 58 businesses received awards across two rounds and outlining outreach, eligibility verification and follow-up plans.
Shelly Meheri, president and CEO of the Community Foundation of Johnson County, and partners said the board provided $500,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funds in June 2024 to the Community Foundation and Greater Iowa City Incorporated to administer the program and keep the funds local. The partners described a collaborative model that combined grantmaking, outreach, technical assistance and data tracking.
The program made awards in two rounds: presenters said Round 1 grants totaled $205,000 and Round 2 grants totaled $211,135, and that a small additional amount was drawn from an unused marketing budget to allow modest increases in Round 2 awards. Presenters reported 23 awards in Round 1 and 35 in Round 2, for a total of 58 awardees; the average award reported was about $7,100. Applications accepted ranged from $3,500 to $20,000, but presenters said most awards were in the $7,000'7,000'12 range.
Greater Iowa City Incorporated and South Of Six described a low-barrier application process that included outreach to rural areas, multilingual flyers, in-person clinics with transportation and childcare stipends, and one-on-one coaching for applicants who needed help completing forms. Maurice Davis, executive director of South Of Six, said the second round included more one-on-one outreach to correct eligibility documentation and that the review process included conflict-of-interest management and two phases of scoring (individual scoring, then team validation).
Presenters said the program received substantially more applications than could be funded. Evan Doyle of Greater Iowa City reported that Round 1 received about 171 applicants and Round 2 received about 251 applicants. Presenters said about 23% of applicants were funded (58 of the total applicants). Doyle said the largest share of applicants came from Iowa City, with smaller numbers from Coralville, North Liberty and some rural areas; one rural awardee was in Solon. Presenters noted that only 12 applicant businesses reported more than ten full-time employees.
Presenters described program follow-ups: local business resources were distributed to all 271 applicants, Greater Iowa City, South Of Six and the Community Foundation will run an optional success-stories marketing campaign with grantees, and a final evaluation survey will be sent to awardees about six months after awards to gather qualitative outcomes.
Presenters also warned that higher outreach increases exposure to fraudulent applicants; they said organizations performed additional vetting, including EIN/verification checks, during award decisions. County supervisors praised the partners' outreach and low-barrier supports such as transportation, childcare and one-on-one assistance.
No formal board action was taken during the presentation; staff invited the board to use the program data to inform future inclusive economic-development efforts.