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Senate Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
Senate of Pennsylvania
Session of 2019 - 2020
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | May 21, 2020 05:12 PM |
|---|---|
| From: | Senator John P. Blake |
| To: | All Senate members |
| Subject: | The Main Street Business Revitalization Initiative |
| In the near future, I plan on introducing legislation to direct money received by the Commonwealth to protect small businesses and Pennsylvania jobs. Over the past several weeks, I have been working with the statewide network of Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) to refine a proposal to help small businesses and protect jobs in the Commonwealth. CDFIs are known to be “first responders” during periods of economic turmoil because of their intimate knowledge of and connection to the communities they serve. More importantly, they have a demonstrated capacity to focus on the critical needs of small businesses. Previous business assistance programs have inadvertently disadvantaged many main street businesses who were unprepared to tap into the network of assistance. Many mom and pop businesses who have only a handful of employees have been struggling to get the assistance they desperately need. By running programs through CDFIs, main street businesses will have access to job protection and initiatives through financial institutions with whom they are comfortable. Under my proposal, $425 million of funds received by the Commonwealth through the CARES Act would be directed to the Pennsylvania CDFIs, which cover all 67 counties in the Commonwealth, to implement a Main Street Business Revitalization Initiative to support the Commonwealth’s small businesses. Grant funding provided to small businesses through local CDFIs would focus on small businesses in the food, hospitality, health and wellness, personal and professional services, retail and childcare sectors. Grant funds to awarded to eligible, main street small businesses can be used by business owners to pay rent, insurance premiums, local taxes, health care premiums as well as for equipment or materials they may need to protect both workers and customers as these small businesses are permitted to reopen. The statewide CDFIs believe they can get the money into the hands of business owners before the end of the calendar year. This proposal can save the most vulnerable main street businesses that have been shut out of other programs and have been hit hardest by the COVID-19 pandemic. This legislation is a companion piece to Senator Hughes’ Historically Disadvantaged Business Revitalization Initiative. Please join me in co-sponsoring this legislation. |