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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMemo - Mail Packet - 5/11/2021 - Memorandum From Josh Birks And Seonah Kendall Re: Lpt Follow-Up: Future Use Of Federal Monies For Business Support Economic Health Office 222 LaPorte Avenue PO Box 580 Fort Collins, CO 80522 970.416.4349 fcgov.com MEMORANDUM DATE: May 4, 2021 TO: Mayor and Councilmembers THRU: Darin Atteberry, City Manager; Kyle Stannert, Deputy City Manager; and Jacqueline Kozak-Thiel, Chief Sustainability Officer FROM: Josh Birks, Economic Health and Redevelopment Director; and SeonAh Kendall, Recovery Manager RE: LPT FOLLOW-UP: FUTURE USE OF FEDERAL MONIES FOR BUSINESS SUPPORT This memorandum response to a request made by Mayor Pro Tem Cunniff at the April 12, 2021 Leadership Planning Team meeting. The request asked staff for an economic health update related to the additional federal monies that the City expects to receive and how these will be used to support businesses. BOTTOM-LINE: The needs of our business community remain high especially our small and locally owned businesses and traditionally underrepresented owners (minority-, women-, low-income-, and veteran-owned). The rules guiding the use of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Local Fiscal Recovery Funds remain unclear. However, the Economic Health Office has learned a lot from our recent response efforts and will use this information to guide our future actions. The programs and efforts will focus on Recovery Vision key areas: Healing, Inclusive, Resilient, and Vibrant (more to come on this at the May 25, 2021 work session). BACKGROUND: Starting with an email to regional partners sharing key messages for businesses in response to the growing COVID-19 crisis on March 13, 2020 through today the Economic Health Office has been focused on supporting our community businesses partners with: Accurate and up-to-date information on dynamic public health orders and restrictions via NoCoRecovers.com, ForFortCollins.com, and weekly communications. Access and support to local, state and federal response funding (Payroll Protection Plan loans, Economic Injury Disaster Loans and Grants, Small Business Assistance Program, and Small Business Relief program). De-escalation training for service sector businesses dealing with the State and Local mask mandates. Reducing the cost of delivering food to customers while supporting physical distancing through a partnership with NoCo Nosh during the month of December and extending a discount to restaurants into 2021. Throughout these programs EHO has been gathering data and the lived experiences of our business community to understand the challenges they face and how the City can support them. EHO received over 500 survey responses from businesses to multiple surveys and over 100 direct engagements. This data has provided useful insight into the conditions the business community faces and the challenges they are trying to overcome. As a result, EHO has growing confidence in the on-going needs of local and small businesses to successfully recover from the economic downturn created by the public health response to the COVID-19 pandemic. A few highlights from the data include: Need for additional grants and direct assistance continues for most businesses (72 percent of SBAP survey respondents). Technical support accessing other assistance programs such as those offered by the Small Business Administration (SBA) (51 percent of SBAP respondents indicated they had never previously interacted with the SBA). Continued need to support businesses as they re-tool their business models to respond to changing customer demands for curbside pick-up and food delivery. Uncertainty about the future of their business and how best to respond. On-going supply chain challenges. Challenges finding individuals to hire especially as the economy begins to open more fully. Continued interest in leveraging outdoor dining opportunities. A growing interest by unemployed individuals to start their own business in response to the pandemic economic downturn rather than return to work for someone else, especially within the Latinx community. The details of the ARPA Local Fiscal Recovery Fund are still undetermined, and the City anxiously awaits guidance from the US Treasury Department, originally expected on April 12, 2021 but later deferred to May 10, 2021. However, in the meantime, EHO in collaboration with the Recovery Manager and regional partners is developing program and funding concepts to address small and local business needs. These concepts include (subject to change based on Treasury guidance and additional research): Direct support to offset the cost of preparing documents necessary to access all State and Federal aid many of the survey respondents and businesses EHO supported in the past 12 months have indicated this is a major challenge. Shared services center to provide a wide range of business types, including non-profits, with accounting/bookkeeping, financial reporting, legal, human resources, etc. support. Technical assistance to support small businesses in the development review and building permit process as they make alterations to their establishments, either to address safety concerns or to respond to long-term business model shifts. Support of County-led efforts to align workforce needs with unemployed individuals. Continued development of the ForFortCollins.com website to encourage local shopping, potentially provide an expanded local online marketplace for local goods and feature more minority- and women-owned businesses. Support the formation of a business group to represent the Latinx business community. A revolving loan fund and/or microloans to support existing businesses and new entrepreneurs. Technical assistance for in-home childcare business formation and licensing. Façade and site improvements grants to businesses needing to improve or redevelop their site to meet new business models or associated with their expansion to support on-going public health guidance. Rental support program for business owners that do not own their space. EHO continues to learn from other communities, listen to our local business community, and engage with our local and regional partners to develop potential programs and support to aid in the long-term business recovery. EHO would like to move away from direct financial payments intended to provide short-term relief towards a resilient, long-term adaptation to business recovery and vibrancy.