HARTFORD, Conn. — Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin announced Tuesday the city will use $1 million from a small business investment fund to help small businesses grow and prosper.
It is no secret that new businesses are making downtown Hartford their home, especially in downtown Hartford. This new grant program is for businesses that have been open and operating for at least a year.
If you walk down Pratt Street you’ll see signs of growth, new businesses like Gentle Bull opening their doors.
“I love Hartford so seeing it come to life again, especially after the pandemic is really exciting and something I want to be a part of,” said Gentle Bull owner, Gabby Rodrigue.
Almost every storefront on Pratt Street is full of new locally owned businesses.
“It is important that Hartford business owners and Hartford artists take up space in downtown locations and have this community support them,” said Liz Castle.
While new businesses are popping up in Hartford, officials are making sure long-standing businesses are keeping afloat with new funding.
“We set aside some additional funding from our American Rescue Plan allocation for small business investments of other kinds. We wanted to make sure that businesses that have been here for a while are not left out of the possibility of getting some help as they work to grow and recover and create jobs in our community,” said Mayor Luke Bronin.
The city of Hartford will direct $1,000,000 into the Small Business Investment Fund to help already established businesses continue to grow.
“It’s focused on things like how many jobs are you creating, how many jobs are you retaining, what are your capital investments plans, what does your business plan look like?”
This program isn’t only for businesses with storefronts.
“We didn’t want to leave out those businesses who don’t have a storefront presence but still are creating jobs and creating economic opportunities in our community,” said Bronin.
This application is open for these businesses to apply to right now. Applications will be considered on a rolling basis. For more information, contact smallbiz@hartford.gov.
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