Funding For Local Chambers of Commerce

Local chambers of commerce provide important support and services to small businesses. They connect small businesses to potential customers and play a pivotal role in fostering commerce in local communities. However, many chambers have been devastated by the pandemic. For that reason, we are asking state politicians to allocate a modest sum of ARPA money to provide crucial relief to these local chambers.

The SBAC is championing legislation that will provide grants to local and regional chambers of commerce to help them recover from the pandemic. Eligible chambers will receive grants in an amount equivalent to 2 months of lost revenue, or 1/6th of their annual lost revenue, for their losses between 2019 and 2020. Chambers must also have less than 1500 paid members to be eligible. The total amount allocated for this proposed program is 5 million dollars, a small sum considering Illinois received over 8 billion in federal ARPA money.

You can read the full legislation here.

Chambers of commerce have struggled since the onset of the pandemic. This is the time for politicians to support the non-profit chambers that support small businesses and local communities throughout Illinois.

Reach out to us at 312.548.8608 or email patti@sbacil.org to learn more.