Hundreds in city apply for share of $25M COVID relief fund
BRIDGEPORT — Over 600 businesses and nonprofits have applied for a share of $25 million in federal coronavirus relief funds the city has made available.
“We got bombarded the last two days” of the application process, Tom Gaudett, an aide to Mayor Joe Ganim, said late last week. “It was very successful.”
The deadline was 2 p.m. Aug. 31. Now 12 different committees, from five to as many as a dozen members each of elected officials, municipal staff and community leaders, will be tasked with sifting through all of the paperwork to begin awarding the money.
“The committees will begin work this month,” Gaudett said. “The goal is to have some transparency around the process — a diversity of viewpoints — to make sure this money is put out in a responsible way and in a way that we are giving out the money as widely and effectively as possible.”
He said applicants will gradually be notified about whether they qualified or if they need to present additional information.
“We’re not trying to trip people up,” Gaudett emphasized. “If people missed things they were supposed to include, we’re giving them the opportunity to remedy those issues. We’re happy to do it to make sure everyone has a fair shot at this.”
Gaudett added the committees would be encouraged to “spread the wealth to as many as possible.”
Despite the massive amount of interest, Gaudett and others insisted the process should go far more smoothly than the monthslong drawn out effort to divvy up just $1 million in prior pandemic-related small business grants. The previous distribution drew condemnation from frustrated applicants who were still awaiting their checks and from some City Council members.
“We’ll be able to handle it,” said Councilman Ernie Newton of the latest fund distribution. Newtown had been one of the most vocal critics of the previous grant distribution.
“I think it’s gonna be a world better than the (previous) approach,” agreed another critic, Councilman Scott Burns.
The city has blamed the delays involving the distribution of the $1 million on the federal bureaucracy required for that particular pot of money and poor record-keeping on the part of some businesses that had sought relief.
That $25 million is part of Bridgeport’s $110 million share of the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 rescue package the U.S. Congress and President Joe Biden approved earlier this year.
The Ganim administration in June sought public input on how best to spend those funds and in early August announced that $25 million would be made available for small business expansion and storefront improvements, and for nearly a dozen categories of non-profit work: Affordable housing/rental assistance/ homelessness assistance; visual/performing arts; domestic violence/ mental health/addiction services; faith-based initiatives: nutrition; public safety/crime prevention; residential weatherization; workforce development; youth/education; community health services; and re-entry programs for exoffenders.
Gaudett said of the 600plus entities that are seeking some of the $25 million, roughly half are businesses and the rest non-profits.
“We had so many (businesses) reach out to us saying this really makes or breaks whether they’re able to stay open,” Gaudett said. “So our money seemingly is going to have a real impact.”
He said many of the non-profit applicants are involved in providing youth and educational services.
“We got so many applications in that category,” Gaudett said.
Annually, when the City Council puts together a subcommittee to distribute federal Community Block Grants, it is not unusual for several members to recuse themselves because of personal ties to the applicants.
But Gaudett said it has not been difficult to assemble objective committees for the $25 million.
“We have enough qualified knowledgeable people in the city to serve,” he said. “And there are enough grant areas, if someone is conflicted in one, we’re able to push them somewhere else.”