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Download the GFDA’s Re-opening Toolkit from their website.
Th Re-Opening Toolkit is intended to help as you start to find a new normal. As you look to reboot your business, you’ll want to address four primary elements:
The toolkit is set up as a step-by-step guide with prompts, links to federal, state, and local guidelines, as well as business best practices.
Via MEDA:
The SBA will resume accepting Paycheck Protection Program applications from participating lenders on Monday, April 27, 2020 at 10:30am EDT. (8:30 in Montana)
PPP – How to calculate loan amounts document: (detailed answers to nine questions/scenarios on loan amounts)
https://home.treasury.gov/system/files/136/How-to-Calculate-Loan-Amounts.pdf
PPP – Additional FAQ’s (questions 32-36 were published on 4/24 and 4/26) – Housing Stipends, Agriculture, US residency, Employee count, cooperatives)
PPP – Updated docs loaded to SBA and Treasury websites (continue to check these sites for updates)
https://home.treasury.gov/policy-issues/cares/assistance-for-small-businesses
https://www.sba.gov/funding-programs/loans/coronavirus-relief-options/paycheck-protection-program
EIDL Information:
There have been some questions already as to the reopening of the EIDL portal. The following has been provided by SBA headquarters as to the status of EIDL:
EIDL Updated Numbers – See attached for EIDL Advance and Loan numbers as of 4/24/20.
Thanks to Cory at Two Medicine Dinosaur Center for sharing!
Via the U.S. Chamber of Commerce:
The Save Small Business Fund is a grantmaking initiative offering short-term relief for small employers in the United States and its territories
Small businesses are the foundation of our communities and our economy. Employing nearly half the American workforce, companies like yours keep our neighborhoods running and make them feel like home.
Funded by corporate and philanthropic partners, the Save Small Business Fund is a collective effort to provide $5,000 grants to as many small employers as we can. We hope these supplemental funds will help you get through the next days and weeks.
TO QUALIFY YOU MUST
MONTANA – Governor Steve Bullock today announced the establishment of the Coronavirus Relief Fund Task Force to provide guidance and advice on how to best use $1.25 billion appropriated to Montana through the Federal CARES Act to assist workers, businesses, and sectors of the economy impacted by COVID-19.
“While we continue to prioritize the health and safety of Montanans, we know many residents are financially impacted by this crisis and need assistance now,” Governor Bullock said. “Today I’m establishing the Coronavirus Relief Fund Task Force to provide guidance and expertise on how to deploy $1.25 billion responsibly and quickly put Montana on a path toward economic recovery and meet the needs in our communities.”
“We will be using our experiences as business owners and community leaders to best support Montanans and businesses financially during this time and as we work towards rebuilding our economy,” said Larry Simkins, CEO of the Washington Companies. “The governor reaching out to the business sectors of the state is a smart move and one that will help to ensure this funding from the CARES Act is best invested in our communities.”
The task force includes 26 Montanans and seeks to represent the industries and sectors impacted by COVID-19 including small business owners, agriculture, nonprofits, economic development organizations, financial institutions, and others.
Over the next two weeks, the task force will examine all sectors of the economy to understand the impacts of COVID-19 on Montanans and consider the unique needs of each region of the state and support a long-term path to economic recovery.
Montana and other states are still waiting on federal guidance on how the $1.25 billion can be spent. The Treasury is expected to release the approximate $1.25 billion appropriated to the state by April 24. The task force will provide its final recommendations to Governor Bullock on April 30.
Montanans can provide input on where the funds are needed at: https://commerce.mt.gov/Cares-Act and is also accessible through the covid19.mt.gov website.
The task force will be led by Larry Simkins of the Washington Companies. Members of the task force include:
We understand that the impacts of COVID-19 are being felt throughout the state, and that the economic impacts of closures are going to be significant across the state, including for our rural communities. The intent of the Stay at Home Directive and all other directives is to limit exposure and flatten the curve of this virus. Although many rural communities have few cases, and the goal of all these measures is to keep it that way and reduce exposure as much as possible.
