Hartford Announces $1.1 Million In New Small Business Grants

Published on September 24, 2021

HARTFORD, CONN (September 24, 2021) – Today the City of Hartford announced that it has awarded its third round of Small Business Emergency Assistance Grants to small businesses in Hartford.  In this third round, $1.1 million in $7,500 grants is being awarded to 153 small businesses throughout Hartford, bringing the total small business grants awarded to $3 million over the last year.  

Of the $1.1 million awarded in this round, approximately $750,000 comes from the City of Hartford and $300,000 from the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving.  The prior two rounds totaled more than $2 million in funding, and 70% of those grants were awarded to minority or women owned small businesses in Hartford.  The program is implemented in partnership with Capital for Change as well as technical assistant providers including the Blue Hills Civic Association, Upper Albany Main Street, Upper Albany Merchants Association, the Spanish American Merchants Association, and the Entrepreneurial Center at the University of Hartford.

“Small businesses in every part of our city employ our residents and strengthen our neighborhoods, and we’re proud to provide these grants to more than 150 Hartford businesses that have persevered through this incredibly challenging year,” said Mayor Luke Bronin.  “We started this grant program last year because we knew many of our smallest businesses were struggling to get access to the support they needed, and over the past year, we’ve been able to get more than three million dollars directly to hundreds of those businesses, the vast majority of which are owned by women and people of color.  We could do not do this without the generous support of the Hartford Foundation, which partnered with us from the beginning of the pandemic, as well as our community technical assistant providers.” 

“I am proud to run a barber shop that serves my community, and we’ve worked hard to stay open during the pandemic,” said Rick Golding, owner of ProStyle Barber Shop, one of the grantees.  “This grant will help us make ends meet so we can continue creating jobs and serving our clients. I want to thank the city for looking out for small neighborhood businesses like mine, and the Hartford Foundation for stepping up as well.”

“We know that many small businesses in Hartford continue to sustain large revenue losses due to the pandemic and the subsequent closures, decreased capacity and reduced traffic in the City,” said Hartford Foundation President Jay Williams.  “We also know that small businesses owned by women and people of color face particular challenges and often lack access to the capital they need to weather these challenges.  Thank you to the Mayor, the staff at the City of Hartford, and Capital for Change for their partnership, expertise and incredibly hard work in implementing the past three rounds of the Small Business Emergency grant program.  I also want to recognize the many organizations that offered technical assistance to help hundreds of businesses apply for these grants including providing translation, scanning documents and even going door to door down Hartford’s commercial corridors to make sure businesses were aware of the program.  Thank you to the Blue Hills Civic Association, Upper Albany Main Street, Upper Albany Merchants Association, the Spanish American Merchants Association, and the Entrepreneurial Center at the University of Hartford for your tireless efforts.  While there are still many unknowns about the future of business as the pandemic continues- the Hartford Foundation will continue to find ways to support our vibrant and critical small business community- which we know is critical to an equitable recovery.”

Tagged as: