Navigating A Chicago Loan Program For Businesses Suffering Due To COVID-19
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Illinois Governor JB Pritzker's announcement extending the stay at home order is certainly not good news for many business owners and their employees.
CBS 2 is Working for Chicago to connect you with what you need to get thru this pandemic. CBS 2's Vince Geraolse takes a look at a new imitative to help small businesses.
When it came to applying for billions in federal loans or millions in local aid, many small businesses were overwhelmed by problematic application portals, and mounds of documentation.
In response, the city of Chicago has created a program to help businesses identify and apply for aid, and it's free.
Benita Phipps' shut down resale shop hasn't made a sale in weeks.
"Being here in Bronzesville on Grand Boulevard is an awesome thoroughfare," said Phipps who owns A Lotta Good Stuff. "What I love is quality."
But in the pandemic economy, she's surprisingly optimistic.
"You come into this place and it makes you feel grandma's house," Phipps said.
But dig just a little deeper.
"I am like what am I going to do? How am I going to survive," she asked.
And there are worries about overdue rent, federal loans yet to come through, and surviving the crisis.
"Yes it's absolutely frightening, I have to say," Phipps said.
But a virtual business counseling session is easing some of those fears. Partnering with 10 non-profit's, the cIty has created the Small Business Navigator program.
"We tell them they must be resilient," said Rhonda McFarland of the Quad Communities Development Corporation. "The amount of information that's coming out and the sources is absolutely overwhelming."
Free of charge, small businesses can get help in identifying loan and grant programs and filling out the complicated forms that could lead to an economic lifeline.
The city has funded the hiring of additional financial counselors at each of the non profits. Rhonda McFarland at the Quad Communities Development Corporation said she's counseled some 50 clients in the last month, a five-fold increase.
Most of them fell through the cracks.
"It was like point and click," Phipps said.
The Navigator helped Phipps realize she could qualify for a federal loan which she's now applied for. And she's received a community grant from the nearby University Of Chicago which has helped her put some of her fears on the shelf for the moment.
"I am still excited and I am hopeful for what's to come," McFarland said.
In addition to the one on one sessions, the counselors set up webinars and check in periodically with the clients to see how they are doing mentally too.
The city of Chicago set aside $100,000 for the program, That's $10,000 for each Navigator.
Chicago's Small Business Resource Navigators will be available to provide unique business support throughout the duration of the COVID-19 outbreak and as financial resources continue to evolve. The following organizations are serving as Navigators:
North Side
- Albany Park Community Center
- Rogers Park Business Alliance
Northwest/West Side
- Northwest Side Community Development Corporation
- Puerto Rican Cultural Center
- West Side Forward
South/Southeast/Southwest Side
- Greater Southwest Community Development Corporation
- Little Village Chamber of Commerce
- Quad Communities Development Corporation, NFP
- South East Chicago Commission
- South Shore Chamber of Commerce
