HARTFORD, Conn. (WTNH) — Hartford businesses with five or less employees can now apply for $2,500 in grant funding.

“What we ultimately want to do though is make sure that we are helping every entrepreneur who’s got an idea, got the will, got the willingness to build that business, to start their business and get into that pipeline so that some day, hopefully, they’re able to grow larger,” Mayor Luke Bronin said.

The $500,000 microgrant program uses funds from the American Rescue Plan and Community Development Block Grants to aid the small businesses. The hope is the money will give entrepreneurs the right tools to succeed.

“A lot of our folks are solopreneurs,” said Sarah Bodley, the executive director of the reSET Social Enterprise Trust. “They’re trying to figure out how do they get the help that they need to be able to show up at markets to grow the footprint of that they’re doing with their business. And finding those early stage, capital resources is really, really hard.”

The grant money must be used to promote, support or expand businesses.

The application for the grant is available online.