LA Regional COVID-19 Recovery Fund, Support for Small Business

by Maria S. Salinas

The Chamber has always championed public policy and programs that support our local and diverse small business sector and given the current pandemic, our efforts have expanded. In this current environment, we have focused our efforts on advocating at the federal level for the relief programs for small business in the form of loans, grants and technical assistance. 

There is no doubt that COVID-19 has adversely affected businesses, especially those with already thin resources. While a variety of Federal programs have been established to address the crisis such at the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL); promised relief these programs offer have been often inaccessible to small, micro, minority and immigrant owned businesses. Complexities of funding criteria, lack of technical assistance and access to traditional banking, have created barriers for those businesses that need relief the most.

In L.A. County, 93 percent of all businesses have 20 or fewer employees and nonprofit organizations play an essential role in creating more equitable and thriving communities. L.A. County is home to the largest concentration of minority-owned businesses in the United States. Given that many of these businesses have missed out on previous funding opportunities; supporting micro-entrepreneurs, small businesses and nonprofit across L.A. County is essential for the success and recovery of our regional economy.

The LA Regional COVID Fund, launched on July 6, was established to support micro-entrepreneurs, small businesses and nonprofits across L.A. County through grants, loans, coaching and technical assistance.

The LA Regional COVID-19 Recovery Fund is a collaborative effort from the County of Los Angeles, the City of Los Angeles, institutional and corporate philanthropy, created to support the region’s small business community.

The Grant Program will deploy $3 million in grants for small businesses and nonprofits operating in Los Angeles County and the first round of funding is open July 6 - July 10, 2020. The Loan Program which will launch soon, will deploy flexible loans and micro-loans to micro-entrepreneurs, small businesses and nonprofits across the L.A. region. Access to these funds will empower entrepreneurs and small businesses and in turn help rebuild our regional economy. There is also free Coaching and Technical Assistance available through partnering community organizations to all applicants seeking support before, during and after grant and loan submission.

The L.A. Area Chamber is a proud technical assistance partner to the L.A. Regional COVID-19 Recovery Fund through the Small Business Development Center (SBDC). The SBDC provides technical assistance in English, Spanish, Thai, Mandarin and Korean and is available to all Los Angeles County businesses to help navigate the Covid-19 health crisis, free of charge.

At the beginning of the pandemic, it became immediately clear that many small businesses and micro businesses would be left out of any federal relief package. Many will not survive this economic crisis without support. We’ve been relentless in speaking out about the issues we were seeing with a large part of our small business sector who were unable to complete the PPP application process and others that couldn’t even start the process. We turned to our members, our philanthropic partners and government and we realized through a collaborative approach, we could solve this dilemma. We applaud the Los Angeles County, City of Los Angeles, the private sector partners, foundations, and community partners that have been working to make this public-private partnership work. We are proud to be your partner. To learn more go to LACOVIDFund.org.

The Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce will continue its commitment to advance opportunities and solutions for a thriving regional economy that is both inclusive and globally competitive.

And that's The Business Perspective.