The Cambridge Restaurant and Nightlife Relief Grant is a special grant program providing relief to local, non-franchise cafes, restaurants, and entertainment venues (e.g. movie theaters, performance venues, galleries) heavily impacted by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Donor Name: City of Cambridge
State: Massachusetts
City: Cambridge
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline (mm/dd/yyyy): 02/28/2022
Details:
The program provides working capital assistance to support restaurants and live entertainment venues with payroll, rent, inventory purchases (perishable and non-perishable), Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) purchases, and equipment, or other upgrades to enable them to stay open and ensure job retention after the severe interruption of business related to COVID-19 social distancing requirements.
Local restaurants and live entertainment venues can apply for one or more of these eligible types of working capital assistance. These funds may only be used for expenses incurred between March 3, 2021 – December 31, 2024.
- Paying for commercial mortgage and/or rent
- Purchase of perishable (e.g. food) or non-perishable inventory (e.g. new to-go containers)
Payroll - Utilities (e.g. commercial electric or gas bills, internet, business insurance)
- Purchase or upgrade of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) needed to comply with new public health guidelines, including, but not limited to: outdoor heaters, air purifiers, rapid tests for employees, masks for customers and staff
- Purchase of digital resources needed to maintain take-out and delivery services
- Marketing items, such as a website or menus
- Purchase equipment related to the pandemic, such as outdoor dining materials
Businesses that are already participating in other city grant programs can still apply to the Restaurant and Nightlife Relief Fund. Some exclusions may apply.
This grant cannot be used for the following:
- construction projects
- to pay for local, state, or federal taxes, permits, and license fees owed,
- repayment of any previous federal or local grants/loans owed.
Eligibility Criteria
Please note, that even if a business meets the grant criteria, that business is not guaranteed to receive a grant due to the funding constraints of this program.
Grant criteria preference points:
- Did not receive a previous COVID-19 small business grant/loan in 2020/2021 from the City of Cambridge (1 point)
- Did not receive funding from the federal Restaurant Relief Fund or Shuttered Venue Fund (1 point)
- Business Ownership* (owner owns at least 50% of the business):
- Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC)-owned (1 point)
- Disabled-owned (1 point)
- Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBTQ+)-owned (1 point)
- Women-owned (1 point)
- Veteran-owned (1 point)
- Loss of sales more than 40% from pre-pandemic levels (1 point)
- Have fewer than 10 full-time employees, or full-time equivalent employees, including the owner (1 point)
For non-profits, owner can be defined as the Executive Director/President of the organization.
For more information, visit City of Cambridge.
