FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Perry B. Newman, [email protected], (617) 533-9551
Financial support bolsters underserved and disadvantaged small businesses in Gateway Cities
FITCHBURG, Massachusetts — On Friday, October 12, 2018 in Fitchburg, Massachusetts Growth Capital Corporation (MGCC) announced $2,000,000 in small business grants to support over 40 nonprofit organizations across the state. MGCC conducts a competitive process each year to award grants through the Small Business Technical Assistance Grant Program to expand economic and entrepreneurial opportunity throughout the Commonwealth. Dorchester Bay Economic Development Corporation (DBEDC) in the Upham’s Corner neighborhood in Boston received a $52,000 grant in support of its Innovation Lending platform — an ambitious and high impact growth strategy to support entrepreneurs and growing businesses.
Launched in May 2018, DBEDC’s Innovation Lending growth strategy deploys an online lending platform, cutting-edge financial tools, and new strategic partnerships into communities where capital, technical assistance, and other supports are sorely needed. In developing Innovation Lending, DBEDC commissioned market research which concluded that more than 3,000 businesses in DBEDC’s target communities of Dorchester, Jamaica Plain, Roxbury, Mattapan, Hyde Park, and Roslindale neighborhoods are likely in need of business capital.
“This generous grant from MGCC will enable us to provide essential technical assistance to aspiring entrepreneurs,” said Perry B. Newman, CEO of Dorchester Bay Economic Development Corporation. “It will also help us with our outreach to businesses in parts of the community where access to capital is especially challenging. With this grant, we’ll be able to connect entrepreneurs with the resources they need to succeed.”
“These local grantees have a real impact on job creation and economic development across the Commonwealth,” said Larry Andrews, President of MGCC. “We now have an independent, third-party evaluation of the program that confirms the positive impacts as a result of the program in underserved communities. This year’s grants will provide funding for non-profits to inclusively support and strengthen small businesses through managerial assistance, education and access to capital.”
Over 40 small business owners, non-profit organizations, and business development leaders met with Lt. Governor Karyn Polito and local elected officials in downtown Fitchburg to announce the grants. The celebratory event took place at Strong Style Coffee, a small business that recently benefitted from the grant program.
Marc Dohan, Executive Director of NewVue Communities remarked on the program’s value, “Mass Growth Capital’s grants provide technical assistance to many of the small business owners that turn their dreams into reality, creating jobs throughout the Commonwealth. Those businesses and jobs drive local growth and create great communities to live in and raise a family.”
The grants range from $10,000 – $120,000 and will enable local organizations to provide individualized business management assistance, financial training, microloans and loan packaging services to small businesses, with a focus on low- to moderate-income, underserved communities and Gateway Cities in Massachusetts.
Nam Pham, Assistant Secretary of Business Development & International Trade noted the need to spur economic activity among underserved populations, “Small businesses are always the catalyst of our economy; the TA grants from the Commonwealth will strengthen not only our underserved diverse small neighborhood businesses, but will also help build a more vibrant and inclusive community.”
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About Dorchester Bay Economic Development Corporation
Dorchester Bay Economic Development Corporation (DBEDC) is a community development corporation founded by local civic associations in 1979 to address the problems of economic disinvestment, unemployment, crime, community tensions and the shortage of quality affordable housing undermining Boston’s Dorchester neighborhoods. Over the last 39 years, DBEDC has worked in partnership with local leaders and stakeholders to build and preserve 1,100 units of affordable housing and over 200,000 square feet of commercial space, to engage residents in community life, and to support a robust economy through small business support and economic development. The structures built by DBEDC are physical manifestations of its work, but at its core, DBEDC’s work is about holistically strengthening the community it serves.
For more information, visit the DBEDC website at www.dbedc.org, follow us on Twitter @dbedc, like us on Facebook, connect with us on LinkedIn, and subscribe to our email list.
About Massachusetts Growth Capital Corporation (MGCC)
MGCC is a quasi-public corporation of the Commonwealth that saves and creates jobs at small businesses, including women, immigrant, veteran and minority-owned businesses, by providing financial services and managerial assistance. MGCC also promotes economic development throughout the state, focusing on Gateway Cities and low to moderate-income communities. MGCC works with traditional financial institutions to make challenging loans bankable, working with community development corporations and other non-profits to provide financing for job-producing projects, and assisting a wide range of small businesses find the growth capital they require. Since inception, it has served over 8,850 small businesses, positively impacted more than 21,200 jobs with customized working capital financing commitments totaling over $120,000,000.
For more information, visit the MGCC website at www.empoweringsmallbusiness.org, follow us on Twitter @MassGCC and LinkedIn, and subscribe to our email list.
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