$219,569 in grant funds coming soon for Norwich businesses

NORWICH — For businesses in the Rose City, an opportunity to get some help is coming soon.

Beginning the first week of February, businesses in Norwich will be able to apply for part of the Community Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Office Small Business Assistance funds. The City of Norwich’s Development Office will be distributing the money to businesses in the city as a part of the second round of CDBG-CV funding.

There is a total of $219,569 available in funding for COVID-19 relief, and a business approved for the grant could receive up to $10,000. The money is expected to have a 30-day turnaround.

Community Development Supervisor Kathy Crees said businesses that may need the funding can learn more information through the Greater Norwich Area Chamber of Commerce and through invitations to apply sent out to business.

“It’s only (around) $200,000,” Crees said. “If all 3,000 businesses came in, we’d have no way to manage that process.”

Crees said as of Thursday, criteria information is still being worked on. Nancy Cowser, executive director of the Southeastern Connecticut Enterprise Region, said it would be a “non-subjective” process.

In helping decide who is eligible, the Norwich Mayor’s Office and seCTer collaborated on collecting information on all businesses in the city through publicly available sources and compiled it into one list, using some data tools seCTer has access to and used information from the Connecticut Department of Labor and Secretary of State’s Office.

“It’s there, but it’s not easy to use,” Cowser said. “We were able to use staff time to put it into a useable format for the city.”

However, Cowser clarified that while seCTer is helping in the process, it does not have final decision-making power on who receives the grants, saying the Community Development Office would put together a panel for the final decision.

The money is sourced from federal CARES funding. Norwich Mayor Peter Nystrom pointed out that this came from a $506,000 grant to the city that was accepted in September, but wasn’t received until the end of December. The money in this program was originally to be given to the Norwich Community Development Corporation (NCDC) to be then given to businesses. However, it was determined NCDC was too busy with other responsibilities in light of President Jason Vincent’s death to handle the grant program.

“By rescinding that, we leave the funds in the hands of the Community Development Office, with seCTer’s help,” Nystrom said. “It’s a lot easier, cleaner.”

There would have also been an unintended consequence to NCDC distributing those funds. Nystrom said that under the old arrangement, businesses affiliated with NCDC, including those in Foundry 66, wouldn’t be able to apply for the money because of a conflict of interest.

“We have a lot of new small businesses downtown, “ Nystrom said, “At least they can apply now and be considered.”

As for other assistance opportunities for businesses, Nystrom said there is another $544,000 federal grant coming to the city, with a line item of $200,000 for small business COVID relief, and will be distributed in a similar manner to the $219,569. In broader measures, Nystrom said the city has drastically reduced the interest on late taxes, from 18% to 3% over a fiscal year, and helping Norwich Public Utilities customers pay their bills through Norwich Human Services.

“We’re trying to do different things to respond to the hardship people are facing, businesses as well,” Nystrom said.

Beyond what the city can provide, Crees said that businesses that need money should look to what the federal government is doing.

“We never know If there’ll be additional funds, and if there are, I’m sure some of that would be programmed toward businesses,” Crees said.