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.
Thank you to all the participants at the 2023 SBAC Golf Outing!
THANK YOU for attending our 2023 SBAC Golf Outing on June 6th! Thank you to everyone who came out to The Preserve on June 6, 2023 to play golf and celebrate the SBAC! We hope you enjoyed the day as much as we did, and hopefully it was a fun way to kick off the…
SBAC Advocacy Update: Health Insurance, Government Contracts & Outdoor Dining
Illinois legislators concluded their regular session. We are excited to report there were some big wins for the small business community! Health Insurance Many small businesses are struggling to afford the cost of health insurance. The Illinois General Assembly passed legislation focused on protecting small businesses from excessive premium increases and enhancing transparency so that…
City Council Expands Outdoor Dining in Chicago!
Chicago’s City Council passed an ordinance that reinstates policies that expand outdoor dining in Chicago. This ordinance will permit restaurants and taverns to serve customers near the curb, on the sidewalks of adjacent buildings, and in parking areas in proper situations. The ordinance also permits street closures to support local restaurants and taverns should various…
