Governor JB Pritzker announced today that the next series of grants made available for small businesses suffering losses as a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic will be made available this Thursday afternoon.
The first round of BIG funds has helped 2,800 businesses in 78 counties across the state make ends meet.
Accion and the
Women’s Business Development Center (WBDC) will process the grants in this round. Grants will range from $5,000 to $150,000, commensurate with revenue losses incurred and business size.
The second wave of funds from BIG aims to provide relief for all types of small businesses and includes a focus on businesses in disproportionately impacted areas (DIAs) -
which includes Hanover Park. The latest wave of funding includes the following provisions to ensure a wide distribution of funds geographically and across business type:
- Heavily Impacted Industries – $60 million for heavily distressed industries, such as movie theaters, performing arts venues, concert venues, indoor recreation, amusement parks, event spaces located at banquet halls and hotels, and more.
- Disproportionately Impacted Areas – $70 million set aside for DIAs, defined by zip codes identified by the General Assembly for communities that are most economically distressed and vulnerable to COVID-19. This includes Hanover Park. A map of DIAs can be accessed here.
- Priority Businesses – Apart from the $60 million for heavily impacted industries, applications from the following types of businesses will be prioritized for review for remaining funds: businesses directly affected by regional mitigations implemented by the state or local governments, independently owned retail, tourism- and hospitality-related industries including accommodations, and more.
- Grants and Loan Forgiveness for Illinois Small Business Emergency Loan recipients – As authorized by the General Assembly, DCEO will offer grants for businesses that have incurred eligible costs to offset loans received under the Illinois Small Business Emergency Loan program. This round of loan forgiveness and grants will go to businesses that have received loans or remain on the wait list and the program will sunset going forward as DCEO and its partners focus on making BIG awards.
HOW TO APPLY: We will begin accepting applications for the second round of BIG on the afternoon of
Thursday, September 17. Please return here for a link to the application. To help you prepare for your application, see below a preliminary application and checklist.
ROUND 2 APPLICATION DETAILS:
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