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.
Legislation to Help Black Owned Businesses Receive a Fair Share of State Contracts
READ H.B 2629 HERE TAKE ACTION Black Owned Businesses Deserve Access to Government Contracts Illinois has failed Black and African American owned businesses by failing to provide them access to state contracts. For too long, they have been denied a fair share of state contracts and revenue. Legislation has been filed to ensure Black and…
Small Business Community Provides Senator Murphy Crucial Input on Business Interruption Grants
CHICAGO, IL – Senator Laura Murphy conducted a meeting with the Small Business Advocacy Council, small business owners and local chamber executives to discuss their experiences with Business Interruption Grants. Many attendees expressed concern and frustration regarding the manner by which BIG grants were awarded. Communication breakdowns impacted small businesses and left them hanging in…
Meet the SBAC Interns – an integral part of the SBAC Team.
Meet the SBAC Interns – an integral part of the SBAC Team. In 2020, we were fortunate to have more than 15 interns supporting our small business initiatives at the SBAC. Hear why they chose to be part of the SBAC Community. And thank you to them all. Please translate this page to…
