City of Belfast Micro-Enterprise Assistance and Business Facade Grant Programs

Bid Postings • City of Belfast Micro-Enterprise Assistance a Skip to Main Content Create a Website Account - Manage notification subscriptions, save form progress and more. Website Sign In City Government Our Community Doing Business Just Visiting How Do I Search Home Bid Postings Print Sign up to receive a text message or email when new bids are added! Print Bid Title: City of Belfast Micro-Enterprise Assistance and Business Facade Grant Programs Category: Economic Development Status: Closed Description: The City of Belfast has received a $150,000 Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Micro-Enterprise Assistance Grant. Funds from this program will be used to set up two separate grant programs: a micro-enterprise assistance grant program (primarily for equipment, inventory, and interior improvements); and a business facade grant program (primarily for exterior improvements). Businesses that receive assistance under the micro-enterprise assistance grant program must have 5 or fewer employees, one of whom owns the enterprise and whose family income is ‘low-to-moderate’ (80% of the Waldo County median family income, indexed to family size). For businesses receiving assistance under the business facade grant program, the improvements must take place in a designated slum/blight area, or be qualified on a ‘spot blight’ basis, which would be determined by the City’s Code Enforcement Officer. If you have a business or building in Belfast for which you may be interested in obtaining funds through this program for doing any of the above-mentioned eligible activities, or if you have any questions or concerns, please contact: Thomas Kittredge, Economic Development Director, City of Belfast, 131 Church Street, Belfast, (207) 338-3370 ext. 16, . Please check this page periodically for updates and additional information regarding this program. The CDBG program’s primary objective is to develop viable communities by providing decent housing and a suitable living environment and by expanding economic opportunities, principally for persons of low and moderate income. UPDATE (10/29/13): The advisory committee has been meeting regularly to evaluate applications that were submitted by the September 30th deadline, and is preparing to make its recommendations to the Belfast City Council, to be voted on at their meeting of November 6th. It is possible that not all of the $150,000 will be awarded at this time, and there may be another round of applications later this year. UPDATE (9/23/13): a minor revision/correction to the business facade grant program was made to the guidelines: the inclusion of roofing improvements as an eligible activity. This had been accidentally omitted during program development. However, roofing improvements must be publicly visible from the street to be eligible. UPDATE (8/21/13): the Belfast City Council approved application packets for both the micro-enterprise assistance grant and business facade grant programs at their meeting of August 20th. (Both application packets are now available for download below under 'related documents'.) Applications for both programs will be due at 4:00 PM on Monday, September 30th, 2013. Application packets can also be requested from Thomas Kittredge at (207) 338-3370 ext. 16 or at . Two optional information sessions where interested parties can ask questions about the program will be held on Monday, August 26th at 6:00 PM and Tuesday, August 27th at 8:00 AM, both in Belfast City Hall Council Chambers. UPDATE (8/16/13): the guidelines and applications for the micro-enterprise assistance grant and business facade grant programs will be voted on at the August 20th Belfast City Council meeting. If approved at that meeting, they will then be made available immediately, with a due date of September 30th. UPDATE (8/4/13): the advisory committee met for the sixth time on July 31st, working on developing program guidelines and applications for the Belfast City Council to approve. We are essentially finished on the micro-enterprise grant sub-program, and are nearly finished with the business façade grant program. We hope to be able to have both sub-programs approved by the City Council at their meeting of 8/20/13, after which we can begin accepting applications. Here are summaries for the two programs: 1) Micro-Enterprise Grants: grants for interior improvements, furniture, fixtures, machinery, equipment, inventory, improvements that will provide a measurable decrease in energy costs, improvements to a building that enhance new equipment upgrades, product development, and/or technology. Minimum grant: $2,500; maximum grant: $15,000. A 25% minimum cash match is required (for every $3 of grant assistance, $1 of cash match is required). For-profit businesses receiving assistance must: have 5 or less employees, at least one of whom owns the enterprise, and all owners must have family income that is determined to be low-to-moderate income. If the business leaves Belfast, goes out of business, or sells the assets obtained with grant funds in question, the business will have to repay a portion of the grant award back to the City of Belfast. The City of Belfast expects to devote approximately $105,000 out of the total $150,000 to micro-enterprise grants. 