Supporting Struggling Small Businesses
The pandemic and Covid-19 mitigations began inflicting immense damage to many small businesses in March of 2020. Thousands of small businesses initially applied for Illinois Business Interruption Grants. While these grants helped some small businesses, approximately 80% of eligible small businesses which applied were not awarded a grant.
Subsequently, Illinois received over 8 billion dollars in American Rescue Plan Act funds. However, only $250 million were allocated for Back to Business grant program. These funds will likely be exhausted before many struggling and eligible businesses receive grants.
Illinois still has billions of federal funds and should replenish the Back to Business grant program with an additional $300 million. Our policymakers should not pick winners and loses when there is adequate funding to support the struggling small businesses.
House Bill HB5489 will allocate an additional $300 million for the Back to Business grant program. Please ask your legislators to support this legislation so that struggling small businesses can receive the support they need to recover from a pandemic, and associated mitigations, which they could not control.
Small Business Grants in Illinois
Financial Growth Opportunities Running a business is hard and small business owners often do not have time to navigate grants, tax credits, and other funding opportunities. We are excited to help. While we cannot cover everything, we will do our best to keep you current on economic incentives that may be available for your business…
The Launch of the Chamber Relief Grant Program!
SBAC INSIGHTS PAGE We’re thrilled to announce the official launch of the Chamber Relief Grant Program by the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO). The program aims to provide vital support to chambers of commerce dedicated to uplifting small businesses and local communities. DCEO announced the launch of the chamber relief grant program, along with opening…
Phil Gafka – Insights & Blogs
Phil has been a mentor with us for a minute now and he’s always willing to help where there is need. Perhaps you joined us last summer when he hosted our first ever Lunch-and-Learn on leadership, a quality he demonstrated well then. Phil’s also a writer, and he frequently updates his website with blogs he’s…
