Schuylkill County was awarded $736,906 in federal Community Development Block Grant CARES money.

The state Department of Community and Economic Development is providing the money to the county and the nine municipalities that are classified as entitlement communities, which are ones that have more than 4,000 people.

Those municipalities are Butler, Pine Grove, Wayne and West townships, Mahanoy City, Minersville, Schuylkill Haven, Shenandoah and Tamaqua boroughs. Pottsville administers its own grant funding.

The county will receive $136,245 plus $132,640 allocated toward administrative expenses for administration of the grants. County Grant Manager Ron Zimmerman said he recently started billing for the administration of the grants within the past couple of weeks.

The county plans to use a majority of its funds for a business loan program that will primarily benefit low- and moderate-income people in the counties that are not designated entitlement communities, County Administrator Gary Bender said.

All of the municipalities except Schuylkill Haven, which has dedicated to using funds for rent/mortgage assistance, have planned to use funds for the business program, Zimmerman said.

Money must be spent by Oct. 7, Zimmerman said.

The following amounts were awarded: Butler Township, $52,476; Mahanoy City, $50,143; Minersville, $50,659; Pine Grove Township, $50,057; Schuylkill Haven, $52,944; Shenandoah, $52,140; Tamaqua, $56,612; Wayne Township, $52,232; and West Penn Township, $50,758.