Non-profits like chambers of commerce, downtown improvement associations or community markets will soon have access to new funding from the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA).
Up to $10 million is available to help organizations revitalize downtowns which have been devastated by pandemic restrictions.
Ginette Petitpas Taylor, MP for Greater Moncton and minister responsible for ACOA, says these organizations need to remain viable.
“Local businesses really want to make sure that they’re able to remain open and they certainly recognize and support the local business they’ve received over the past two years, but they want to make sure that ‘Buy Local’ is going to continue in the long term.”
Petitpas Taylor says non-repayable loans are available from $25,000 to $500,000.
“It just depends on the scope of the project. Now, if there would be a project that would be larger in scope that would be really regional, we could go up to a million dollars.”
The window to submit applications is rather tight from April 4-29.
Petitpas Taylor adds the reason is to get the funding to these non-profits as soon as possible.
