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Restaurant Revitalization Fund is now open!

Resume McHenry County Update!

Through our collaboration with McHenry County, we will continue to share important information on stimulus programs, PPP loans, COVID-19 updates and more through its Resume McHenry County Updates.
Please take a moment to scroll down to see new advancements this week as we move to open McHenry County. If MCEDC can be of any help, please call. Forward this email to your friends and family to help get the word out!

 

The Fund is now open!

Major assistance for a restaurant industry hammered by COVID-19 opened up yesterday with the Small Business Administration Restaurant Revitalization Fund.
Click here or on the logo above to learn more and to apply; while Paycheck Protection Program rules required restaurants to spend the majority of assistance on payroll, loans under this new program are more versatile and include fewer restrictions. Eligible venues include restaurants, bakeries, food trucks and stands, caterers, bars, and brewpubs and distilleries.
The $28.6 billion program, created under the American Rescue Plan Act signed into law in March, provides funding to help eligible restaurants keep their doors open by providing them with funding equal to their pandemic-related revenue loss; individual restaurants qualify for up to $5 million, while restaurant groups can qualify for up to $10 million, provided they are not publicly traded and have fewer than 20 locations.
The SBA has set aside $500 million to aid establishments making less than $50,000, $5 billion for food businesses earning no more than $500,000 a year, and $4 billion for mid-sized venues that take in between $501,000 and $1.5 million a year. The $26.8 billion is expected to go fast, so please apply as soon as possible if your business qualifies!

 

Watch MCEDC’s McHenry County Promotional videos

The McHenry County Economic Development Corp., one of the partners in Resume McHenry County, has released a series of short videos highlighting everything McHenry County has to offer job creators.
You can click on the picture or visit the MCEDC website to watch them.
The videos, done by Shaw Media (parent company of the Northwest Herald), showcase McHenry County, its highly skilled workforce, manufacturing and economic development opportunities, healthcare, and the county’s burgeoning visitor-based economy.
It’s important as we emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic to focus not only on recouping what business we’ve lost, but moving forward to grow and develop with expanded opportunities.

 

Health Department
expands vaccine opportunities
If you haven’t gotten your COVID-19 vaccine yet, the McHenry County Department of Health has now made it easier to do so.
As of this morning, the MCDH began accepting walk-in appointments at its sites in McHenry, Crystal Lake and Harvard. That’s right – if you’re in town, and they’re not at full capacity, you can walk in and get a shot.
Did you get your first shot at another clinic, but failed to follow through and get the second? More good news – the MCDH will give it to you, regardless of where you received the first.
So what are you waiting for? Get vaccinated and let’s reopen McHenry County and the rest of Illinois!
Even though the MCDH is taking walk-ins, it’s a good idea to make an appointment – you can make one for an MCDH clinic or other government-run vaccination site by visiting the state’s vaccine registration page at https://covidvaccination.dph.illinois.gov.
There are many other avenues to receive the vaccine besides MCDH clinics. You also can receive the vaccine through retail pharmacies – a list of participants, and their locations, is available by visiting  http://coronavirus.illinois.gov, or the MCDH vaccine locator page at http://bit.ly/MCDHFindVaccine.
People without Internet or who need translation services can schedule an appointment through the MCDH Call Center at 815-334-4045, or by calling the Illinois Department of Public Health hotline at 833-621-1284. If you have a neighbor or relative who needs assistance, please help them make an appointment or help them contact the Call Center.
Again, we need whatever help you can give us in spreading the word that mass vaccination is the key to a return to normalcy, and an end to the restrictions our schools and businesses are still under. Post a picture of yourself getting vaccinated to your social media accounts with the hashtag #covid19endswithme – you can get fancy and click here to personalize your photo with our nifty Canva template.

 

Help us encourage people to get vaccinated!

As COVID-19 restrictions continue to abate as more people get vaccinated, we’ve been highlighting the return of McHenry County’s iconic attractions.
All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players … and we can’t wait for the day that the curtain finally falls on the COVID-19 pandemic.
In honor of the 24th annual Bob Blazier Run for the Arts in Crystal Lake last Sunday, we’d like to trumpet the fall schedule of the Raue Center for the Arts, which has recently been augmented with new shows on top of canceled 2020 shows that have been added to the fall lineup.
Visit www.rauecenter.org to learn more and to purchase tickets!

 

The Visit McHenry County Insider is out!

Resume McHenry County’s job of helping our businesses survive and thrive as we move through and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic would be a lot more difficult if it wasn’t for our friends at Visit McHenry County.
With the reopening of McHenry County’s summer farmers’ markets, Visit McHenry County dedicated the most recent edition of its monthly newsletter, The Insider, to how to find the best early spring crops, such as asparagus and strawberries. This month’s edition also includes a rundown of upcoming events and profiles of two local restaurants open and ready to serve.
Click here to read the May edition.

We hope we got your attention. We need your help reaching more McHenry County residents and businesses to share this important information about the COVID-19 response and connect them with vital resources.
Please take these four steps:
1. Share/forward to your email/newsletter contacts.
2. Post information to your website.
3. Follow us on social media (see below); share our posts with your followers.
4. If you are not on the McHenry County Constant Contact list, please subscribe here

 

Follow McHenry County Government On Social Media

Staying connected and informed is more important now than ever! Follow McHenry County on social media for regular updates on COVID-19 in our region, resources to help you navigate the pandemic, safety tips and more!

 

What is Resume McHenry County?

Resume McHenry County is a collaborative initiative being implemented by McHenry County and the McHenry County Economic Development Corporation (MCEDC) in partnership with the McHenry County community, including cities and villages, businesses and residents. The goal is to ensure a successful reopening of our economy so that we can return to our lifestyles safely and responsibly.