WEST LOOP COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION: Apply To Chicago's $100M Small Business Resiliency Fund Now

West Loop Community Organization issued the following announcement on March 31.

The City of Chicago recognizes that coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has put a difficult burden on our small business community. As a response to this challenge, the City is establishing a $100 million Chicago Small Business Resiliency Fund, which will help to provide small businesses with emergency cash flow during this immediate health crisis. Funds will be provided to eligible businesses as low-interest loans. Applications for the Chicago Small Business Resiliency Fund are now live.

Loan applications will be administered through the City's Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) partners. The Fund is seeded through $25 million from the City of Chicago, $50 million from the Chicago Community Catalyst Fund, $10 million through Goldman Sachs Urban Investment Group, $1 million from Fifth Third, $250,000 from Clayco and $15 million from other sources.

The loan terms will follow the guidelines below: 

• Repayment Term: Low-interest loans for a term of up to five years
• Loan Amount: Up to $50,000 but sized based on revenues before the COVID-19 outbreak
• Loan Proceeds: Proceeds are required to be used for working capital. At least 50% of proceeds should be applied toward payroll and commitment to retain the workforce at 50% of pre-COVID-19 levels

To be eligible, businesses must meet the following requirements:

• Suffered more than 25% revenue decrease due to COVID-19
• Employ fewer than 50 employees and have gross revenues of less than $3 million in 2019
• Provide a City business address or City business license
• No pre-existing tax liens or legal judgments

In addition, please be prepared to provide the following information:

• Bank statements dating back to October 2019
• Your most recent tax return
• Photo ID (CityKey will be accepted)

Original source can be found here.