Businesses Have Five Weeks to Apply for Grants of up to $75,000
On February 23, 2022, the Baker-Polito Administration announced the launch of a new $75 million grant program to support Massachusetts small businesses impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
This new program allocates $50 million toward businesses in underserved socio-economically disadvantaged communities that employ between 2 – 50 people, reach underserved markets and historically underrepresented groups, are minority-, women-, or veteran-owned businesses, or are owned by individuals with disabilities, or who identify as a member of the LGBTQ+ community.
The other $25 million is allocated for businesses that did not previously qualify for relief funding under the prior MGCC aid due to the lack of revenue loss in 2020.
The new program is part of the plan to spend $4 billion in American Rescue Plan funding that was signed into law by Governor Charlie Baker in December 2021. The new program is modeled after Massachusetts Growth Capital Corporation’s (MGCC) successful COVID-19 small business relief program. Under that effort, which became the biggest state-sponsored business relief program in the nation, MGCC oversaw the distribution of approximately $705 million to over 15,000 small businesses across Massachusetts. They (MGCC) will also be responsible for administering this $75 million grant program.
“This new grant opportunity is an essential lifeline to many minority-owned small businesses who frankly don’t have the resources to keep their doors open,” states Rep. Bud L. Williams of the 11th Hampden
District, House Chair of Racial Equity, Civil Rights, and Inclusion. “With supply chain issues, inflation, and employee shortages, this unprecedented global Pandemic has had major consequences to the overall health and welfare of everyone, especially small business – the pulse of our communities and a source of generational wealth.”
We have all been impacted in one way or another. It is the ‘Mom & Pop’ shops, the culturally diverse businesses, and eateries, the ‘Hole in the Wall’ places that provide services, food, and jobs for our neighbors and gathering places for our residents, opportunities to build entrepreneurship and legacies. I highly encourage small business owners to submit their application in earnest.
