West Cook News

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot is launching a $2 million program aimed at helping struggling restaurant owners across the city remain afloat during the pandemic. 

“Small businesses and nonprofits are a vital part of our neighborhoods and the socioeconomic vibrancy of the entire city,” Lightfoot recently posted on Twitter. “That’s why it is critical that they have what they need to thrive during and long after this pandemic is over. As our small business and nonprofit community continues to recover and prepare for the year ahead, we are proud to deliver additional financial relief and resources.”  

The Chicago Restaurant Coalition recently took part in a webinar where the group grilled Lightfoot about vaccination checks at restaurants and other businesses.

On the city’s website, Lightfoot said the focus now needs to turn from survival to recovery.  The Chi Biz Strong Initiative that went into effect over the summer included an announcement of $10 million in grants for small businesses and nonprofit organizations. That number has since been expanded to $22 million.

 The Chi Biz Strong Grant Program will provide grants of up to $10,000 – based on annual revenue – to small business and nonprofit organizations throughout Chicago that have been adversely impacted by COVID-19.

The city also recently launched a $2 million Outdoor Dining Grant Program targeted toward restaurants and bars hard hit by the pandemic. The program offered grants of up to $5,000 to eligible businesses.

While December proved to be a strong month for small businesses around the country, Illinois’ economy continues to sputter, with Alignable’s December Road to Recovery Report finding 43 percent of small business owners across the country recently reported monthly revenues that matched or exceeded pre-COVID levels as numbers in Illinois languished at around just 32%.

Projections are Illinois won’t hit such numbers until at least the middle of 2023.

A year into the state’s flood of COVID-19 mitigations that have become state policy, Illinois Policy Institute reports nearly 500,000 residents are out of work and the state is home to the Midwest’s highest unemployment rate with more than 35 percent of all small businesses now being closed.

With Illinois being home to more than 1.2 million small businesses that employ almost half of the state’s workforce, the decline in the number of small businesses ranks as the eighth worst in the country. The largest decline has hit the accommodation and food service businesses, where more than 50% remain closed.