Somerville Offering $500K In Forgivable Small Business Loans

SOMERVILLE, MA — The City of Somerville has announced that its Small Business Recovery Fund has opened for a second round of funding.

The fund provides money to help local businesses as they recover from the continued impacts of the pandemic.

Applications for the latest round of funding are available online until March 21.

According to city officials, there is approximately $500,000 available in the latest round of funding, which is distributed in the form of forgivable loans worth up to $15,000 for brick-and-mortar businesses and $5,000 for home-based businesses or independent contractors.

To qualify, businesses must be located within Somerville, have 20 or fewer employees and be able to demonstrate that revenue has declined in recent years.

Since the first round of funding, which distributed $1.4 million between November 2022 and January 2023, the city has expanded the category of Home-Based Businesses to Home-Based Businesses/Independent Contractors.

Now, independent contractors are eligible for $5,000 through the program as long as they have a valid business license and can show they have been operating in Somerville since at least April 1, 2021.

Examples of independent contractors include: private consulting practices, freelance writers and barbers who rent chairs at a barbershop that they don't own.

"Every day, whether I'm getting a morning coffee, buying my family's groceries, or picking up my dog's favorite treats, I am constantly inspired by the passion and ingenuity of Somerville's small business community, but the pandemic has created difficult challenges," Somerville Mayor Katjana Ballantyne said. "By reopening the Small Business Recovery Fund we aim to strategically target assistance to local business owners that will help them on the road to recovery."

According to Somerville officials, if the city receives more applications than the program can fund, applicants will receive priority based on criteria like not having received previous rounds of COVID-related funding or being a women or minority-owned business.

City officials said that during the first round of funding, more than 75 percent of applications were received from businesses that were women or minority-owned.

In a release, Somerville officials also noted that many of the city's community partners are available to help business owners complete their funding applications, including: the SomerViva Office of Immigrant Affairs (Portuguese, Spanish, Haitian Creole, Chinese, Nepali), Somerville Main Streets (English), Union Square Main Streets (Spanish, English) and iParametrics (Spanish, Portuguese, English).

More information about the funding, including applications, can be obtained by calling iParametrics at 617-863-2160.