Dear WCA Business Community,

The city of Chicago is establishing a $100 million Chicago Small Business Resiliency Fund, which will help 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 fund will begin to be accepted on March 31, 2020.

If you are interested in applying for a loan, please complete this interest form and a representative will reach out to you as soon as possible. 

The loan terms will follow the guidelines below:

1. Repayment Term: Low-interest loans for a term of up to five years.

2. Loan Amount: Up to $50,000 but sized based on revenues before the COVID-19 outbreak.

3. 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)

Loan applications will be administered through our Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) partners. More information about the partners who will be administering these loans will be provided before that date.

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. If you are a philanthropic institution or corporation interested in contributing to this fund, please submit your information to resiliency.funds@cityofchicago.org.

Please reach out if you have any further questions.