Alisa Bowens-Mercado, who founded New Haven-based Rhythm Brewing in 2018, will use a portion of the funds she’ll receive from a new grant program to create a new tap room.

“It’s bigger than me, bigger than a can of beer,” Bowens-Mercado said of her business. “It’s about employment. It’s about bringing a culture to an industry that doesn’t have a lot of Alisas running around.”

Bowens-Mercado’s brewery — the first in Connecticut to be founded and led by an African-American woman — is one of 44 women-owned businesses to share in $400,00 given out by the Women’s Business Development Council’s Equity Match Grant Program.

The program was developed to help businesses deal with economic challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. Since December 2020, the Equity Match Grant Program has already helped 56 local businesses; this is the second round of grants awarded by the Stamford-based organization.

Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz and Fran Pastore, founder and chief executive officer of the Women’s Business Development Council, launched the grant program last August.

Bysiewicz said there “is no doubt that women-owned businesses have been disproportionately impacted by the coronavirus.”

“The (grant program offers the) opportunity to start and expand their business, the opportunity to improve and build credit, and the opportunity for young women to acquire effective financial and business acumen,” she said. “Every woman-owned business person spends every dollar she makes right in her own community.”

The grants are being used for such things as purchasing critical business assets or helping businesses to move online.

Pastore said the program offers grants of between $2,500 to $10,000. She said the program also requires female entrepreneurs to provide up to 25 percent of the grant from their own money in matching funds.

A business owner buying a $12,500 piece of equipment, for example, would receive a $10,000 grant, according to Pastore.

The Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development is matching all funds raised by the WBDC on a dollar-for-dollar basis.

Pastore said she received 210 applications for grants this round, and that 32 percent of businesses receiving money are owned by women of color.

“The Equity Match grant program is designed to help businesses pivot,” Pastore said during a virtual press conference Thursday. “[Business owners] need to have skin in the game.”

Pastore said the program is already preparing for another funding round and will begin accepting applications in June. Priority will be given to applicants who are from economically distressed communities.

Applicants are required to submit clearly defined explanations of how they would use the grant money and documentation of how their business has performed in the past.

Additional information about applying for the program can be found on the WBDC website or by calling 203-751-9550.