Section 601(a) of the Social Security Act, as added by section 5001 of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), established the Coronavirus Relief Fund (Fund) and appropriated $150 billion to the Fund. Under the CARES Act, the Fund is to be used to make payments for specified uses to States and certain local governments; the District of Columbia and U.S. Territories; and Tribal governments. Hennepin County received a direct payment out of the Fund from the U.S. Treasury.

The CARES Act provides that money from the Fund may only be used to cover costs that:

1. are necessary expenditures incurred due to the public health emergency with respect to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID–19);
2. were not accounted for in the budget most recently approved as of March 27, 2020 (the date of enactment of the CARES Act) for the State or government; and
3. were incurred during the period that begins on March 1, 2020 and ends on December 30, 2020.

Allowable expenditures include those incurred to respond to second-order effects of the emergency, such as economic impacts. Federal guidance for the Coronavirus Relief Fund specifically includes as allowable “expenditures related to the provision of grants to small businesses to reimburse the costs of business interruption caused by required closures.”

On May 5, 2020, and June 9, 2020, Hennepin County allocated a total of $25,000,000 in CARES Act funding to emergency small business relief/recovery (Resolution 20-0170 / Resolution 20-0210), to provide small business technical assistance and emergency funding to assist local businesses with costs of business interruption due to COVID-19 and costs associated with reopening under new public health guidance and protocols.

The application period for the Hennepin County Small Business Relief Fund: Self Employed Entrepreneur Fund closed June 5 and garnered over 1800 non-duplicate applications. Authority to enter into agreements up to an additional $350,000 with implementation partners will provide the administrative capacity required to process this high number of applications as quickly as possible.

Small businesses in Hennepin County are still struggling financially as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, yet the availability of multiple programs from several agencies can cause confusion and create barriers to access needed resources. Additional funding sources newly available create more funding opportunities, but culturally-specific outreach and navigation assistance is needed to ensure more equitable access to funds.  Selected through a competitive solicitation process, The Alliance for Metropolitan Stability has a demonstrated track record of bringing together many diverse, culturally-specific community-based organizations to provide outreach and technical assistance to small businesses in Hennepin County. As of result of their outreach to-date, over 50% of applications to both the Hennepin County Small Business Relief Fund and the Self Employed Entrepreneur Fund were from people of color. An additional contract of $150,000 will continue this outreach, which is necessary to deliver more equitable economic recovery outcomes for Hennepin County’s small business community.

An allocation CARES Act funds not-to-exceed $350,000 will support contracts with one or more consultants to provide technical and emergency equipment/supply assistance to business districts to support marketing, provide equipment and supplies, and help create public spaces that facilitate retail and food/drink establishments under social distance /COVID-19 guidelines. Consultants will work with businesses to implement business district-wide strategies to create those public spaces, including:

• Reconfiguring parking lots and other outdoor spaces for restaurant seating

• Creating shared eating / drinking areas in business districts without off-street parking

• Developing joint marketing, promotion, or events to bring customers to business districts and promote mask-wearing and social distancing

• Creating public spaces where customers can safely wait to enter businesses, wait for take-out orders, lock up their bikes, or socialize while practicing distancing

• Improving pedestrian or bike access to business districts

• Identifying opportunities and improvements to support fall outdoor dining opportunities

• Purchasing personal protective equipment, signage, and other equipment and supplies to support social distancing and safe use of public spaces.

Business districts will be identified and selected in partnership with suburban Hennepin cities.  Funds would support work in five to eight business districts in suburban Hennepin County. 

Finally, the Business Advisory Council was created on May 5, 2020 (Resolution 20-0167) to support Hennepin County efforts to combat the economic disruption, unprecedented levels of unemployment, widespread and persistent economic uncertainty resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. Contracting with an experienced facilitator with expertise engaging business owners will provide necessary technical and administrative support to help plan agendas, facilitate meetings, and will help maximize the value of the Council’s discussions.

Current Request: This request is to allocate an additional $900,000 of federal CARES Act Fund resources for multiple small business relief strategies; authorization to negotiate vendor agreement(s) in the total not to exceed amount to $900,000 for providing outreach, technical assistance and equipment/supplies to businesses and business districts, during the period June 23, 2020 through December 30, 2020.

Impact/Outcomes: Approval is anticipated to allow the county to process Small Business Relief/Self Employed Entrepreneur applications as fast as possible, provide equitable small business outreach, technical assistance in application review, and support five to eight business districts and businesses in creating and using public spaces to provide retail and food/beverage services for their customers.