Above: If you own a local business with five or less employees (including yourself) you’ll want to pay attention to the EDC’s news on a grant opportunity.
Last month, I shared news on a grant opportunity for “micro-enterprises” in Southborough. Qualified business with five or fewer employees (including the owner) were invited to apply for up to $10,000 in government grants.
At that time, I noted a September deadline. Today I learned that a second round opened for applications. That window closes this Friday, October 23rd at 5:00 pm.
If you can’t make this week’s deadline, a third round will be offered right after. You’ll want to jump on the opportunity. That (likely final) round will open on Monday, October 26th. Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis while the funds last. (Southborough was granted $204K for businesses based in Town.)
As I previously noted, the opportunity for local businesses was made available through Southborough Economic Development Committee’s collaboration with other area towns. You can read more on that background here.
Below are more details from the press release in September:
Applications are now being accepted for the Microenterprise grant which is part of the $19.6 million award through the federally-funded Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program through the CARES Act of 2020. The $4,950,000 grant from the Department of Housing & Community Development was awarded to assist small businesses in 23 cities and towns across the Metropolitan Boston Region, including Southborough.
The funding is being utilized to address emergency needs in light of the Coronavirus pandemic. Specifically, the grant award for these 23 communities will be utilized to award individual grants of up to $10,000 for microenterprise businesses. A microenterprise is defined as a commercial enterprise that has 5 or fewer employees, 1 or more of whom owns the enterprise and must be a for-profit entity. The town of Southborough will be receiving $204,000 to support small businesses in the community.
Massachusetts Growth Capital Corporation (“MGCC”) will be helping to administer and oversee the grant program. Applications are available here (https://massgcc.submittable.com/submit) . . .
The communities that are part of this coalition include: Ashland, Beverly, Burlington, Canton, Concord, Dedham, Essex, Lexington, Manchester by the Sea, Marlborough, Melrose, Milton, Natick, North Reading, Norwood, Randolph, Reading, Sharon, Southborough, Stoneham, Watertown, Winchester or Woburn. Businesses interested in applying must fill out the online application only. For questions, please contact Southborough EDC Coordinator M. Munsiff at MMunsiff@southboroughma.com.
Interested business owners will also want to check out this FAQ sheet with qualifying details, term definitions, etc.
