PROVIDENCE – More than 100 more small businesses sought funding in the final two weeks of the city’s small-business grant program – equal to one-third of the total applications received over the last nine months.
The flood of eleventh-hour applicants to the Providence COVID-19 Small Business Grant Program comes after Mayor Jorge O. Elorza and the City Council in June eased the eligibility requirements by waiving the prior minimum for tangible assets, which some business owners and groups said was too restrictive.
In total, just less than 500 businesses applied for the program, 122 of which sought the $2,500-apiece grants in the final 2 1/2 weeks, according to information shared by Andrew Grande, a spokesperson for Elorza’s office.
The $7 million grant program, created as part of a plan to spend an initial $42 million tranche of the city’s American Rescue Plan Act funds, has had a slow uptake since launching in October 2021. While the city in creating the program estimated 2,700 small businesses would be eligible for the $2,500-apiece grants, 268 have been approved as of Tuesday, according to Grande, although 74 applications submitted in the final weeks were still being processed.
If all of those pending applicants qualify for funding, the city will spend $855,000 of its $7 million pot, leaving more than $6.1 million untouched. However, the money won’t sit around forever.
Under the city’s fiscal 2023 budget, which has been signed into law, any money left in the grant program would be repurposed for “revenue recovery” and “equally divided by ward for small-business infrastructure and other capital improvements.”
Redirecting the leftover money to other programs and expenses was one of several changes council members made to Elorza’s original fiscal 2023 budget. However, the mayor is supportive of the change for using up the grant program money, the city said.
Elorza’s office did not immediately provide comment on the unspent funds from the grant program.
Nancy Lavin is a PBN staff writer. Contact her at Lavin@PBN.com.
