Foxborough Unemployment Drops, But Businesses Still Need Help

Jimmy Bentley
·2 min read

FOXBOROUGH, MA — At the height of the coronavirus pandemic, Foxborough's unemployment rate rose to 16 percent in April.

The closure of restaurants, retail stores and other industries amid Gov. Charlie Baker's initial closing of the Massachusetts economy halted Foxborough's businesses for months. But fortunately in Foxborough, the town's economy started slowly bouncing back.

According to the Massachusetts Department of Unemployment Assistance, Foxborough's unemployment rate dropped to 10.4 percent in August. This is below the state average of 11.2 percent, and marked a significant improvement from June when town unemployment peaked at 17.2 percent.

Still, Foxborough businesses, especially the small mom-and-pop shops are struggling. Planning Director Paige Duncan said wedding venues like Lake View Pavilion suffered immensely since the beginning of the pandemic.

"Lake View Pavilion, they haven't had a wedding since March," Duncan said. "We have been working with them and talking to them and talking to them. Weddings are just heavily regulated as a function."

How is Foxborough trying to help small businesses?

Duncan said the town has partnered with Bellingham, Franklin, Medfield, Walpole and Wrentham to secure a $683,100 to be split among the six communities. The grant is part of the Micro-business Assistance Program and provide grants of up to $10,000 for local businesses with five or fewer employees. From that grant, $54,000 will also go towards helping local food pantries.

The application deadline for the Micro-business Assistance Program is Oct. 7. Any business that meets the criteria is welcome to apply for the grant here. Still, Duncan said, the town wants to help more businesses, but the resources at the local level have been limited as towns wait for more federal relief.

"We basically are facilitating it and getting it out at the local level," Duncan said. "We are begging for other funding though. Businesses with five or fewer employees, we'd love to help, but we'd love to be able to help more, like the restaurants. We'd like to help businesses that have six employees too."

Duncan said the town will be putting out a survey within the next week to help identify needs for all Foxborough businesses.

This article originally appeared on the Foxborough Patch