The City of Woburn is pleased to announce that grant funding will soon be available to assist microenterprise businesses in grappling with COVID-related difficulties. Woburn was one of 23 cities and towns in Massachusetts to receive CDBG funding for businesses meeting certain Federal criteria.
$340,000 will be available to distribute to microenterprise businesses as grants of up to $10,000 per business. A microenterprise is defined as a commercial enterprise that has five or fewer employees one or more of whom own(s) the enterprise, and which enterprise is a for-profit entity. Businesses meeting these criteria will be eligible for funding except for those excluded by Federal law from applying: Real estate rentals/sales businesses, businesses owned by persons under age 18, businesses that are chains, liquor stores, weapons/firearms dealers, lobbyists or cannabis-related businesses are not eligible to receive funding.
The City expects that between 30-40 Woburn microenterprises will qualify for the grants which will be available by applying directly to the Massachusetts Growth Capital Corporation (“MGCC”). MGCC, which will directly administer the application process and payments to businesses, is busy finalizing the application materials and expects the application process to open up within two (2) weeks. The City will publicly announce the opening of the grant application with local newspaper articles and website updates. Check back here for updates and direct link(s) to the MGCC website.