The City of Elkhart has appropriated $400,000 of American Rescue Plan Act dollars to fund the Small Business Continuity Program.  Many small businesses have been challenged throughout the COVID-19 pandemic with closings, supply-chain disruptions, labor shortages and more.  The Small Business Continuity Program is designed to create a more resilient small business community by providing the funding to relieve some immediate needs and for tools that build capacity to better position businesses to overcome the unexpected challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.

There are two primary goals of the program.  The first is to provide relief where needed for immediate routine expenses including rent/mortgage and utilities.  The second is to help small businesses build the capacity needed to adjust and rebound from unexpected challenges. Examples of allowable uses for capacity building are technology upgrades, training, technical assistance, signage or façade upgrades, supply change diversification, space expansion or reconfiguration, and marketing. 

Examples of permissible uses include:

• Rent/Mortgage
• Utilities

• Technology upgrades that increase resiliency
  • Website and/or App Development
  • Inventory Tracking System
• Training and Technical Assistance
• Signage or Façade Upgrades
• Expand or Diversify Product Offering
  • Additional Supplies and Materials
  • Expand or Reconfigure Space
• Marketing and Promotion

These funds will be awarded in 2 rounds of $200,000 each.  The deadline to apply for funding from the first round is January 31, 2022. The maximum award amount for any business is 10% of your total revenue from 2019 up to $25,000. If the business did not exist for the full year of 2019, the maximum a business may receive is 10% of total revenue from 2020 up to $25,000.  While businesses may submit an application for both rounds, a business will not be awarded more than one grant. The application will be available on the City’s website, or business owners can email Kristen Smole (Kristen.Smole@coei.org) for an application to be emailed to them.

In order to meet grant requirements businesses must meet the following criteria:

• Have a physical location within the City of Elkhart
• Currently have on-going business activity
• Have $500,000 or less in annual revenue
• Employ 25 or fewer employees
• Be able to demonstrate financial harm due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  Examples include:
  • The business being forced to close for  a week or more due to a consequence of the pandemic like public health requirements, supply chain disruption, or labor shortages
  • Decrease in profit/increase in losses in 2020 and/or 2021 due to the pandemic
• Submit all required reports
  • Required reporting include but may not be limited to
    • 2019 and 2020 tax returns (only 2020 if you were not open in 2019)
    • Payroll documents to demonstrate payroll levels (ex W-3 or 941)
    • Estimates from vendors
    • Other documents that may demonstrate economic harm as requested