PROVIDENCE – About one-quarter, or $13 million, in new state grants for small businesses was still up for grabs Tuesday morning, just hours before the 9 p.m. deadline.
As of Tuesday morning, R.I. Commerce Corp. had approved $37.2 million in grants to 2,875 small businesses through the state’s Restore RI program, according to R.I. Commerce spokesman Brian Hodge. Just under $13 million of the original $50 million allocation, which came from the federal CARES Act funding, was available ahead of the 9 p.m. deadline.
The program, which launched in August, has been amended several times to increase the maximum grant funding and expand eligibility guidelines. Still, state leaders and lawmakers, including Lt. Gov. Daniel McKee, have criticized the program for not doing enough to help hard-hit businesses offset COVID-19-related losses. Members of the R.I. House of Representatives Oversight Committee in a hearing on Dec. 3 also questioned whether advertising of the program had reached its intended audience, with several state lawmakers noting that business owners in their districts remained unaware of the program or confused by the application.
Asked whether the state would extend its application deadline if not all funds were used, Hodge in an email expressed confidence that the funds still available would be spent by the deadline. An additional 1,000 applications had been submitted and were being processed as of Tuesday morning, he said.
The program offers grants of up to $30,000 to businesses with one to 50 employees that can prove at least a 30% revenue loss from the pandemic. The application and more details are available at commerceri.com/about-us/restore-ri.
Nancy Lavin is a PBN staff writer. You may reach her at Lavin@PBN.com.
