“In conjunction and on top of federal and state loan assistance programs, the city will immediately move to offer $222,679 in grants, up to a maximum of $15,000 for qualified restaurants.” Mayor Sarno stated. “As my administration continues to review any and all options to assist our residents and business community during these challenging times, I have asked my CDO Tim Sheehan to see what we could do immediately to ‘Prime the Pump’ to start to spur a ‘shot-in-the-arm’ relief and recovery initial assistance program for our restaurants and their employees. In the meantime, I ask our public to please continue to support our restaurants take out services as much as you can.”
CDO Tim Sheehan states, “ While the small business support being advanced by the federal and state government is beneficial, it is clear to me that more creative and flexible financial lifelines need to be established for the small businesses, especially restaurants which have disproportionately felt the economic impact resulting from the coronavirus mitigation measures designed to protect us all. Working with the city’s economic and community development staff, I am advancing a program that will make over $222,000 in grant dollars available to restaurant businesses that seek to reorganize their service delivery operations to meet the public health restrictions and retain their existing employees to degree possible. I am also seeking to increase the amount of Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds used for small business development and retention in the upcoming fiscal year. These businesses support hundreds of local jobs, which are critical to our economy. Many of the people and families impacted by this loss are our friends and neighbors if not our own family. As such, your city wants to help in a meaningful way.”
For more information and details on how to apply, please contact the city’s Chief Development Officer Timothy Sheehan at (413) 787-6024 or tsheehan@springfieldcityhall.com.