Some CARES money shared with nonprofits

Get breaking news for Peachtree Corners, Duluth and others on Twitter: @gwinnettnewsnow County to distribute $13.3 million to more than 100 groups.

Snellville has created the Towne Center Entertainment District, an area anchored by a forthcoming mixeduse development that will become the city’s new downtown.

Residents and visitors will be able to stroll around outside there with an alcoholic beverage in hand, thanks to a measure approved by Snellville City Council on Monday night.

The Council approved multiple steps toward making Towne Center a reality Monday, including a $1.1 million contract to begin work on a greenway and a $15,000 contract for Winter Construction to develop a plan for the building of a 750-car parking deck.

The entertainment district, also approved Monday, is bordered by Wisteria Drive, Main Street East and Ga. 124. It surrounds but does not include Snellville City Hall, Snellville Police Department headquarters and the Snellville Senior Center. Towne Center, anchoring the entertainment district, is expected to have multi- ple restaurants, which will be able to sell alcoholic beverages for outside consumption as long as they follow city guidelines.

Beverages must be in a paper or plastic cup that is 16 ounces or smaller, and only one drink per person may be sold at a time. Open container laws still bar people from taking their drinks outside of the entertainment district or into cars.

The Towne Center proj- ect has officially been in the works since the city signed onto a public-private part- nership for the $85 million development last August, but the seeds of the idea can be traced back to 2003. The residential aspect of the proj- ect — 250 apartments — is expected to begin construc- tion in the spring of 2021.

Gwinnett County will share $13.3 million in federal coronavirus relief money with more than 100 local organizations.

The money is going to 104 nonprofit and faith-based agencies. The county plans to distribute a second round of funding as well.

The federal CARES Act money will go to assist non- profits and to help with community needs. Nonprofit assistance will pay for increased staffing, medical and personal protec- tive equipment and supplies and enhancements to technologies and facilities in response to the pan- demic.

Community needs funds will pay for emergency food assistance, housing and utility assistance, health care services, child care, transportation and education, as well as other needs.

When grant funding availability was announced in May, 124 organizations filed 145 applications for more than $67 million in funding.

The three organizations that received the largest awards were the Atlanta Community Food Bank, which was granted $1.185 million; Good Samaritan Health Center of Gwinnett, which got $1.12 million; and the Gwinnett County Public Schools Foundation, which received $698,486. No other organization received more than $375,000.

A second round of applications will open Aug. 10 and close Aug. 28.

To see the organizations that received funding or to apply for the next round, go to gcga.us/gwinnettgrants.

People in need of assistance should call the Gwinnett Coalition Helpline at 770-995-3339.

CONTRIBUTED Residents and visitors will be able to stroll around outside Snellville’s Towne Center Entertainment District with an alcoholic beverage in their hand.