By Kate Bramson
PROVIDENCE, R.I -- The City of Providence has halted a program that invested $50,000 in start-up companies committed to remaining here for at least a year, a program entrepreneurs say has been instrumental in creating a more vibrant community of like-minded people creating new companies.
Since the fall of 2011, the city has invested $1.65 million in 33 companies, 31 of which have graduated from Betaspring, the startup accelerator program in Providence and one of three entities whose companies were eligible for the money. That's more than the $1 million the city initially committed to the program out of a $10 million federal grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.