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Economic development staff outline resource gap, grants and outreach to support Somerville small businesses
Summary
Deputy director of economic development described recent grants, technical-assistance programs, a new leasing handbook and plans to act as a convener for licensing and outreach; office hours and email intake available for vendors needing help with procurement steps.
Deputy Director Dana Whiteside and other economic development staff updated the Somerville City Council committee on June 30 about efforts to track and support small businesses amid changing federal and local conditions.
Whiteside said the Economic Development Division's capacity to track business-level economic data is limited and that staff rely on partners such as SomerStat for robust sales-tax analysis. She called the division's role a convener: "One of the primary areas of support that we've learned is needed is facilitating or easing the process of things like permanent licensing," Whiteside said.
Recent supports: Whiteside reviewed several recent…
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