Grant Application

Summary of Somers Small Business and Non Profit Grant Program

April 26, 2022

Tier Level Presentation

Award Recipients

The Somers Small Business and Non-profit ARPA Grant Program was initiated by the First Selectman and delegated to Mike Marinaccio to implement. He created a committee composed of himself, Brian Wissinger, Allison Maynard, me, and George Krivda, our consultant, who had just assisted East Windsor with a similar project.  George’s role was to provide guidance and act as an independent review of each grant application. The application form was developed by our team and made available to the Town both online and in print. Grant applications were accepted starting at midnight, on March 1st and closed at 4:30 pm on March 31st. It is important to remember that the ARPA defined eligible time frame of this grant period was March 3rd, 2021, up to the time of the application. That timeframe was post-PPP loan eligibility and consequently, the committee determined information about PPP loans (which were designed specifically to keep a company’s workforce employed during the pandemic), was inconsequential in determining grant awards for our program.  In addition, to ensure that there were no duplicate awards, the committee was sure to note that all the applicants had separate tax identification numbers.   

119 applications were received.

4 applications from out of state were not accepted. leaving 115 for review.

101 Businesses.

14 Non-profits.

Of the 101 Businesses, 2 applications were not accepted as they were received past the deadline and 1 business withdrew their application, leaving 98 businesses.

Of the 14 Non-profits, 3 applications were not accepted. One because it failed to meet the test of a non-profit, organized and operated for a collective, public, or social benefit for all the residents of a community. 1 application was not accepted as it was deemed an arm of the Town and 1 application was not accepted because they were not a registered non-profit during the period outlined by the ARPA Final Rule.

Our consultant, George, independently reviewed each application searching for negative financial impacts that fit the ARPA Final Rule requirements and the Town’s award limit of $10,000.00. 

Approximately 2/3 of the applications needed some form of follow-up. The remaining were contacted by email or telephone, and several required multiple contacts. Notes of the process indicate that the overall negative impacts to these applicants totaled in excess of one million dollars in damages that were directly caused by or exacerbated by the Covid-19 public health emergency from 3/3/21 to the time the applications were received.

After determining the negative financial impacts for businesses, the information was filtered through a tiered loss decision matrix, which tied the potential grant award dollar amounts to the magnitude of financial loss and hardship suffered by the applicant. Such a tiered matrix provided consistency and fairness when evaluating and comparing applicants to each other. This analytical tool proved particularly useful in arriving at an equitable awarding and distribution of the available grant funding amount.

Nonprofits were made whole up to $10,000.

The results can be reviewed on the chart that was distributed and the raw information used to support those decisions may be found in the 3 binders George brought this evening for your review. At the end of the project, this documentation will remain with the Town as a hard copy reference and demonstration of the Town’s due diligence and comprehensive analysis and review.

We have requested 109 awards totaling $459,279.50 and received preliminary approval from the CIP Committee. This evening, we are requesting the Board of Finance’s approval of an allocation of ARPA funds to cover that amount. 

On behalf of the Selectmen and the members of our committee I thank you for your consideration.     

Respectfully,

Lisa A. Madden, CCMC

Thank you for visiting our web page. Application period is now closed. Notifications will be sent by May 3rd.

For those wishing to submit your application via mail, please download the form here: Grant Application PDF Form

Somers
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