Some Small CT Businesses, Restaurants, To Get State Grants

CONNECTICUT — Gov. Ned Lamont said the state's economy is "slowly and methodically opening back up" and cited a few new programs designed to assist the process.

Earlier in the pandemic, Connecticut was the recipient of a generous amount of paycheck protection funding from the federal government, Lamont said, but now those monies have "run out." He says he has authorized ten thousand $5,000 grants to small businesses which are "going out as we speak."

"At the same time we are going to be rolling out a $25 million small business grant program," Lamont said. That funding, set to be disbursed within a week, would not be enough to "take care of everybody," but is targeted for businesses "like restaurants, who are really struggling."

Earlier this week employees from that struggling industry protested in Hartford, demanding more financial relief from the state.

Lamont also urged businesses who could no longer to afford to pay an employee their complete paycheck to contact the Department of Labor, referencing a program called Shared Work. The state, he said, would consider kicking in what it could in order to keep that person employed full time. The governor referred to the program as "employment insurance, as opposed to unemployment insurance."

Lamont said the state was also working on a rent relief program, for landlords as well as tenants, but urged interested parties to act quickly as the federal funds for that would likely dry up on Dec. 31.

The governor made his remarks as part of his keynote address at a virtual luncheon meeting of the Middlesex County Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday.

Lamont reflected upon how the pandemic had clobbered businesses and the state's economy, but also pointed to one unexpected bright spot.

"Tens of thousands of people have moved to Connecticut in the past six months," Lamont said, touting the migration's beneficial effect in terms of entrepreneurship and schools.

Other states, he said, will be in a desperate position if the "feds don't step up," but Connecticut is better positioned, due in part to its robust Rainy Day Fund.