Small businesses can apply for grants and loans

MIDDLETOWN — Middletown Mayor Benjamin Florsheim has announced that the city is investing $250,000 in Middletown businesses to help them recover from the COVID-19 crisis.

Middletown businesses with 20 or fewer employees which are impacted by the corona virus can apply for a loan of up to $10,000 to help them reopen and start on the road to recovery.

The applications are available on the city’s website http:// www.middletownct.gov/ 1188/Middletown-EconomicDevelopment-Bridge-L.

The loans are offered at 3.5 percent interest and have easy repayment terms which allow businesses to invest the money without immediate repayment. The loans can be used to help businesses pay for things like start-up expenses, investments in new technology and/or transition costs to a different business model.

Businesses will have until Dec. 31, 2021, to repay the loans. They can prepay without penalty, and those who complete repayment by Dec. 31, 2020, will not have to pay interest.

Middletown has partnered with the Middlesex County Revitalization Commission, a not-forprofit lender created by an act of the legislature and based at the Middlesex County Chamber of Commerce, to administer the loans.

Middletown businesses can submit questions to BridgeLoan@middletownct.gov or call Thomas Marano at 860-638-4839.

Through the city’s Department of Planning, Conservation and Development, operating grants to business owners to assist small businesses in continuing operations and keeping residents employed use federal Community Development Block Grant funds. All applicants must agree to be compliant with federal regulations.

Grants will not exceed $5,000. The amount will be based upon the documented need of the business and available resources. Businesses must demonstrate losses greater than the requested and approved amount.

Assistance must result in continued employment of low/moderate-income individuals-for one year from the date of grant acceptance.

For more information regarding the CDBG Grant Program, email MiddletownCDBG@middletownct.gov or call Lynda MacPherson at 860-638- 4837.

Grant information can be found at: www.middletownct.gov/1147/CDBG-Small-Business-Grants