Waltham Launches Grant Program To Help Small Businesses Recover

WALTHAM, MA — Businesses have until Oct. 2 to apply for Small Business Recovery Grant from the city and get a little extra money to help keep the lights on.

In Massachusetts, as of July 29, employment rates in leisure and hospitality decreased by 12.2 percent compared to January, according to Harvard University's Opportunity Insights Economic Tracker.

The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development gave Waltham special allocation of CDBG funds, totaling $567,982, to be used to prevent, prepare for, and respond to the coronavirus pandemic. This allocation was authorized by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) passed by the Federal government on March 27. Nearly $190,000 of those funds will go toward the city's Small Business Recovery Grant Program.

The program is an effort to help small businesses in town that have had significant business disruption because of the pandemic.

Businesses that have experienced a loss of revenue of 50 percent or more since the Massachusetts state of emergency began in March can apply to use the funds to pay for commercial rent or mortgage, cover wages, loss of inventory.

Staff from the Housing Division and Planning Department will review the applications and approve or deny the request. Factors they plan to consider include how severely the business was impacted and that the businesses have a viable recovery plan.

The program will offer $10,000 grants to businesses with one to five employees and $15,000 grants to small businesses with six to 20 employees.

The city's planning department is asking anyone who knows of a small Waltham business in need to let them know about the grant program. The deadline to apply is 4 p.m. Friday. Read more.

At a time when the bulk of the state's businesses are considered small, and are on thin ice, any help keeping the lights on and employees employed can help the economy, say some economists.

"It sounds like a really good idea," Paul Craney of the conservative think tank Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance, noting that for all the flaws associated with the roll out of the Personal Protection Equipment program, it helped keep employees employed.

And hardships associated with unemployment are the most detrimental to the economy, he said.

"It may sound small amount, but in this economy right now, even though we've had a little bump in the past few days, every dollar really does count," Craney said. "For businesses, a lot of them are just making ends meet. It's a much harder to make money than this time last year."

Craney said the next hurdles for small businesses were mandated before the coronavirus hit: the minimum wage hike and family leave mandates.

Previously:

• MA Small Business Hit Harder Than Most By Coronavirus ...
• Group Warns Many MA Small Businesses Won't Survive ...

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