Duncan Foundation Receives Grant

October 12, 2020

By Kim McConnell with the Lawton Constitution

Oklahoma Department of Commerce and Oklahoma Manufacturing Alliance visit Blackfoot Services. Source: DAEDF

Duncan Area Economic Development Foundation was awarded $99,425, which was to have been designated to buy and lease equipment to Kochendorfer Craft Brewing Company, which had planned to pivot its production to making hand sanitizer.

Lyle Roggow, foundation president, said that company has since changed its plans and now doesn’t qualify for the grant. Instead, the foundation will ask the USDA to change its grant to benefit Blackfoot Services. That company already had sought to retain its economic viability by finalizing a prototype for portable disinfectant equipment, a business revision that already won funding through the Oklahoma Business Relief Program. Roggow said the firm’s proposal is extremely beneficial during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Because Blackfoot Services already has a working prototype, “we can go buy the equipment they need that will help them manufacture these units,” Roggow said, adding the company’s initiative is reflective of adjustments owners sometimes must make to keep their business viable. And that illustrates the importance of the grants targeted to helping small businesses establish and thrive.

“This is a business that has had to transition very quickly. They did not have the income they had before,” Roggow said, explaining Blackfoot Services had to find a way to continue to be viable, and did.