Small Business Administration Responds to COVID-19

As the nation responds to the impact of COVID-19, WBC is taking steps to help small businesses negatively affected by the virus. One of the ways WBC is doing so is by sharing information from the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) on their measures, including loan programs to address challenges small businesses are facing.

Thus far, the SBA has received authorization to provide small business assistance through the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program. This program can provide low interest loans of up to $2M to businesses and private non-profits. SBA is working with the State of Illinois to support their efforts to submit the Governor’s request for a declaration to the EIDL program. To accomplish this, the state is identifying businesses who have experienced substantial economic injury. This step is important as a county can only qualify if they either, have an identified business that has suffered economic injury, or the county is contiguous to a declared county. Once the state has pulled together its request, it goes to SBA for review. Once a disaster is declared, the EIDL becomes available for businesses located in declared counties.

It’s important to recognize that the state has not yet received a declaration, so the EIDL program is not yet available to Illinois businesses and non-profits. However, you can directly help the disaster declaration process though your assistance in identifying affected businesses.

Visit the State of Illinois’s portal to identify a small business and complete the form to help aggregate this critical information.

Even in the absence of a declaration, SBA has a broad range of programs that can help small businesses through these challenging times including business advisory and lending services. Call or email the Illinois District Office or go to www.sba.gov/il for more information.