Public Hearing: YES ☐ NO ☒ Department: Board of Commissioners - District 2
SUBJECT:
Title
Commission District(s): District 2
Appropriation of $25,000 from the 2023 District 2 Reserve for Appropriation Funds for the DeKalb Chamber of Commerce’s Small Business Recovery Program
Body
Information Contact: Commissioner Michelle Long Spears
Phone Number: 404-371-2863
PURPOSE:
To approve the appropriation of $25,000 from the 2023 District 2 Reserve for Appropriation Funds for the DeKalb Chamber of Commerce’s Small Business Recovery Program.
NEED/IMPACT:
In April of 2020 at the height of the pandemic, DeKalb County’s unemployment rate was at 13.4%. Social distancing restrictions, health and economic‐driven demand shifts from COVID‐19 reduced small business operations and entrepreneurial ventures in Dekalb County. These issues may have been exacerbated by the pandemic in such a way that the impact has caused many of our small businesses to fold. In DeKalb County, many of our major business hubs are seeing an increase in vacancies because of the long-term effect on small businesses. The Small Business Recovery program will provide education, training, marketing, and opportunities for resilience planning for small businesses that faced economic hardship due to the pandemic and other economic factors. The goal of the Small Business Recovery Program is to provide forgivable loans to businesses with addresses in one of the DeKalb County economically disadvantaged census tract. For the loan to be forgiven, businesses will be required to complete mandatory training and develop a small business resilience plan. In addition to the business location in an economically disadvantaged area, the focus will also include assisting industries that were exceedingly impacted, and those we consider a priority impact.
• Exceedingly Impacted Industries are those that have been closed or operating at significantly diminished capacity since March 2020 and are likely to continue operating at a diminished level because of the pandemic. (Businesses will be addressed in economically distressed Qualified Census Tracts or geographic areas that are disproportionately impacted by the pandemic)
• Priority Impact Industries although they have not experienced long-term shutdowns in the same way that highly impacted industries have, they continue to experience significantly depressed demand because of inflation rates, COVID 19 pandemic and other economic factors. (Businesses will be addressed in economically distressed Qualified Census Tracts or geographic areas that are disproportionately impacted by the pandemic).
FISCAL IMPACT:
Increase appropriations for the following account by the amount indicated below:
Non-Departmental - Unincorporated Fund - Other Miscellaneous Payments (09130.573099.272.0000.0000) - $25,000
Decrease appropriations for the following account by the amount indicated below:
Non-Departmental - Unincorporated Fund - Reserve for Appropriation (09130.579002.272.0000.0000) - $25,000
RECOMMENDATION:
Recommended Action
To approve the appropriation of $25,000 from the 2023 District 2 Reserve for Appropriation Funds for the DeKalb Chamber of Commerce’s Small Business Recovery Program and authorize the chief executive officer to execute all necessary documents.