The Turlock City Council voted to release another $25,000 for the RAD card program to spur spending at local businesses. With this round of funding, the City is hoping to reach out to low-income and Spanish speakers to let them know about the money matching program with information in water and sewage bills.
The new round of RAD card funding is expected to be available by July 4.
With the RAD card, a person downloads the app on their mobile device, and then chooses to load their virtual card with an amount of money, which is then automatically matched with City funds. A person who loads $50 onto their RAD card app will have a $100 to spend at partnering businesses.
The City of Turlock partnered with Downtown Modesto Partnership for the RAD Card matching program in December 2021 in an amount not to exceed $1,115,000. The RAD Card matching program allocation of $1 million in matching funds, and $115,000 for administration fees, utilized American Rescue Plan Act resources as the funding source.
In December 2021, the City of Turlock released $500,000. There are 79 local businesses currently enrolled in the RAD card program. Just under $600,000 has been disbursed to local businesses since the City started being part of the RAD card. The Council is hoping those with funds still on their RAD cards will take advantage of the upcoming 4th of July events to spend those dollars shopping and dining at Turlock stores.
“I’m a RAD card fan. Although not all of it is spent, it will be…I have been talking to a lot of businesses, but business has been down and costs are up. In my opinion, it’s a good time to release the rest of the money. It’s going to be spend in Turlock one way or another,” said Main Streets Antiques owner Lori Smith.
The Council is hoping to launch a marketing campaign about the RAD card program before releasing the remaining $475,000 in funding.