Peoria Standard

Economic Development Department Concludes RISE Program, Distributes $1.4M to Area Businesses

City of Peoria Economic Development Department Concludes RISE Program  

$1.4M Allocated to area businesses through ARPA funds

December 21, 2022 (Peoria, IL) The city of Peoria’s Economic Development Department has concluded its inaugural RISE program by distributing $1.4M to 118 area businesses.  Developed to provide monetary assistance to businesses negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, businesses had to qualify under Recovery, Income, Startup, or Expansion categories. The funding came from the American Rescue Plan Act.

Staff from the Economic Development Department launched the RISE program in May of 2022.  Eighty-two percent of the qualifying businesses that received funding are minority-owned, woman-owned, minority and women of color owned, and/or veteran-owned.

Assistant City Manager Kimberly Richardson remarked on the program’s success, stating, “the robust response from local business owners was encouraging and enforced that the RISE program goal of providing financial relief was achieved.” Richardson oversees the Economic Development Department.

The businesses received additional assistance through the City’s collaboration with the Minority Business Development Center, Greater Peoria Economic Development Council, Greater Peoria Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, and the Illinois Small Business Development Center.  Assistance provided included help with applying to the RISE program, education on starting a business in Illinois, direction to create business plans, and independent reviews of business plans and strategies.

A list of the businesses may be found on the Economic Development Department's webpage.

Original source can be found here