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The Iowa Economic Development Authority (IEDA) recently announced that 500 small businesses have been awarded a total of more than $10 million in grants through the Iowa Small Business Relief Grant program. The program has a total of $24 million available to allocate, with additional grant recipients to be notified through additional rounds this week. “The grant awards announced this week will provide critical short-term assistance to support Iowa small businesses in maintaining or reopening business operations impacted by the public health emergency,” said IEDA Director Debi Durham. Nearly 14,000 businesses applied through the program requesting a total of more than $148 million in eligible assistance. Due to high demand, the funding capacity of the program has been expanded to a current total of $24 million, provided through the state Economic Emergency Fund and the IEDA. The application period is closed, and any additional awards will be made from the current pool of applicants. The assistance provided through the Iowa Small Business Relief program is intended to provide businesses with immediate, short-term cash flow assistance for the next 30 days. Businesses with 2-25 employees who had been economically impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic were eligible to apply. The grants awarded through the program range from $5,000-$25,000. Applications were triaged for eligibility, and the businesses identifying the greatest revenue disruption were awarded in the first round of funding. The Iowa Department of Revenue continues to take applications for sales and withholding tax deferral as part of the Iowa Small Business Relief Program. The relief is available to employers and businesses of all sizes impacted by COVID-19 at https://tax.iowa.gov/COVID-19. The application period for tax deferral will remain open through April 30. To learn more, visit Iowa Department of Revenue. Governor Reynolds talked about this announcement at her press conference earlier this week. View that here. More information about the grant awards is available at iowabusinessrecovery.com.