Experience Princeton has established a pilot storefront matching grant program to help businesses in the special improvement district make improvements.
The matching grant program, which officially launched on Sept. 5, had been developed over the past several months by Experience Princeton’s Streetscapes team.
As of Sept. 10, no businesses had been signed up to the program, but Isaac Kremer, executive director of Experience Princeton shared, “that is expected” and outreach will begin in October.
Experience Princeton, previously known as Princeton Business Partnership prior to its renaming, is the nonprofit overseeing the special improvement district (SID). They are led by an executive director and board of directors.
The hardest thing for a business is to find the time and resources needed to make improvements to their business, Kremer explained.
“That is why we are giving a grant to incentivize doing things that both help the business and enhance the overall visual interest and economic vibrancy of Princeton,” he said “One of our volunteers did an analysis looking at storefronts and found there were many low-cost opportunities to make improvements. That is how the program started.”
Each business that is granted the funding would be provided up to $500 by Experience Princeton.
“We require a dollar-for-dollar matching funding from the business,” Kremer said. “If they want to spend more than $500 that is fine. We will only reimburse up to $500.”
Kremer encourages businesses to contact them before applying for the grant. A link to the Design Guidelines and an online application can be found at https://forms.gle/N8UkDCvUkb7o6SE98.
“We can help answer any questions and make sure they provide all of the required information for the program,” Kremer said, adding “once applications are received, they will be reviewed by volunteers on Experience Princeton’s Streetscapes Team.
The team will make funding decisions at their monthly meeting. The goal is to fund 10 projects at $500 each by June 30, 2025.
