Amherst Chamber Announces Winter Pivot Grant Awards In Support Of Area Businesses

Deadline For Next Round Of Grants Is February 22

The Amherst Area Chamber of Commerce www.amherstarea.com  announces its new ‘Winter Pivot Grant’ awards, made possible through an FY21 Earmark secured by Senator Jo Comerford and administered through the Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development.

Eighteen $500 grants have been awarded to the following organizations: Anytime Fitness, Belchertown; April Eve Images, Belchertown; Greggory’s Bake Shop, Hadley; Hakim Noah, Licensed Massage Therapist, Amherst; Karen Levine Acupuncture, Amherst; Linda Robinson-Hidas & The Acupuncture Works, Amherst; North Hadley Sugar Shack, Hadley; Orangetheory Fitness, Hadley; People’s Acupuncture Clinic, Inc., Amherst; Peter’s Nails, Hadley; South Amherst Laundry, Amherst; Subway Restaurant (Hampshire Mall), Hadley; Taste Thai Cuisine, Amherst; Tutti Frutti (Hampshire Mall), Hadley: Valley Therapeutic Massage, Amherst; ViVi Bubble Tea, Amherst; Wilburn Chiropractic, Amherst; and Wild Roots, Sunderland.

Due to the generosity of several area businesses and entities, The Chamber has been able to match each grant with an additional $500, for a total of $1,000 in small business relief to each.

Organizations contributing to the match are: Amherst Insurance, Curran & Keegan Financial, Boisselle, Morton and Wolkowicz, LLP, PeoplesBank and the Downtown Amherst Foundation. Of note, the Downtown Amherst Foundation was able to match eight of the Amherst awards totaling $4,000. The Amherst Area Chamber has been working in tandem with the DAF’s host organization, the Amherst Business Improvement District to continuously fundraise.
 
Claudia Pazmany, Executive Director, Amherst Area Chamber, commented:
“The Amherst Area Chamber is proud to continue to offer every possible lifeline to our businesses to keep them afloat during these difficult winter months, and with this earmark we were able to offer these grants to our entire Amherst Area and as you can see from the list, it is a fantastic cross section of diverse businesses in type, in ownership and in geography. We could not be more proud to spread these funds around the business community.”
 
Pazmany reported that The Grant committee will open up a new grant cycle on February 8 as there are 7 remaining $500 grants to distribute.
 
Eligibility requirements include the following:
 
You are eligible if:

• Your main brick-and-mortar store or business is in the Towns of Amherst, Belchertown, Hadley, Pelham, Leverett, Shutesbury, or Sunderland (at least 50% of your receipts come from that location).
• Your business is eligible for this initial round of grants if its 2019 revenues were between $25,000 and $750,000 (increased for this second round) and your 2020 annualized revenue has been reduced by 25% or more due to the state’s current guidelines for business during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Your business is a for-profit entity.

 
Your business is not eligible if:

• You work remotely in a coffee shop, co-working space, or from home.
• You received a Downtown Amherst Foundation (DAF) Relief and Resiliency Grant or our Winter Pivot Grant.
  
  The application is due Monday, February 22, 2021,  by 11:59 p.m. The application can be found here: http://amherstarea.com/wintergrant. If you are a business that does not have access to internet or prefers a paper copy please email Claudia Pazmany, Executive Director, for any inquiries at claudia@amherstarea.com.