The Washington County Riverboat Foundation is continuing to weather the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic with some changes to their grant opportunities this year.

The foundation, which is the nonprofit license holder for the Riverside Casino & Golf Resort, will be offering spring small grants of up to $5,000 instead of their usual $2,000 mini grants. The foundation board approved this change at their annual meeting in January, and applications will be accepted from Thursday to March 14th, with a presentation expected in mid-April. Board President Shawn Ellingson explains the desire for offering this grant, “We wanted to get something out there relatively quickly because we know there’s a lot of people needing projects going. They held their projects off from last year because there just wasn’t a lot of grants going out, and we’re hoping to kind of pump some money back into these organizations to get them back going again.”

The board will also be offering a large grant cycle, with an application period of April 5th to June 6th. As the foundation receives all of its funds from the casino, Ellingson hopes it will be able to stay open all year amid the pandemic, so this year can be a “springboard” to an even better 2022. The foundation awards grants that benefit special interest areas of community development and beautification, economic development, education and arts, and human and social needs.