GREAT FALLS — Blackfeet Tribe business owners can now apply for grants to help them make up for some of the money they’ve lost this year due to the pandemic.
Application are being accepted through December 11. As of Tuesday, about two dozen businesses had submitted applications.
The committee overseeing the grant was still in the process Tuesday of developing a tiered system for determining how much money applicants will get if their application is accepted.
“If you can demonstrate $15,000 in need, then you’ll qualify for the top tier of need and that will be a standard payment, then so on down to the lowest tier of need,” Blackfeet Tribe grants administrator Ty Show explained. “It was really just leaving it broad on purpose so that we could include the most people and help the people who actually need the help."
The grant money will come from the $1.2 million the Tribe received from the federal coronavirus relief stimulus package.
“The Blackfeet people have faced a lot of things throughout history. We’ve faced smallpox, we’ve faced colonization, we’ve faced so many things. But we are a resilient people. This is just another example of us coming together to help each other,” said Show.
Grants will be reviewed as they come in, with money possibly going out to the businesses as early as December 12.
