Miss. Power, Jones Co. Chamber of Commerce partner for minority-owned small business grant

JONES COUNTY, Miss. (WDAM) - Some small business owners in Jones County have the opportunity to obtain extra funds for their businesses.

The Jones County Chamber of Commerce is partnering with Mississippi Power to give out grant funds to local businesses.

“We’re hoping this can help anyone maybe who has a beautification project they want to work on,” said Shelley Jones, Director of the Community Development Foundation & Communications for the Jones Co. Economic Development Authority & Chamber of Commerce. “We even thought, you know, with everything that’s going on right now... it might just be a nice chance maybe to give employee bonuses.”

The grant is for minority-owned small businesses in Jones County.

“To be eligible, you just have to be a member of the Jones County Chamber of Commerce, a current Mississippi Power member, and then your business needs to be 51% or more minority-owned,” Jones said. “So, that can be Asian-Indian, Asian-Pacific, Black, Female, Hispanic or Native American. And then you just have to have 50 or fewer employees because it is a small business grant.”

The grant is worth $30,000 and will be distributed to qualifying applicants in amounts up to $3,000 per business.

“We just want the business to tell us what they would use the money for, how it could be impactful to them, and then request an amount,” Jones said.

We’re told the purpose of the grant is to give minority small-business owners an opportunity to grow and develop their businesses.

“We are excited to assist the business owners that have decided to, you know, take that leap to open their own business...,” said Joseph Cole, Area Manager for Mississippi Power. “There’s so many minority small businesses out there that are looking for assistance. And we understand that, you know, a diverse business community, diverse business workforce is good for business overall, right? And it’s good for the area, it’s good for the state and it positively impacts development and progress.”

Grant applications can be picked up at the Jones County Chamber of Commerce office located at 153 Base Drive in Laurel or can be found on the Chamber’s website.

Applications for the minority-owned small business grant are due March 25.

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