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.
SBAC on the Move: Advocating for the Small Business Community
SBAC INSIGHTS PAGE SBAC on the Move: Advocating for the Small Business Community At the SBAC, we’re committed to ensuring that small businesses have a seat at the table regarding policymaking. Over the last few months, the SBAC has heavily engaged with policymakers and community leaders to advocate for small businesses. From forums to roundtables,…
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…
Third Fair Chance Cohort
SBAC INSIGHTS PAGE Calling all employers: Third Fair Chance Hiring Cohort launching in Winter 2025! Join the Fair Chance movement and a growing network of business leaders that recognize the benefit of hiring justice-impacted individuals. What we do: We work with companies to hire, retain, and advance justice-impacted talent (who represent 1 in 3 working-age Americans). We get to…
