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 Mayoral Forum
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Legislation to Support Local Chambers Passes
Many chambers of commerce were devastated by the pandemic. However, this did not stop them from providing crucial support to local businesses. The SBAC is thrilled to report that Illinois politicians have provided 5 million dollars to support the recovery of chambers of commerce in Illinois. The SBAC has been working to procure this funding…
Childcare Tax Credit
Authors: Minna Pomeroy, Leverage People Leslee Cohen, All Rise Legal Counsel Employers across our state are struggling to find enough employees to support their businesses. Indeed, some businesses have been forced to scale back their operations because of a lack of employees in the workforce. The Small Business Advocacy Council is championing legislation that will…
