Use this search box to find articles that have run in our newspapers over the last several years.
Date: 5/27/2020
HILLTOWNS – On May 15, the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) made $10 million of CARES Act funds available through the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program to provide financial relief to non-entitlement communities across the state impacted by the COVID-19. All the communities in the hilltowns are non-entitlement, which means they must apply for the CDBG funding. The application is due to DHCD on June 5.
Dave Christopolis, executive director of the Hilltown Community Development Corporation (CDC), is submitting a regional CARES Act application on behalf of the hilltowns. He said funding from the $10 million dollars can be used for micro-business assistance, small businesses, and to assist low-to-moderate income (LMI) households.
“Based on input we have been given through surveys and community discussions, access to food and support to small businesses are priorities and are eligible under this grant,” said Christopolis.
The regional application has Chesterfield as the lead town, and will include the southern hilltowns of Blandford, Chester, Huntington, Middlefield, Montgomery, and Russell as well as towns further north.
In a memo to the towns asking for their participation, Christopolis said the Hilltown CDC application is proposing to include a combination of the following programs:
Hilltown Food Bucks: This program will provide LMI households with coupons to use for the purchase of food at local retailers/farms. The benefits of this program are to help LMI households who may have lost jobs purchase food; to allow LMI households to shop locally, thereby decreasing the risk of exposure when traveling to larger metropolitan areas, and to help the local retailers/farms stay in business.
Micro-Enterprise Relief Program (MRP): This program will provide small businesses with fewer than five employees, and micro-enterprises including farms with grants to help them stabilize their business if it has been negatively affected by COVID-19.
The CARES Act will also provide rent and mortgage relief of up to three months of rent / mortgage payments. The benefit of this program is helping LMI households maintain payment history. Even if a household has received a payment deferral, as businesses reopen and deferrals are no longer in place, families may struggle to make up that payment gap. This funding will be directly granted to the Regional Housing Authorities, and residents in the Hilltowns will be able to apply to them for assistance. The Hilltown CDC will help make referrals for this assistance, according to Christopolis.
The maximum grant amounts are up to $10,000 per business to qualifying microenterprises adversely impacted by COVID-19; and up to $4,000 for eligible residents.
Erica Johnson, principal planner for the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission, said the state is releasing these funds for three specific activities; rental assistance, small business assistance and to support social services. She said the state is offering assistance to municipalities for business assistance and social services only, with rental assistance funds going to agencies that regularly provide this service.
In an email, Johnson said she supports the HIlltown CDC’s application for small business assistance. “I support and encourage this relationship recognizing the good work Dave and his staff are already doing at the CDC,” Johnson said in an email.
While the Hilltown CDC closed its office on March 16, it has continued to provide essential services to the region that include small business assistance, housing rehab, senior support services, senior transportation, food delivery, support to farmers and affordable housing management. Hilltown CDC staff are working from home around the clock, Christopolis said.
They have also been engaging the community through surveys, zoom calls and e-mails to determine the impact of COVID-19 and the needs in the region.
“Small businesses are critical to the Hilltown region's economic viability. The Hilltowns can be vulnerable to development pressures and has barriers to development due to under-investment in our infrastructure. We lack broadband, natural gas, public water and sewer and public transportation. This is typical in rural areas limiting commercial development making our local family owned businesses that much more important to our micro-economy,” Christopolis said.
“In true Hilltown fashion, we will stretch these resources as far as they can go by rolling up our sleeves and getting our hands dirty. That's what we do best,” he added.
For more information on the CARES Act funding for small businesses, contact Christopolis at DavecC@hilltowncdc.org or Michele Kenney, economic development coordinator at MicheleK@hilltowncdc.org.