City announces ARPA-funded small business grant opportunities

Oct. 25—SCRANTON — Wage-boost grants funded from a share of Scranton's federal American Rescue Plan Act allocation will help small businesses retain employees by offering more competitive pay.

Mayor Paige Gebhardt Cognetti and other officials announced the grant opportunity Monday at Cooper's Seafood House, as well as an unrelated $105,000 loan-to-grant for the iconic restaurant at 701 N. Washington Ave.

Scranton is dedicating $3 million of its $68.7 million ARPA allocation to fund the wage-boost grant program and other grants to help qualifying small businesses mitigate pandemic-prompted financial hardships. The wage-focused program, which officials expect to account for the majority of the $3 million, will provide grants up to $50,000 over the course of two years to supplement wages for employees.

Explaining the program, Cognetti said small-business recipients will use ARPA grant funds to boost wages by $2 per hour in year one. The cost of maintaining the elevated wages would be split in the second year, with the businesses covering half. Employers would be responsible for maintaining the higher pay in year three.

"So this is a way that we're fighting inflation," Cognetti said. "It's a way that we're helping small businesses compete in an environment that is so difficult for labor. It's been really hard to recruit and retain (workers) with all of the different macroeconomic factors."

That's especially true amid an influx of larger employers in the region able to provide higher wages, she said.

U.S. Rep. Matt Cartwright, D-8, Moosic, expressed a similar sentiment, calling the wage-boost program "a way to put small businesses in Scranton on a level footing with some of the international corporations that might be wooing away their employees."

The other grants funded from the $3 million pool of ARPA money are available to qualifying small businesses that have not received pandemic-related funding from other sources and were in business prior to March 3, 2020. Grant awards will be up to $25,000.

Officials are breaking down the $3 million allocation into two rounds of funding: $1 million in the first round that closes Nov. 14, and $2 million in a second that runs through January.

To apply for funding, visit safdn.org/grants. Information on the city's ARPA plan and program can be found online at scrantonpa.gov/arpa.

Officials also celebrated Monday the $105,000 loan-to-grant for Cooper's, which the restaurant used to hire three employees to support a microbrewery operation it launched earlier this year, co-owner Jack Cooper confirmed.

The Cooper's Family Brewing microbrewery is located in the landmark eatery.

Business loan-to-grants come from federal Community Development Block Grant funding allocated to the city by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Borrowers must create one full-time equivalent job for every $35,000 borrowed, and the loan converts to a grant if all conditions are met.

Information on that program is available at scrantonpa.gov/business.

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