EASTHAMPTON – More help for local small businesses is on the way.

Easthampton officials recently announced the city and six other communities were awarded $900,000 in grant funding to support microenterprise businesses impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.

"It is our hope that these funds make a difference for the really vulnerable businesses in our communities," Easthampton Assistant Planner Jamie Webb told Reminder Publishing.

Easthampton acted as the lead on a joint application with Westhampton, Southampton, South Hadley, Granby, Hadley and Hatfield for the grant, which is funded through the Massachusetts Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) COVID-19 program made possible by the federal CARES Act.

The Planning Department is working with the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission (PVPC) on the administration of the grant.

"Our department within the PVPC has been working on CDBG programs for 30-plus years and we have been working with Easthampton on various programs for a while now. We have a long history of running these kinds of efforts," said Ted Harvey, senior planner/manager for the PVPC. "We will running the program with the assistance of the Planning Department to set up applications, contact businesses, and perform other intake and we will be making sure the funds go out."

Unlike some other small business programs, Webb explained the microenterprise funding was more likely to have a direct impact on "mom and pop" establishments.

"People think small business and they automatically think about those 'mom and pop' shops, but in actuality, small businesses are defined as those with less than 500 people. Microenterprises are the really small businesses," she said.

To qualify for a grant of up to $10,000, applicants must have no more than five employees, including the owner, and are required to have a physical location in one of the communities offering the grant. Microenterprise funding is not available to businesses owned by people under the age of 18, real estate or rental operations, lobbyists, liquor or cannabis retailers, or weapons or firearms sales.

Additionally, there are income guidelines that Harvey said are not set by the city or by PVPC, but rather are HUD requirements.

The grant money can be used for business expenses such as rent, staffing and utilities.

"We have estimated that there will be 116 grants between communities, with the majority of those being in Easthampton and South Hadley," Webb said, adding the actual number of grants awarded will depend on applicants and the amount of money they receive. Webb said the goal is to provide applicants the total grant amount they request, but if qualified requests outweigh available funds, a percentage of the request will be awarded.

Per state requirements, no community can be awarded more than $400,000 and a portion of the funding will go to the PVPC to offset their costs. Webb said EasthamptonÕs application to the state proposed a split based on the number of businesses in each municipality and their needs.

"It's a bit of an estimate because we didnÕt know some of the economic data needed," Webb said. "Some of that data wouldnÕt have been available for a couple of months."

The Planning Department has posted an interest list survey form on its website, easthamptonma.gov/planning. An application is expected to be ready by September.

"At the moment, we basically have to hold off on getting applications out. We are still waiting on the state to administer the funds," Harvey said.