SIDNEY -- Melissa Norgard addressed the Sidney City Council recently as the Technical and Grant Writer contracted to Cheyenne County E3.

The position is funded by a USDA Rural Development grant through the City of Sidney. As part of the agreement, she is to update the city council on activities done as Technical and Grant Writer. Norgard also explained some of the programming she uses to assist business owners in increasing the efficiency. 

"Part of the grant agreement was to provide city council with quarterly update on what I've been up to since I started the role on July 29. I assisted 10 businesses with starting and completing business plans with financials. We have a platform called 'Live Form.' It makes it pretty simple to go in and put some bullet points into an online platform and then I can go in and download that into a PDF document or Word document, and then assist a small business owner with perfecting their business plan, and then gong through some pretty simple financial templates that I did in Excel, " Norgard said. 

She said she also visited with six business owners who have not started or completed their business plan.

Norgard added the USDA had a Heartland Business Builder Grant.

"It was for $5,000 to $50,000, stretched across Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska and northwest Arkansas. There's three rounds of this grant. The first one was due October 15. We engaged with and successfully submitted nine applications. We are still working with 10 that we hope will be submitted for the next round. The next round will open in January and be due in March. Then the next round will open in March and be due in June," she said.

She said there is $3.7 million in each round of grants. She said the grants are aimed at local and regional food, farmers and distributors to create new and value-chain connections.

She also talked about tourism grant opportunities, Grow Nebraska grants, and brick and mortar grants through the state Historic Preservation Office. The 90-10 grant is available to commercial building owners in the city's Historic District. She said she is meeting with at least three building owners regarding the brick and mortar grant. She also announced T-Mobile has a hometown grant up to $50,000 for placemaking activities. 

"I just want to reiterate, so Alisha Juelfs who is the E3 Navigator and I obviously we both sit at the college in the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center. We have open door policy. You don't always have to make a meeting with us. If you're a small business looking for resources we're really just a free resource willing to help," she said.