Below is a list of resources available for business, communities, and individuals during this time. We will continue to update this as more directives come out and we have updated information, including guidance regarding the Federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. Please visit to State’s COVID-19 resource site for more information, as well as MT Department of Health and Human Services for updated information and current cases. You can also call the COVID Hotline at 1-888-333-
0461.
• The Governor issued a Directive to waive the current requirement that local and county governments implement a 2-mill emergency levy in order to access new funding coming to the
state through the federal CARES Act.
• Increase flexibility by providing measures for the operation of local government.
• Elections- allowing local governments to conduct mail ballot elections and expand early voting.
• Other resources and information can be found at Montana League of Cities and Towns and
Montana Association of Counties.
• The Montana Community Foundation and local community foundations have set up Local
COVID-19 Funds. Find out more about your local COVID-19 Fund.
• Community Service- Organizations that provide charitable and social services are considered an
essential business when ‘providing food, shelter, and social services, and other necessities of life
for economically disadvantaged or otherwise needy individuals, individuals who need assistance
as a result of this emergency, and people with disabilities’ per the Governor’s Directive. This
would not include regular church services or gatherings where social distancing would be too
difficult to maintain.
o Live stream/virtual church services are allowed. Limited staff may record services at the
church, but must follow social distancing.
• MSU Extension- Extension agents are in almost every county across the state and working online
to provide resources to help families, businesses, ranches and communities during this time.
Outdoor Recreation
You can view all Directives here.
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue today unveiled a one-stop-shop of federal programs that can be used by rural communities, organizations and individuals impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The COVID-19 Federal Rural Resource Guide (PDF, 349 KB) is a first-of-its-kind resource for rural leaders looking for federal funding and partnership opportunities to help address this pandemic.
USDA has taken many immediate actions to assist farmers, ranchers, producers, rural communities, and rural-based businesses and organizations impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. For more information on these actions, visit http://www.usda.gov/coronavirus.
No one can provide all the answers during the coronavirus pandemic, but there are things you can do to help. Watch this webinar from Inc. to find the steps.
| USDA Rural Development has taken a number of immediate actions to help rural residents, businesses and communities affected by the COVID-19 outbreak. Rural Development will keep our customers, partners, and stakeholders continuously updated as more actions are taken to better serve rural America. Read the full announcement to learn more about the opportunities USDA Rural Development is implementing to provide immediate relief to our customers, partners, and stakeholders. |
Nearly 94% of Montana’s travel-related businesses said they have been impacted by COVID-19, and 83% of Montana residents and visitors to the state are concerned about their personal health.
This is according to surveys conducted March 11-27 by the Institute for Tourism and Recreation Research at the University of Montana.
The ITRR business survey found that cancellations happened to 83% of these businesses during the last two weeks of March. April cancellations hit 84% of these businesses, with accommodations and outfitter/guides receiving the highest number.
Spring is the time for bookings. Whether it is a hotel reservation, a guided trip or a campground, respondents to the survey report travelers are holding back for the near future.
In the last half of March, when COVID-19 was spreading across the country, of the businesses that said they had received future bookings, 63% reported zero bookings made for April. Sixty-one percent had zero bookings made for May, 49% had zero bookings made for June, and 21% said they had zero bookings made for July and beyond.
“The good news in this data is that at least the zero-booking numbers are going down as time goes forward,” ITRR Director Norma Nickerson said. “It appears travelers aren’t giving up just yet. Some are still booking for the summer.”
However, in the last two weeks of March, another sign of the concerned traveler is showing up in decreased inquiries to businesses in Montana. Ninety-one percent of the accommodation sector reported their inquiries were down, followed by 87% of outfitters and guides.
“Basically, by the middle of March, the phones just stopped ringing,” said one survey respondent.
Other data show that 66% of tourism-related businesses have temporarily reduced their workforce, and 57% have temporarily closed some or part of their business.
