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EDC member proposes tiered, milestone-based tracking for Business Assistance Grant
Summary
A committee member proposed a tiered grant rubric, milestone-based reporting and regular impact surveys to better measure the Business Assistance Grant's effects on job creation and revenue; members agreed a rubric exists but asked for refinements and benchmarks and suggested case studies and AFC-facing ROI figures.
At the May 6 meeting, Unidentified Speaker (speaker 6) presented a formal proposal to strengthen the Town of Westborough's Business Assistance Grant program by adding a tiered award structure, milestone-based monitoring and regular follow-up reporting. "We see that there is no clear measure tools that we can measure the success of this program," the presenter said, and proposed tiers based on how long a business has been in town, business size, cash flow and stage (startup, growth, established).
The presenter asked for 6- or 12-month surveys to collect data on hires, revenue growth and partnerships and recommended using testimonials or short videos to highlight success stories on town channels. The speaker said $80,000 in grants have been issued from 2024 to the present and argued that measuring ROI would let the committee better present results to the Advisory Finance Committee (AFC).
Members responded that a rubric already includes many of those criteria (jobs created, size and tenure) but welcomed refinements, suggested benchmarks at 60, 90 and 120 days, and urged seeking AFC buy-in for any new reporting format. One member proposed a working group that includes previous award recipients to shape practical metrics; another noted that some funded projects produce anecdotal rather than fully quantitative outcomes and that AFC will seek usable measures. Committee staff were asked to share last year's AFC presentation as a starting point for refinement.
