Dr. Gary Anthone discusses the current treatments for coronavirus.

LINCOLN — Emily Klingemann wasted no time seeking a grant this fall to help her small Omaha hairstyling business weather the pandemic.

State officials had announced that they would give out coronavirus relief funds to small businesses on a first-come, first-served basis. So she finished her application and hit “submit” within three hours of applications opening on Oct. 21.

Unfortunately, she and an unknown number of other applicants got caught by a computer glitch in which their applications were not properly saved and submitted.

Klingemann redid her application after an email alerted her to the problem, she said, but it barely squeaked in under the deadline.

Now, while $12,000 grants have started going out to other small businesses across Nebraska, Klingemann’s application is listed as “in review,” and she is worried that she missed a chance for some much-needed aid. While she still has customers, she sees fewer than in pre-pandemic times.

“Sad thing is, I took off part of my day specifically to apply for this grant, and it was a waste of my time and the glitch cost me a $12k opportunity,” she said. “Twitter makes it seem that I am not alone, unfortunately.”

The relief program that Klingemann applied for was one of several created with Nebraska’s $1.084 billion share of federal coronavirus aid.

According to Deloitte & Touche, the company hired to administer coronavirus relief funds for the state, Nebraska has paid out $648.3 million in 21,085 awards so far. Some recipients have received more than one award.

The largest was the $248.8 million that went to shore up the state’s unemployment trust fund. The smallest awards were $250 checks that went to several child care providers to help cover the additional costs of sanitizing and coping with social distancing requirements.

The largest number of awards — 19,630 in all — went to small businesses, livestock producers and charitable organizations. They each received $12,000 to help them survive the economic disruption caused by the pandemic.

Gov. Pete Ricketts announced the first round of relief in May, with programs to help state agencies and local governments, health and human services agencies, small businesses, livestock producers, rural broadband access projects, worker retraining and business leadership training efforts.

He announced a second round of relief programs in mid-October using money that had not been distributed in the first round. The new programs targeted hospitals, charities and businesses, with specific funds set aside for some businesses that were bypassed in the first round.

Klingemann applied during the second round for a share of the $22 million set aside for cosmetic, massage and body art providers.

Taylor Gage, Ricketts’ chief spokesman, said the glitch Klingemann encountered was fixed the day after applications opened. He said Deloitte & Touche tried to identify the applicants affected, as well as tracking those who called in about the problem.

He said 31 people, who had applied for a variety of programs, were found through those means. They were among 10,881 applicants for second-round funding. Those 31 people were allowed to apply through a special process and were put in line where their original application would have put them, Gage said.

Kate Ellingson, a spokeswoman for the Department of Economic Development, said people who were affected by the glitch but did not get a chance to apply through the special process can still be considered for awards. She advised them to call 833-500-8810.

Our best staff images of December 2020

martha.stoddard@owh.com, 402-473-9583

twitter.com/stoddardOWH

Originally published on omaha.com, part of the BLOX Digital Content Exchange.

Tags

This content was contributed by a user of the site. If you believe this content may be in violation of the terms of use, you may report it.

(0) comments

Welcome to the discussion.

Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person.
Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.

Post a comment
Stop watching this discussion.