Towns join to provide virus loans
Acton and four neighboring towns are sharing a $1.6 million grant to give onetime forgiveable loans of up to $10,000 to COVID-impacted small businesses with fewer than five employees.
“We believed our application for funding would be more competitive if we did it as a region,” said Acton Town Manager John Mangiaratti, who joined forces with officials in Boxboro, Maynard, Littleton and Westford.
And the plan paid off. The towns were awarded $1.6 million in federal coronavirus funding through the Micro-enterprise Forgivable Loan Program. The program will provide one-time loans of up to $10,000 to help cover costs such as rent, staffing and utilities for eligible businesses with fewer than five employees and owners who meet low- to moderate-income thresholds.
“These businesses have been significantly impacted by the pandemic over the last year,” Mangiaratti said, “and this funding, which can be used for expenses not covered by other funding programs, will hopefully go a long way in helping our local businesses through this challenging time.”
The block grant is enough to provide about 20 loans to businesses in each town, said Alice Boyd, president of Bailey Boyd Associates, the Scituate-based consultant that is administering the grant. One million dollars will go toward those loans, which will be forgiven if business owners provide proof that they’ve used the money for things such as rent and inventory, Boyd said. Applications will be reviewed on a first-come, first-served basis.
The remaining $600,000 will go to local food pantries and child care, she said.
The federal funding, which was provided to the state from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act, was made available for communities to apply for to help start up these programs at the local level.
“The pandemic has brought into focus the importance of our local businesses, the role they play in our community and how they help define our town’s character,” Littleton Town Administrator Anthony Ansaldi said.
Eight towns on Cape Cod and six towns on Martha’s Vineyard also have teamed up to apply for similar grants to help small businesses impacted by the pandemic, Boyd said.
“That doesn’t happen often,” she said.