Small Businesses

Using Federal Relief Funds to Ensure Equitable Recovery for Small Businesses

Governments can leverage American Rescue Plan dollars to help local companies impacted by the pandemic, including those owned by women and minorities.

  • By Kate Elizabeth Queram

Gov. Greg Abbott Signs Bill to Punish Businesses that Require Proof of Covid-19 Vaccination

Abbott's signature means that businesses that require so-called vaccine passports can't get state contracts and could lose state licenses or operating permits.

  • By Karen Brooks Harper, The Texas Tribune

The Government Is Here to Help Small Businesses — Unless They’re Cooperatives

The Small Business Administration’s rules prevent it from helping most employee- and consumer-owned cooperatives, even though Congress specifically asked it to. The result? Co-ops are largely cut out of the mainstream financial system.

  • By Lydia DePillis, ProPublica

SBA’s Navigator Program Offering Grants up to $5M for Governments

The Small Business Administration will provide a total of $100 million to eligible organizations, including state and local governments, to assist underserved businesses.

  • By Andrea Noble

An Overlooked Economic Powerhouse for Small Cities

Small-scale manufacturers are well-positioned to compete in the digital economy, but also fill storefronts and contribute to a thriving downtown or business district.

  • By Ilana Preuss, Next City

Hundreds of PPP Loans Went to Fake Farms in Absurd Places

An online lending platform called Kabbage sent 378 pandemic loans worth $7 million to fake companies (mostly farms) with names like “Deely Nuts” and “Beefy King.”

  • By Derek Willis and Lydia DePillis, ProPublica

‘I Feel like I’m Drowning’: Women Business Owners Keep Hitting New Barriers to Federal Loan Aid

Women, especially women of color, are driving small-business growth during a pandemic in which they’ve been hit particularly hard — and missed out on help.

  • By Mariel Padilla, The 19th

The Federal Government Will Now Give PPP Loans to Borrowers in Bankruptcy

Thousands of companies working their way out of bankruptcy are now eligible for the Paycheck Protection Program after ProPublica reported that the Small Business Administration had been excluding them.

  • By Lydia DePillis, ProPublica

Small Business Owners Can’t Find Qualified Workers, Survey Finds

The National Federation of Independent Business says the pandemic and increased unemployment benefits are keeping people out of the labor market.

  • By Brent Woodie

The Wide Gaps Between Minority and White Business Ownership in America’s Cities

A new data tool offers ways to gauge the disparities with businesses in the nation’s largest metro areas. It also includes information on women-owned firms.

  • By Bill Lucia

States are About to See a Historic Infusion of Funding to Help Entrepreneurs

COMMENTARY | The federal stimulus package provides $10 billion for states to boost the capital available to new businesses. If they don’t invest the money carefully, it will be a missed opportunity.

  • By Victor Hwang

How a Federal Agency Excluded Thousands of Viable Businesses From Pandemic Relief

The Small Business Administration refuses to give pandemic relief loans to people who have filed for bankruptcy, even if their businesses can survive.

  • By Lydia DePillis, ProPublica
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How the Pandemic Economy Could Wipe Out a Generation of Black-Owned Businesses

Danette Wilder spent years building up her company. Now it has to survive an existential threat to Black entrepreneurs.

  • By Lydia DePillis, ProPublica

'It’s Putting Us in The Firing Line': Some Small Business Owners Worry About Gov. Greg Abbott Lifting Coronavirus Restrictions

Abbott’s order will leave it to business owners to decide whether to require customers wear masks inside their establishments. Some say they will keep coronavirus restrictions in place, but some business owners worry those decisions could anger potential customers.

  • By Mitchell Ferman, Megan Menchaca and Duncan Agnew, The Texas Tribune

Smallest Businesses Will Get Special Window to Apply for Federal Relief Funds

The Biden administration announced the change to the Paycheck Protection Program on Monday, along with other measures to improve access to funding for minority-owned businesses.

  • By Andrea Noble

Covid Caused Cities to Rework Rules for Restaurants. Which Changes Will Stick?

Over the past year, cities have taken action that’s ranged from streamlining permits for outdoor dining, to providing benches for restaurants to use for seating.

  • By Andrea Noble

Congressional Leaders Reach Deal on $900 Billion Covid Relief Package

The agreement reached Sunday does not include direct funding for state and local governments but does extend the amount of time they have to spend previously appropriated federal funds.

  • By Andrea Noble

Nearly 1-in-6 Restaurants Are Closed, Some Permanently, Industry Group Says

The National Restaurant Association estimates there are now over 110,000 closures and says the industry badly needs government aid to get through the pandemic.

  • By Bill Lucia

To Create A Strong Government Technology Ecosystem, Increase Inclusivity

COMMENTARY | It’s time we did more to support underrepresented entrepreneurs to improve local government services and increase inclusivity.

  • By Anthony Jamison

Governors Announce Small Business Aid Alongside Restrictions

States hope the money will help businesses survive public health orders.

  • By Sophie Quinton, Stateline

States Go After Small Businesses on Amazon—and Sometimes Amazon—for Millions in Back Sales Taxes

The Supreme Court in 2018 gave states the power to make new rules for collecting sales taxes online. But back taxes on products sold by small businesses on Amazon’s marketplace are still a major point of dispute.

  • By Liz Farmer