Business Matters News: Grants Edition

In This Issue:

Back to Business (B2B) Grants
Breakfast with the Village
Tax Preparation
ComEd Energy & Money Savings
Federal Funding for Small Businesses

Back to Business (B2B) Grants

Applications now open!

Eligible restaurants, hotels, and creative arts businesses can apply for $175 million in available grant funding as part of Illinois' efforts to support ongoing recovery in hard-hit industries. All applicants will receive a grant as long as they meet eligibility requirements, submit proper documentation and attestations required by the program.

The Northwest Hispanic Chamber of Commerce serves as our Community Navigator.

Applications will be open between April 5 and May 10, 2023. To apply, please visit ILDCEO's website.

Breakfast with the Villages

Tax Season is Here!

Individual taxes are due April 18

It's tax time! Find resources to help completing your taxes for your large or small business, nonprofit or charity. Also find useful information for starting, operating or closing a businesses, employer ID numbers (EINs), small business events, online learning and more.

For a list of tax and accounting services in Hanover Park, go to our Business Directory.

For information from the IRS, go to the Small Business and Self-Employed Tax Center.

Energy & Money Savings for Your Business

ComEd has several programs and tools to help your business save energy and money. Some of the programs and resources include:

Facility Assessments - find energy saving opportunities throughout your facility
Incentives - take advantage of incentives to help reduce your energy consumption
Building Optimization - operate your building more efficiently, lowering energy costs
Energy Management - use online tools to analyze your company's energy usage
Business Types - find energy-reducing ideas specific to your organization
Resource Center - explore case studies, fact sheets, videos and other resources

To explore what ComEd can do for your business, call 267-223-5075 or go to https://www.comed.com/WaysToSave/ForYourBusiness/Pages/Default.aspx

Federal Funding for Small Businesses

The State Small Business Credit Initiative

On December 6, the U.S. Department of the Treasury announced that Illinois will receive up to $354.6 million to administer four programs as part of the State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI). The programs include:

Advantage Illinois - an existing program which provides low-interest loans to small businesses; in 2022, 71% of these loans went to businesses owned by women, people of color, veterans, or people with disabilities
Advantage Illinois' new Loan Guarantee Program - which will support businesses that have had difficulty receiving loans by using funds to guarantee a percentage of loans provided by partner lender.
INVENT Venture Capital Program (VCP) - a new direct equity program that will focus on investing in businesses in key industries such as agriculture, ag tech, information technology, life sciences, manufacturing and more
Climate Bank Finance Loan Participation Program - which will issue loans to small businesses in the clean energy sector.

SSBCI was reauthorized as part of the American Rescue Plan Act and provides $10 billion to states for assistance to small businesses. Illinois is one of seven states approved to receive funding. The press release with additional information on the announcement was released by the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.

Grant programs will launch soon. Interested businesses should fill out the form linked below to receive additional information and updates when the programs are launched.

For more information and to receive updates when the programs are launched, go to:

https://form.jotform.com/223395045936058