MGCC COVID-19 Small Business Grants & Technical Assistance

For the latest information and opportunities from MGCC, visit their website at https://www.empoweringsmallbusiness.org .

UPDATE (2/9/2021)

Over 9,000 small business grants have been approved by MGCC in all three programs: Sector-specific Relief, Under-5-Employee, and Under-50-Employee. MGCC continues to process and review applications received. Due to the high volume, they are experiencing delays in reviewing, granting, and disbursement of grant funds. Rest assured that all applications received will be reviewed and decisions rendered for. Funding of approved grants is expected 2-4 weeks after grant agreement signature and banking information are provided.

As part of the review process, about 4000 applicantions in all three grant programs were found to be in need of additional documentation. MGCC sent out an email on February 7th, 2021, instructing the applicants to contact MGCC via Sumbittable MESSAGEs to receive details on what documentations are needed in order to cure the application for approval. PLEASE FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS in the email. Do not contact MGCC via regular email or by phone. There is a team of 35+ agents available to respond to Submittable MESSAGE inquiries.

HERE is a sample MESSAGE to send to MGCC.

Please communicate with MGCC as soon as possible. Deadline for curing is Friday 2/19/2021, 5PM.

If you are looking for information on curing your MGCC application and you received recent communications from MGCC about it, please click here.

Support is now available in multiple languages.

(Update 1/15/2021) The coalition is no longer accepting new clients. Please see the resources below and visit www.empoweringsmallbusiness.org for further eligibility guidance as well as guides to the Sector-Specific Relief Grants in multiple languages.

English
Español (Spanish)
Português (Portuguese)
Kreyòl ayisyen (Haitian Creole)
中文 (Chinese)
ខ្មែរ (Khmer)
Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)

ROUNDS 1 & 2 (Nov. 2020)

Update as of 12/31/2020 -- If you applied for the earlier round of MGCC COVID grants but you were not awarded a grant in December, your application is automatically considered for funding in this second round. Do not re-apply to the Sector-Specific Relief Grant program, even if your business is in one of the priority sectors.Look for an email from MGCC or Submittable.com in the next 2 weeks for any further action needed.

The most common cause for delay is failure to upload a Certificate of Good Standing or Business Certificate (DBA), and incomplete tax returns. Please make sure you have those documents ready and follow the instructions provided here.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Frequenly Asked Questions (FAQs) (last updated 11/4/2020)

VIDEO - Seminario | Demonstración de la solicitud (11/5/2020)

Massachusetts Small Business Development Network

(El nuevo plazo de solicitud es el martes 17 de noviembre a las 11:59 p.m. Este video fue grabado el 5 de noviembre y hace referencia a la fecha límite anterior, pero es un buen recurso. Explica todo del proceso en español.)

Technical Assistance & Outreach Partners

Small Business Grants Awarded. NEW Sector-Specific Relief Grant Program Announced

UPDATED 12/30/2020:

Over 11,000 applications for the State's Small Business Relief grants were received in November.
1158 small businesses were awarded these COVID-19 Small Business Grants through MGCC in the first round of $50.8 million on 12/21/2020.
Governor Baker announced an additional $668 million to fund the grant program on 12/23/2020.
Existing applications submitted to MGCC will be considered first in this second round of funding. Those applicants should not apply for the new Sector-Specific Relief Grant program.
A new Sector-Specific Relief Grant program_will be created, targeting several business areas: restaurants and bars; nail/beauty salons; indoor recreation, sports & fitness, and event facilities; and professionals supporting public events (e.g caterers, performers and photographers).

The new grant program will open on December 31, 2020 at 12 pm (noon) and will close on January 15, 2021 at 11:59 pm. Apply and learn more on the Massachusetts Growth Capital Corporation (MGCC) website. LISC and its partners will continue to work with MGCC to assist applicants, connecting small businesses to business advisors from organizations across the state.

Check back soon for more information. Sign up below to receive help with your application through upcoming workshops and one-on-one assistance.

In October 2020, Governor Charlie Baker announced $50.8 million in emergency funds would be made available for small businesses. An additional $668 million was announced on December 23rd, after over 11,000 applications were received for that grant program. Massachusetts Growth Capital Corporation (MGCC) is administering these funds and other funds to businesses experiencing economic hardship and a loss of income due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

LISC with more than 40 community partners across the Commonwealth recognize the significant language and technology barriers many minority-owned businesses may face in applying for these grants. Business support organizations (BSOs) across the Commonwealth will belready to provide help to businesses for the MGCC grant application.

Launched October 2020

Contact

Doug Ling, LISC & Massachusetts Small Business Grants