City Of Boston: Relief Funds To Support Restaurants And Small Businesses

Press release from the City of Boston:

September 1, 2021

“By leveraging federal funding and new city operating investments, the City of Boston is ready to support our local businesses as well as workers to ensure an equitable recovery,” said Midori Morikawa, Interim Chief of Economic Development. “Working in partnership with the Office of Workforce Development, this critical support will benefit workers through fair wages, retention bonus incentives, and continuing education opportunities as well as businesses owners’ needs, from relief to growth plans.”

• Grants: restaurant business owners may be eligible for both of these grant funds:
  • All Restaurants: a $5,000 grant for business expenses including rent, payroll, or inventory;
  • Restaurants with Tipped Employees: a $15,000 grant to increase payroll for tipped employees to $12.75 per hour as a part of the One Fair Wage initiative; 
• Employee Incentives: a $900 retention bonus to attract and retain restaurant workers for new and existing employees that continue employment at the small business for the continuous pilot 3-month period; tuition assistance for college or training programs to those retained workers for two years while working at a restaurant; and 100 B-Local Points per employee for each month of continuous employment during the pilot program.
• Marketing Campaign: a public awareness campaign featuring RRF restaurants as “champion” employers offering good wages and benefits. The campaign aims to attract workers across the restaurant industry in Boston. A public Request for Proposals (RFP) from qualified marketing consultants will be released by the Office of Economic Development in September 2021. The RFP will be available on the City of Boston Supplier Portal.

Small Business Relief Fund 2.0

Small businesses located in the City of Boston with 25 employees or fewer may be eligible for one or both of these funding opportunities. Business owners can visit boston.gov/small-business for more information and eligibility criteria. The online applications will be available starting Wednesday, September 8, 2021 on boston.gov/small-business in English, Spanish, and nine additional languages.

This press release was produced by the City of Boston. The views expressed here are the author’s own.