2) Business Façade Grants: grants for exterior improvements, including: storefronts, doors, signage, painting or stucco, re-pointing of brick, exterior lighting, decorative details, comices/parapet walls, siding, awnings, lighting, and display windows; handicapped access, including ramps, in conjunction with entrance improvements (no interior work such as bathrooms, ramps, or elevators); preservation, rehabilitation, and restoration of historic facades; and necessary architectural/design/historic preservation services. Improvements must take place in a designated slum/blight area, or be designated as ‘spot blight.’ Minimum grant: $2,500; maximum grant: $15,000. A 50% minimum cash match is required (for every $1 of grant assistance, $1 of cash match is required). If the building that receives exterior improvements is sold, a portion of the grant award will have to be repaid back to the City of Belfast. The City of Belfast expects to devote approximately $45,000 out of the total $150,000 to business façade grants. UPDATE (7/26/13): the advisory committee met for the fifth time on July 26th to continue work on formalizing the application and guidelines. The committee is utilizing guidelines and application forms developed by the Towns of Readfield and Stonington in their micro-enterprise assistance grants, and making changes to reflect Belfast's program. For the business facade grant program, the committee will be using one originally developed by the Town of Rockland and making changes to reflect Belfast's program. The committee will next meet on 7/31/13 to work on both of these applications. The committee now hopes to present both sets of guidelines and applications to the City Council at their meeting on August 20th at the earliest. (Also, the State of Maine has yet to actually receive their funds from HUD yet, so the City is unable to award any funds at this point.) UPDATE (7/19/13): the advisory committee met for the fourth time on July 19th to continue work on formalizing the application and guidelines, where the first draft application was reviewed. The committee has scheduled their next meeting for July 26th to continue that work, and make final revisions of the application. The committee hopes to present the guidelines and application to the Belfast City Council for their approval at their meeting of August 6th. UPDATE (7/12/13): the advisory committee met for the third time on July 12th to continue work on formalizing the application and guidelines. The committee has scheduled their next meeting for July 19th to continue that work. The committee expects to review a draft application at that meeting. UPDATE (7/8/13): the advisory committee met for the second time on July 8th to continue work on formalizing the application and guidelines. The committee has scheduled their next meeting for July 12th to continue that work. UPDATE (7/1/13): the advisory committee met for the first time on June 28th to begin work on formalizing the application and guidelines. The committee has scheduled their next meeting for July 8th to continue that work. UPDATE (6/18/13): the Belfast City Council approved the slate of members for the CDBG Micro-Enterprise Assistance Grant Advisory Committee. This committee will finalize the program guidelines (to be approved by the City Council), perform outreach, review applications, and select the ultimate recipients of these funds. The committee's first meeting has been scheduled for June 28th. The members of the committee are the following: Paul Doody (Camden National Bank), Jayne Crosby Giles (MaineStream Finance), Dorothy Havey (Penobscot Marine Museum), and Thomas Kittredge (Belfast Economic Development Director). UPDATE (5/21/13): Belfast City Council approved the creation of a CDBG Micro-Enterprise Assistance Grant Advisory Committee. This committee will finalize the program guidelines (to be approved by the City Council), perform outreach, review applications, and select the ultimate recipients of these funds. For Belfast residents who wish to be considered for this committee, applications are due by June 12th, 2013. It is hoped the membership for this committee will be approved by the City Council at their meeting of June 18th, 2013. At that point, this committee can begin working on developing the final application form. (While the final format of the application has not yet been determined, it will likely be somewhat similar in to the survey-pre-application that had been previously developed. To download this survey-pre-application, please look under 'Related Documents.') Publication Date/Time: 1/31/2013 12:00 AM Closing Date/Time: 9/30/2013 4:00 PM Related Documents: Micro-enterprise assistance grant p