North Country businesses in transition receive boost from National Grid grant

SARANAC LAKE, N.Y. — The Adirondack North Country Association (ANCA) will use a $100,000 grant from National Grid (NYSE: NGG) to support the regional nonprofit’s North Country Center for Businesses in Transition (CBIT).

The funding will also help pay for a skills-building and networking conference for business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs.

The grant award will advance the CBIT partnership’s ongoing work supporting local business transitions. That includes the Small Communities. Big Opportunities.: Own a North Country Business Conference on Feb. 12-14, 2023.

The grant is funded through National Grid’s Project C initiative, which supports projects across New York State with a focus on clean energy and sustainability; workforce development; neighborhood investment and community engagement; and environmental justice and social equity.

Project C is funded by shareholders of the regional energy company.

“Since the beginning of the COVID pandemic, we have seen a dramatic rise in owners reaching out to CBIT who are eager to accelerate their exit strategies from three-to-five-year plans to more immediate exits,” Danielle Delaini, entrepreneurial economy program director at ANCA, said. “National Grid’s support comes at a crucial time and will help to attract and support both local and out-of-state entrepreneurs interested in taking over North Country businesses.”

Delaini went on to say the National Grid grant will also allow CBIT partners to provide succession-planning support for business owners through 2023. “These resources will help prevent business closures, darkened storefronts and job losses throughout the North Country,” she added.

“The Center for Businesses in Transition changes the trajectory for businesses in the North Country,” Alberto Bianchetti, National Grid’s regional director of customer and community engagement, said. “It shifts the course for a store or service at the end of its respective lifecycle to a period of rebirth, preserving its presence in the community and ensuring that their customers can continue to rely on the products and services that are essential to a vibrant community.”