Respondents were asked if they would permanently close their business due to COVID19. Seventy-nine percent disagreed with that statement, 18% neither agreed nor disagreed and 3% reported that they would close. That included eight hotels, five outfitter/guides, eight tourism service businesses and two tourism support service businesses.
It’s a wait and see game for many, Nickerson said. One accommodation business owner wrote: “Ninety-nine percent of our guests come from locations requiring them to fly to Missoula or another airport and then drive out to our location. Much of our season is May through October. At this time all of our guests (except the ones in April) have chosen to wait and see how things unfold in the airline and travel industry.”
Another respondent, referring to the federal government assistance to small businesses, wrote, “All fly-fishing guides have been extremely hard hit by this crisis. As independent contractors, being able to apply for unemployment funds will literally change lives.”
Tourism service businesses such as restaurants, bars, distilleries and specialty retail shops have had to change their operations by offering take-out or delivery services, or have closed altogether. As one respondent in this category wrote, “This has hurt our business and our way of life for our own family, as well as our employees. Not sure how we will dig our way out with not having our doors open to survive.”
Finally, tourism support services, such as those that might not directly work with visitors (including chambers of commerce, convention and visitor bureaus, advertising firms and insurance companies) or feel their business is more residents than visitors, are feeling the pinch as well.
“I own a tiny one chair salon in Big Sky and have now been closed for 1.5 weeks going on three more,” a respondent wrote. “This is a very scary and trying time for small business owners.”
Businesses that many don’t think relate to tourism or travel are also concerned. “My schedule was booked for keynote speaking and workshop engagements across the state between April and October,” wrote a respondent. “All but one canceled or postponed, and the one shifted to an online/webinar format. Out-of-state companies had been reaching out about having retreats for remote employees in Montana, but none have booked and inquiries have completely stopped.”
There were 919 respondents to this survey, representing businesses in all but six Montana counties. Those six counties represent only 1.3% of Montana’s population. Twenty-six percent of respondents represented accommodations (236 respondents), 24% represented the outfitter/guide business (216 respondents), 26% represented tourism service businesses (239 respondents), and 25% represented tourism support services (228 respondents).
The ITRR traveler survey, conducted in a two-week interval of March 11-14 and March 25-27, shows changes in sentiment.
Fifty-eight percent of respondents representing Montana residents and previous visitors indicated they were at least somewhat concerned about their own health initially. That number jumped to 83% in the second survey.
Meanwhile, 71% initially indicated concern for the health of their community, and later 92% express such. Concern by these respondents is not limited to health. In early March, 42% of travelers and 36% of Montanans expressed extreme concern over the economy. Then at the end of March, those extremely concerned levels have risen to 68% and 61% respectively. They are small compared to the 87% who indicated concern over the economy.
“Concerns about both one’s own health, broad mandates to stay at home and the future health of the economy are likely to impact travel decisions,” said ITRR Associate Director Jeremy Sage. “To measure the current sentiment and changes to booked and planned travel, ITRR asked respondents to indicate changes to their upcoming plans.”
Before reports of the outbreak in the U.S., two-thirds of both Montanans and nonMontana residents surveyed had already booked trips – including flights, hotels or special events more than 50 miles from home.
In the first round of surveys, only 3% of booked trips to Montana were being canceled. This has risen starkly in two and a half weeks, where later 37% of booked trips that were scheduled in the spring and summer have been canceled and another 36% are actively being considered to be canceled.
“As high as these values are, they do paint a better picture than the rest of the U.S.,” Sage said. “To all other domestic locations, 54% of booked trips are getting canceled by this group, and they are considering cancelation of another 32%.”
In an effort to track the growing impacts of the coronavirus, ITRR will continue surveying Montanans and previous Montana visitors, and Montana travel-related businesses about their perceptions of the virus outbreak and how it has impacted their travel plans.
For a review of the business survey visit https://bit.ly/39zEFVT. For a review of the traveler survey visit https://bit.ly/2JEbbMe. All information and reports published by ITRR are available online at http://www.itrr.umt.edu