News release from Mayor’s Office:
Mayor Ganim, in partnership with the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the City’s Small and Minority Business Enterprise Office (SMBE), the Office of Planning and Economic Development (OPED), the Bridgeport Regional Business Council (BRBC), with Bridgeport City Council announce that Bridgeport’s CARES ACT Small Business grants will be awarded to 144 small businesses in the City of Bridgeport.
This morning Mayor Ganim, City Council member Scott Burns along with representatives of Bridgeport’s Small & Minority Business Enterprise and Office of Planning & Economic Development made a “surprise” in-person notification to business owners of “Eat Fish” restaurant on Main Street. Bridgeport officials first met Eat Fish at their Grand Opening in June of 2019; then just 9 months later they, along with all other businesses–were faced with challenges and restrictions due to the COVID pandemic. Notification letters to each of the 144 qualifying small business grant recipients were issued this week. The grant was designed to assist local for-profit business owners of Bridgeport in the prevention, preparation, and response to COVID-19.
Mayor Ganim stated, “This funding opportunity provides a much-needed financial life-line for so many of our small businesses that found themselves suddenly impacted by the pandemic. We all learned through these challenging times brought on by COVID, it is my hope that this funding supports a stronger small business community in Bridgeport.”
Eligible uses of grant awards include:
· Short-term working capital and operating expenses
· Inventory, payment to essential vendors
· Advertising expenses related to publicizing changes in business offerings
· Staff/employee training in new operating procedures
· Newly acquired technology hardware related to adapting to the pandemicThrough provisions of the US Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, HUD granted financial assistance to the City of Bridgeport; and Mayor Ganim and the City Council have allocated one-million dollars to benefit qualifying applicants that have suffered a harmful loss of business or revenue due to the pandemic.
EAT FISH and 143 other minority businesses qualified for $1 Million of HUD money to Small and Minority Owned businesses in the City.
Mayor, nice of you to join in the celebration of one business. How about the other 143? Perhaps a listing of those receiving funds, what was the purpose for which sought funding, and do we assume they are all grants or are some loans? Let the Federal taxpayers understand the investment being made in keeping service providing, local citizen employing businesses at this time by posting a master chart for all to understand how HUD is working? The article does not detail exactly where the funds come from, but I am assuming that no funds were supplied by SMBE, OPED, Ciity Council, or BRBC? Who monitors the fact of whether the funds are put to the use for which they were requested? Time will tell.
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grant or bait?
How about a list of the businesses that will receive this money? Will the money be distributed evenly? “10K in grants?” How does that compute with 1 million dollars and 144 businesses? Will it be like some of the solar panel companies who received tons of cash from the feds and then they disappeared?
Another good program….right ?!!! Yeah sure.
Cheers!!!