It’s officially fall, which means you’re busy managing your business ahead of the holiday season. But do you know about the many resources and access to capital products that could set you up for success this season?
Illinois Small Business Owner Highlight
From stay-at-home orders and being denied for a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan to testing positive for COVID-19, the past few months have not been easy for Chicago business owner Kejuana Isom.
Illinois Events
Small Business Majority invites you to an interactive workshop about Verizon's Small Business Digital Ready platform, which was developed in partnership with small business owners who understand what it takes to succeed.
Through their suite of lending and technical assistance programs, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) has helped millions of small businesses access the capital and resources needed to thrive and grow.
Please join Small Business Majority and the SBA to wrap up our Investing in America webinar series and recap how small businesses can access federal resources and funding opportunities through the SBA’s Small Business Resource Hub.
Illinois Policy
Small Business Majority’s Illinois policy agenda outlines policies that advance and promote equitable pathways for entrepreneurship while centering small businesses as the key to a thriving and inclusive economy. The state’s 1.3 million small businesses employ 2.4 million people (about 44.1% of the private workforce), with firms without employees making up 80% of all owned businesses.
On March 28, Small Business Majority's Illinois Director Tasha Brown testified before the Illinois House Financial Institutions and Licensing Committee on behalf of HB 2234, legislation that would enact critical protections for small business borrowers in Illinois.
On March 28, Johnathon Bush, owner of Not Just Cookies provided testimony before the Illinois House Financial Institutions and Licensing Committee on HB 2234, legislation that would extend consumer protections for small business borrowers.
Small Business Majority wrote to Illinois Governor Pritzker in support of HB117, a measure that would expand Illinois Secure Choice so that employers with at least five or more employees may participate and auto-enroll their employees. This is an important step to supporting very small businesses and their employees who are unable to access traditional retirement programs, particularly those who have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Illinois Research
Small Business Majority’s new poll of Illinois small business owners reveals strong support for legislative solutions that would remove barriers for justice-impacted individuals by making reforms to occupational licensing and debt-based driver’s license suspensions. These politically diverse small business owners believe these measures would enable employers to tap into an underutilized workforce and open up opportunities for entrepreneurship.
Small businesses in Illinois are still struggling to hire and retain a ready workforce, persistent challenges in the wake of the pandemic.
While small businesses employ nearly half (46.4%) of the private workforce in the United States, many are struggling to hire and retain a ready workforce. One viable solution to their persistent workforce challenges is the passing of Clean Slate policies, which seal and expunge certain criminal records and allow justice-impacted individuals to seek employment opportunities and entrepreneurship. Individual state analyses of small business responses in Georgia, Illinois, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Texas found widespread support for Clean Slate policies at the state and federal level.
The Illinois Secure Choice Savings Program, signed into law January 2015, helps small businesses that struggle to offer retirement benefits to their employees and provide retirement security to the 2.5 million Illinoisans who do not have access to an employment-based retirement plan. Below is an overview of what small businesses need to know about the program.