Somerville Allocates Additional $5 Million For Coronavirus Small Business Relief

Press release from the City of Somerville:

January 4, 2021

In its third and largest round of COVID-19 business relief to date, the City of Somerville has made an additional $5 million available for small businesses affected by the pandemic.

The City will administer awards of up to $25,000 to eligible restaurants, fitness and recreation facilities, theaters, nightclubs, and other businesses impacted by government-directed closures. Applications and full eligibility requirements are available at somervillema.gov/BizRelief. Translated versions in multiple languages will be published in the coming days. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis starting Friday, January 8.

Since the onset of the coronavirus crisis, the City has allocated $6,750,000 in emergency aid for Somerville small businesses. The first two rounds of relief used federal Community Development Block Grant funds, while Round 3 uses City fiscal reserves.

In addition to direct financial assistance, the City’s Economic Development team continues to offer intensive multilingual support to local businesses, including weekly virtual town halls, topic-specific webinars, one-on-one business coaching, and referrals to other economic stabilization funds, among other initiatives. For more information, visit somervillema.gov/CovidBizHelp or call 311.

This press release was produced by the City of Somerville. The views expressed here are the author’s own.