COMMUNITIES
HOW NORTHEAST CITY AND COUNTY GOVERNMENTS ARE COPING WITH THE CHALLENGES BROUGHT ON BY THE PANDEMIC
When it became apparent the world was facing a pandemic more than a year ago — in March 2020 — government officials in the northeast metro immediately stepped up to the challenge .
Partnerships were formed and resources shared to help everyone get through it together .
Ramsey County
Ramsey County led the charge by repurposing “ Ramsey County Means Business ,” a website originally created in 2019 to attract new businesses to the county , into one that would provide resources for existing ones .
“ In March ( 2020 ) we began to assess how the website had to change to reflect the current needs . At the time , that was to help the business community , predominantly the small business community , sift through all the available relief resources that were out there across a variety of jurisdictions . We are a County built on small businesses , and we knew business retention had to be our focus ,” explained Kari Collins , Director Department Staff at Ramsey County .
Website provider Golden Shovel worked with the County ’ s communications team to develop a recovery dashboard that allowed the business community to quickly and easily determine what programs they could access that would help them through the pandemic . The site also turned into a place businesses could find up to date information about the pandemic .
“ We decided our role early on was to play resource navigator and to help our businesses access relief information as quickly as possible ” said Collins . “ Our Ramsey County Meets Business site became a Covid 19 Recovery Dashboard for cities , chambers , and agencies across the County to point to for real time relief assistance .”
Collins added that not only were resources repurposed , so were staffers . Many people were repurposed in areas they don ’ t typically have oversight in to advance aspects of the response to the crisis . “ There were directors and even commissioners helping at COVID 19 testing sites . Others were working in the area of shelter operations and creating delivery service areas . It was quite the collective effort ,” said Collins .
“ Working with VHEDC and others it was a role we were lucky to be able to fulfill and play point on . It was a big pivot , but the benefits have been expressed to us and were pretty positive ,” said Rick Howden , Economic Development Specialist for Ramsey County .
In addition to helping businesses gain access to information about resources , as a recipient of a federal relief package under the CARES Act , Ramsey County was able to disburse $ 15 million in federal small business relief resources county wide . “ The hardest part was meeting the demand . We tried to tailor programs to help as many businesses as possible while also creating relief reward amounts that were meaningful to businesses ,” said Collins .
The County also managed the dispersal of hundreds of COVID relief bags to businesses , including restaurants , coffee shops , hair salons , fitness facilities and other businesses that come in direct contact with customers . The bags were filled with important information about public health , social distancing , and how to tailor businesses to be safe , as well as items donated by local businesses .
A $ 40,000 donation from 3M allowed the County to purchase forehead
10 Northeast Metro Business