![Holyoke Mayor Joshua Garcia [far left]](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/0b93dff/2147483647/strip/true/crop/4032x3024+0+0/resize/840x630!/format/webp/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fcd%2Fe7%2F4ba1919b429abb99b8f64f5b4be1%2Fimg-0956.jpeg)
A handful of local businesses in Holyoke received grants from the state last Friday to invest in new housing projects and economic development objectives for the city.
There were 10 businesses in Holyoke that received funding through the state's Community One Stop for Growth initiative, which awards funding to most municipalities in the state including all 26 gateway cities and 165 of the state's 181 rural communities.
Holyoke Mayor Joshua Garcia spoke about the importance of this funding and the grant awardees at the Old San Juan Bakery on High Street. The bakery received $55, 237 dollars from the state to improve mechanical, electrical, and plumbing as well as building an ice cream parlor extension.
"It doesn't feel like we have a strong partner in the federal level,” Holyoke Mayor Joshua Garcia said. “We are very appreciative of the administration currently at the state level, who has been doing the best they can to help you know elevate that partnership and cover the gaps where the federal government is falling short."
Co-founder of Cornucopia health and wellness store, Nate Clifford, was among one of the 10 businesses who got a state grant. He said he wants to use their $100,000 dollar grant to construct a commercial kitchen in the back of the market.
“We were going to end up with this very bare bones prep food kitchen that was really just for us to be able to properly take care of the fresh produce we want to carry,” Clifford said. “And now we have this opportunity to do this thing that is just so much more grand and so much more in line with our larger mission of serving the community in a full way.”
The executive director of OneHolyoke CDC, a housing development nonprofit, Nayroby Rosa, wants to use their $75,000 dollar grant to building a 30 unit housing project in the Flats neighborhood of Holyoke. Total construction for the project costs between 8 to $10 million.
"We really want the building to look like the people that live there. We're looking at some construction that looks a little bit like Puerto Rico's construction. We have an architect that's built in Puerto Rico, so we’re looking into that,” Rosa said.
Western mass communities received $64 million dollars from the total $330 million dollar pool of state money.