Chamber offering funding opportunities

The Wahkiakum Chamber of Commerce has been busy with activities and presenting programs to support and expand county businesses, Monica Budd, executive director of the Wahkiakum Chamber of Commerce, reported Tuesday.

Budd spoke during meetings of the boards of commissioners of Wahkiakum County and Port District No. 2.

Chamber sponsored activities have been quite successful this year she said; these include the fund raising crab feed, spring salmon derby, and Bald Eagle Days Festival. Later this month, they're sponsoring another derby (for details, see page 7).

The Chamber will have a booth at the county fair this week to introduce a variety of funding grant opportunities for businesses and non-profit organizations.

"There are many grant opportunities out there," she said in a Tuesday email. "The working Washington Grant is $70 million, and the Small Business Innovation Fund is $34.5 million; so I encourage all our businesses to apply. The Working Washington Grant will require a federal unique entity identifier (UEI) number, and that takes about one week to process.

"There is a video on how to get the UEI and how to apply for this grant at oneeastside.org/working-washington-grants-round-5-resource-hub/."

Budd said she will also invite people at the fair to participate in a survey to help match businesses with suitable locations.

"I must have as many people do this survey as possible," she said.

The survey can be found online at https://bit.ly/ASAPWahkiakum.

"Right now, I have eight people on this steering committee--David Olson, Gene Strong, Rex Czuba, Carrie Backman, Allen Bennett, William Fashing, Angie Doumit, and myself," she said. "Our goal is to find suitable businesses for our area."