SMALL BUSINESS
IRSC CENTER TEAMS WITH REGIONAL GROUPS TO
HELP SMALL BUSINESSES NAVIGATE COVID AID
TCBusiness.com 17
In the spring of 2020, the full extent of
COVID-19 was becoming alarmingly apparent
on a daily basis.
Positive cases of COVID-19 soared
from a handful statewide in early March
to almost 1,000 by March 22. Less than a
month later, by mid-April, the toll stood at
21,019 and 499 deaths.
Many businesses were forced to close
or severely restrict operations in an effort
to stem the spread of the virus. By the end
of April 2020, 1 million Floridians had filed
for unemployment benefits because of the
pandemic. Nearly 30,000 cases had been
reported by that time.
The situation was devastating for
many small businesses, especially those
that relied on face-to-face contact with
customers. Within less than two weeks
of the first two confirmed positive cases
in Florida on March 1, the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention declared a
pandemic and Florida received $27 million
in federal funds to combat the epidemic.
Orlando theme parks closed in mid-March
and universities began operating remotely
after spring break.
Gov. Ron DeSantis ordered all bars and
nightclubs closed; restaurants were required
to switch to takeout or delivery only.
STATE AND FEDERAL HELP ARRIVES
Federal and state financial assistance
began to try to stanch the wounds. Assistance
came first from the state through its
Florida Small Business Emergency Bridge
Loan program. This particular loan program
provides small business owners with
interest free loans to assist the business
in addressing disaster related economic
injury and bridge the business to a longer
term financial solution such as a Small
Business Administration Economic Injury
Disaster Loan. The Florida Small Business
Development Center at Indian River State
College FSBDC at IRSC assisted Treasure
Coast business owners accessing more
than $3 million in emergency bridge loans.
Next, the federal government launched
its first round of Paycheck Protection
Program, which offered forgivable loans for
small businesses. In December, the Trump
administration unveiled the Consolidated
Appropriation Act CARES, which funded
a second round of PPP payments and also
established Economic Injury Disaster Loans
and Targeted EIDLs for shuttered venues.
It was left up to individual counties,
chambers of commerce and economic
development organizations to facilitate
applications for CARES grants. The FSBDC
was designated as the state’s principal
provider of small business assistance.
On the Treasure Coast, the FSBDC at
IRSC began to coordinate relief efforts
with counties, in tandem with economic
development agencies, most notably in St.
Lucie and Indian River counties.
“We received assistance from all four
Treasure Coast municipalities to set up a
small business assistance program which
became the Virtual Small Business Recovery
Center at IRSC,” director Tom Kindred
recalled.
“We provided ancillary support
for St. Lucie, Martin, Indian River and
Okeechobee counties, but did more in St.
Lucie and Indian River,” Kindred said. “We
reviewed, processed and submitted applications
for assistance to counties for final
approval of the grants. We also helped
create financials, P&Ls profit and loss
statements and other service as needed.”
GRANTS OFFERED FOR MOST
VULNERABLE
In St. Lucie County, $55 million was
available starting in the summer of 2020,
according to Pete Tesch, president of the
Economic Development Council of St.
Lucie County.
“Roughly one third of the money came
in the first tranche,” Tesch recalled. “That
amounted to about $3 million for Small
Business Assistance Grants for businesses
that had been forced to shut down under
directives from the governor. These included
restaurants, bars, gyms and some
retail operations.
“The smallest, most vulnerable — those
with fewer than 10 employees — were
done first,” Tesch said. “Tom Kindred
offered to provide us with ‘shoulder-toshoulder’
help in processing the grant
applications.”
Tesch recalled that navigating and
providing the information requirements
from the counties at first was a rather challenging
proposition. To help review grant
applications, the council hired 12 IRSC
graduates.
“There was a bit of red tape, but we
came up with a consistent way to deal
with some very frustrated and scared small
business owners.”
Later, Phase Two of the program
expanded to include help for businesses
with between 11 and 20 employees. In
Phase Three help arrived for firms with
up to 50 employees. The grant dollars
available increased with the size of the
companies.
ADDITIONAL FUNDS ON THE WAY
In all, more than 300 St. Lucie County
businesses received assistance. EDC and
SBDC processed 351 applications worth
$2.7 million. A good portion of them
received full finding, Tesch noted.
There are still 71 applications outstanding
after program funding was exhausted
Dec. 31. However, Tesch believes the
county will be able to assist those left on
the list in the near future with an additional
$1 million in new funds.
“We’ll be continuing our relationship
with SBDC. We learned a lot about small
business assistance grants,” Tesch said. In
the future, the EDC will focus on entrepreneurship
training and helping small
>>
BY ANTHONY WESTBURY
Pete Tesch, president of the Economic Development
Council of St. Lucie County, said his agency
worked closely with the FSBDC at IRSC to help
process more than 300 loan applications.
/TCBusiness.com
