20 stories for 20 years: Small business resilience in ‘unprecedented’ times

In March of 2020 the world came to a halt. Although few were spared significant impacts at the time, the toll that the COVID-19 pandemic took on small businesses was particularly pronounced. Between shelter-in-place orders and fears of unknown health impacts, COVID-19 wreaked havoc on the small business community but also highlighted the resilience and strength of entrepreneurs across the country.

As soon as shutdowns were announced across the country, the Small Business Majority team jumped into action. We quickly developed new educational webinars to share accurate, up-to-date information about resources available to support small business owners during the crisis. In the first few months of the pandemic, we often hosted daily webinars on state and federal updates, resulting in a record-breaking 400 events that year that reached 57,000 small business owners. 

We also featured high-profile speakers from the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives to provide updates on policy developments, including then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and then-Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, Sen. Ben Cardin, as well as state policymakers, including Colorado Gov. Jared Polis and then-Georgia House Minority Leader Robert Trammel.

Additionally, we leveraged our resource platform Venturize.org to consolidate ever-changing COVID-19 resources so small business owners could easily access information in one place. The loan and grant portals we developed remain a staple on Venturize today.

During this time, our research team launched our first network surveys to ensure we had the pulse of the small business community. These surveys allowed us to get timely responses about what real small business owners were facing, particularly the most vulnerable businesses, and share them with policymakers and the media. In 2020, our research was featured in Bloomberg, Vox, Spectrum News, The Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times and other outlets.

The resilience we saw from small business owners was truly remarkable. We shared their stories across social media, with policymakers and media outlets. We earned 4,000 media mentions in 2020 alone with our small business owners being featured in segments and articles on Fox News, ABC News and more.

“We could not be where we are today without the continued advocacy and efforts of local organizations. Our team and community are what allowed us to continue pressing forward throughout the pandemic and to continue growing our business even in the midst of all this uncertainty.” - Jaja Chen, Co-owner of Cha Community, June 2020.

Government funding programs

Our work advocating for small business needs was heightened during the COVID-19 pandemic. While we continued to focus on our core issues that help create better small business resilience, COVID-19 funding programs such as the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL) took center stage in our advocacy. While these programs were essential to small businesses at the time, they were flawed. It quickly became apparent that these loan programs were leaving behind the smallest and most vulnerable small businesses, as outlined in our research. 

In response, we sent letters to Congress and the White House insisting on improved stimulus packages to support the smallest of businesses and spoke regularly with policymakers on Capitol Hill. We launched a sign-on campaign calling for robust, comprehensive assistance for small businesses, which more than 6,500 small business owners and stakeholders signed. In particular, we advocated for PPP funds to be used in a way that worked better for small business owners than the program initially outlined. 

Later, we advocated EIDL loan forgiveness and fairness in lending legislation as we began hearing stories about people falling into debt and predatory lending cycles during the pandemic. We connected with Dwayne Thomas in 2024 and invited him to speak at a White House National Economic Council roundtable about his experience with the EIDL program.

“Without EIDL, I would have had to close the business. But now we’re saddled with debt that makes growth, operating capital or even selling my business nearly impossible. The fact that entrepreneurs in the event industry were shut down during the pandemic, forcing businesses like mine to take on these loans to survive and protect the jobs of their employees—only to be charged front-loaded interest by the very government that shut us down—is borderline amoral” - Dwayne Thomas, owner of Greenlight Creative

In February 2021, we released research that shed light on the struggles small businesses faced throughout the first year of the pandemic in securing financing. Before the pandemic hit, more than 1 in 5 small businesses did not have a business banking relationship with a bank or credit union. Small business owners of color were even less likely to have such a relationship pre-pandemic—31% of Black, 28% AAPI, and 26% of Latino business owners reported lacking one. Additionally, relatively few of those surveyed had secured funding through federal small business relief programs.

Recovery 

One year into the pandemic, we virtually convened business organizations, policymakers and philanthropic organizations to initiate a conversation about the road to recovery for small businesses. Through a mix of research presentations and panel discussions, participants explored what was needed for an equitable recovery. The event featured insights from House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (NY-8), small business owners, and experts from federal agencies and national organizations, sparking a dialogue that helped shape future advocacy and policy priorities.

Between 2020 and 2022, despite the flaws of relief programs, small businesses received unprecedented investments. In early 2021, Congress passed the American Rescue Plan (ARP), which provided grants for the hardest-hit small businesses, extended unemployment benefits, boosted the earned income tax credit, and strengthened access to healthcare while lowering costs for small businesses and their employees. After its passage, Small Business Majority submitted recommendations to ensure the funds were administered in ways that best served small businesses.

Critically, the ARP funded programs that small businesses still rely on today, including the State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI) 2.0, the enhanced Affordable Care Act Premium Tax Credits and more. With these tax credits set to expire at the end of the year, we are now advocating to prevent rollbacks that would once again raise healthcare costs for entrepreneurs and their employees.

The pandemic underscored both the vulnerability and the resilience of America’s small businesses. While emergency relief programs were far from perfect, they highlighted the critical need for stronger, more equitable policies that ensure entrepreneurs can weather future crises. Small Business Majority is committed to advancing solutions that not only help small businesses recover but also position them to thrive in the long term.