Huron County’s annual Supporting Local Economic Development or SLED program had a significant response to the program this year.
Economic Development Director Vicki Lass said every year the county, through the Economic Development Board, dedicates funding to support both its municipal partners and not-for-profits in the county that do work that aligns with the stated criteria from the Economic Development Department.
"Community Futures Huron contributes dollars towards this program as well," said Lass. "So the county contributes $90,000 in grant money and Community Futures Huron contributes another $10,000 that gets distributed across the county.”
Lass says this year, they had over 27 applications come in.
"That's the largest number we've ever had in the program, so we were thrilled," she said. "It's a panel of three judges, two from our Economic Development Board and one from Community Futures Huron who go through all of the applications and decide who should get money.”
She added a modification to the funding amount allowed 16 participants to be awarded various grant amounts, totaling $100,000.
She believes that the shifting tide of COVID is influencing what's happening out there in economic development. So, a lot of the awards were given in the sphere of supporting tourism, hospitality, attracting more tourists, and supporting young people.
Lass said she believes another factor is the fact that they opened the intakes earlier, pending the approval of the county budget and the funding dollars, so it gave people more time to consider what they wanted to apply for. She also believed people have reached the point where they want to gather again. A complete list of the winners can be found here.