Viva Fall River assists small businesses in the District through outreach and relationship building, providing technical assistance through grants and partner programs – both specialized needs for individual businesses and general needs for several businesses, and creating opportunities for businesses to organize, network and be heard on a regular basis.
Financial Support
TDI Local
TDI Local is a small grants program that supports local market development. These small grants foster business, resident, and property owner engagement and build community identity while improving the public realm. Funding is awarded as block grants to representative public or not-for-profit organizations within the TDI Partnerships. The block grants, matched with local funding, are distributed to sub-grantees through locally developed programs designed to suit those individual communities’ needs and priorities.
In 2020, this grant program provided emergency funding immediately following the Covid-19 closures. Throughout the Summer of 2020, businesses in the South Main District applied for up to $5,000 to cover operating costs, such as rent, utilities, and staff, in order to stay afloat. There were three rounds of funding and a total of 20 businesses were awarded a total of $82,875 from April – September 2020.
A new round of funding is expected and an application will be made available on this page.
TDI Creative Catalyst
MassDevelopment’s TDI Creative Catalyst Grant program is a competitive grant program through which individuals and organizations in current and graduated Transformative Development Initiative (TDI) districts can apply for grants of between $20,000 to $40,000 to support public-facing projects that serve to enhance local arts and cultural infrastructure. Click here for more information and to apply.
Technical Assistance
Viva Fall River also helps businesses connect with service providers that can help them with creitical needs or barriers to success, such as the need for a website, e-commerce functionality, a social media management, and more.
From September 2020-May 2021, the Get Connected Grant Program offered funds that could be used for any legitimate business expense, whether to help with business growth, better serve existing customers, expand into new markets or sales platforms, or address any number of specific needs that would help a business remain successful in the “new normal” of a changing economy and consumer landscape.
Grants awards rangers from 2,500 – 5,000 and businesses received technical assistance from experts veted by Viva Fall River. These network providers provided a range of services, from new website, branding refreshes, in-store merchandising, social media, e-commerce and more. Each awardee also recieved a free Google My Business page/tune-up session with one of our Service Experts.
Find a Service Expert
A directory of Service Experts will be made available in the coming weeks. Please check back.
Outdoor Dining Program
The need for outdoor dining was amplified by the pandemic due to public health requirements. Even outside of the pandemic, outdoor dining is a component of a lively and active district that can attract people and make the restaurants more visible.Viva Fall River works to assist with the widespread adoption of outdoor dining in the city in the following ways:
- Assist businesses with permitting. working with the City to streamline the process for obtaining permits for outdoor dining spaces and assist businesses with navigating permitting.
- Create an Outdoor Dining Guide. A guide can be developed to help businesses understand the requirements necessary and resources available for outdoor dining.
- Provide grants and design assistance. Grants and design assistance can be provided to help businesses and elevate the quality of design in the district. One ois in the works for Spring 2022.
To date, Viva Fall River has created a unique parklet outside of 10 Purchase St, which houses two key downtown establishments, Thyme Blossom and The Meat Shop. Parklets are public seating platforms that convert curbside parking spaces into vibrant community spaces.
Viva Fall River also worked with the City to distribute outdoor heaters via a grant program to over 20 restaurants.