OAKLAND COUNTY, Mich. (WXYZ) — The 2021 Oakland County COVID-19 Economic Recovery Task Force will hold its first meeting next week to discuss aid for local businesses.
Oakland County is set to receive $244 million from the latest federal stimulus package.
Ferndale Project, the sister company of Eastern Market Brewing, started off brewing only beer, but now serves coffee drinks and house-made uniquely flavored vegan donuts and pastries.
"We've pivoted a ton," said Shalyn Getz, president of Eastern Market Brewing Company. "We created a bunch of different businesses from this, we've gotten really creative."
"We have not laid off a single employee, but we couldn't do that without government funding."
Oakland County distributed federal funds last year that purchased outdoor heaters for the patios and provided emergency loans to help pay the rent and payroll so they could serve food and drinks to customers on the patio through the winter.
County Executive Dave Coulter said he put together a task force with local business owners and community leaders to help determine how the money should be spent.
"It's going to take task forces like this and long-term aid to bring back these industries so deeply impacted by COVID," Coulter said.
Additional Coronavirus information and resources:
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Visit our The Rebound Detroit, a place where we are working to help people impacted financially from the coronavirus. We have all the information on everything available to help you through this crisis and how to access it.