BALTIMORE — A newly launched $5 million grant program aims to help nonprofit groups assisting small businesses and communities hurt by the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse.

The Greater Baltimore Committee and the Baltimore Community Foundation said they are accepting letters of interest on a rolling basis.

While the reopening of the Port of Baltimore has returned shipping to the area, many small businesses in the city and Anne Arundel and Baltimore counties will struggle until a bridge is rebuilt, the groups said.

The bridge fell March 26 after a cargo ship struck a support pier, collapsing the structure and killing six road maintenance workers. The Maryland Transportation Authority expects to select a builder for a new span by the end of the summer, but the new bridge isn’t expected to be completed before 2028.

The Maryland Tough Baltimore Strong Key Bridge Small Business Support Grants are designed to stimulate economic growth through technical and operational assistance. Grants will be given to nonprofits that work in impacted communities instead of directly to businesses.

The GBC and other groups will review grants for the community foundation, which manages the charitable fund. The fund had provided assistance to port workers and their families after the bridge collapsed, but small business support has emerged as a need, said Shanaysha M. Sauls, the foundation’s president and CEO.

Grants can be used for small business and entrepreneurship programming, developing small business networks, supplementing existing small business improvement grant programs, and investing in business districts’ physical improvements and marketing.

_____

©2024 The Baltimore Sun. Visit at baltimoresun.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.