Somerville Allocates Additional $5M For Local Businesses

SOMERVILLE, MA — The city has made an additional $5 million available for small businesses affected by the pandemic, its third and largest round of COVID-19 business relief to date.

Awards of up to $25,000 will be given to eligible restaurants, fitness and recreation facilities, theaters, nightclubs and other businesses impacted by the government-directed closures.

Applications and full eligibility requirements are available at somervillema.gov/BizRelief. They will be reviewed on a rolling basis starting Friday, Jan. 8.

Since the onset of the coronavirus crisis, the city has allocated $6,750,000 in emergency aid for local businesses. The first two rounds of relief used federal Community Development Block Grant funds, while Round 3 uses city fiscal reserves.

In addition to direct financial assistance, the Economic Development team continues to offer intensive, multilingual support to local businesses, including weekly virtual town halls, topic-specific webinars, one-on-one business coaching, and referrals to other economic stabilization funds, among other initiatives. For more information, visit somervillema.gov/CovidBizHelp or call 311.