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The Danville Town Council is set Tuesday to consider funding a new grant program aimed at supporting local businesses and attracting shoppers to the town’s brick-and-mortar stores.
The proposed Business Boost Grant Program is aimed at fortifying the profiles of small local businesses by offering grants of up to $3,000 to eligible business owners for promotion, enrichment, and enhancement of their existing operations.
If approved, the program would be funded with $200,000 that was previously allocated for the town’s Forward Focus Business Grant Program that began in 2020 during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
With the state of emergency recognizing the pandemic lifted at the local and state levels earlier this year amid the return of relatively normal business and shopping practices, the new grant program aims to fill in the gaps left for small business owners following early pandemic-era grants that kept many afloat during economically difficult and uncertain times.
“Moving beyond the pandemic, businesses are adapting to remain competitive. In this environment, continued support for business growth and retention is vital,” said Jill Bergman, the town’s business and economic development director. “An effective way to do this is through offering a grant program allowing individual small business owners to apply for and receive funding which may be used in a variety of ways that work best for their business.”
The $200,000 in funding would go toward at least 60 grants of up to $3,000 each, with $20,000 going to the Danville Area Chamber of Commerce to fund grants to 20 businesses under the chamber’s Business Branding Program.
The boost grants from the town would be aimed at small brick-and-mortar businesses with 10 or fewer employees, including retail, beauty, fitness, and dining businesses, with applications being reviewed on a first-come, first-served basis. The grants would be available for business owners to use for business promotion and enrichment endeavors, event promotion, and customer experience enhancements such as additional furniture, subscription and point of sale services, and professional development for staff.
Councilmembers are set to vote on the program at their next regular meeting on Tuesday (May 2). The agenda is available here.
