The next round of Working Washington grants from the Washington State Department of Commerce opens March 29th.
Working Washington Round 4 offers grant relief funds to small for-profit businesses, especially those that were required to close due to public health and safety measures.
Priorities for funding are:
- Businesses required to close.
- Businesses with lost revenue as a result of closure.
- Businesses with added expenses to maintain safe operations.
- Equitable distribution of grant funds across the state and to businesses owned and operated by historically disadvantaged individuals.
Visit https://commercegrants.com for info. Email or call the EDC if you need help!
The Economic Development Council (EDC) reminds business owners and managers that the deadline for the SBA’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) is approaching – March 9, 2021 for small businesses with fewer than 20 employees, and March 31, 2021 for all businesses. The EDC offers free technical assistance to small businesses and nonprofits, in partnership with SCORE and other entities, including in languages other than English.
The PPP program has improved since last year, specifically:
– The requirements to receive forgiveness have been streamlined.
– Borrowers may use funds for a broader array of expenses.
– Hard-hit firms like restaurants may qualify for higher funding amounts.
– More types of non-profits are now eligible to apply.
– Eligibility has been expanded for many business owners, including those with some non-fraud felony convictions or some past defaulted student loans.
– Improvements have been made for independent contractors.
– Forgiven PPP loans are now exempt from federal income taxation.
During the period through March 9th, SBA and PPP lenders will process loan applications ONLY from small businesses and non-profits with fewer than 20 employees. This exclusive small-employer PPP processing window is designed to provide more equitable relief by targeting the PPP to our nation’s smallest businesses.
Organizations with more than 20 employees should prepare to submit an application with their lender after March 9.
More information about the SBA’s Paycheck Protection Program, please visit the EDC’s website at www.sanjuansedc.org/covid-19.
Summer of Sustainable Trades!
What do kids get to do?
Choose one, two, or all three projects:
- Conservation careers with the Conservation District
- Kids do soil testing
- Electrical utility trades with OPALCO.
- Do a virtual tour of a substation
- Watch line workers open a transformer.
- Learn about GIS and map local utility infrastructure
- Kids make a DIY generator and motor. Materials and multimeter provided.
- Renewable energy with Rainshadow Solar
- Kids do a solar site assessment
- Kids make a sundial
Other great opportunities about the program.
- Meet kids from other islands.
- Discover career options.
- Opportunities to participate in other 4-H activities if kids want to.
What does it cost? It’s FREE!
How long dies it takes? Just a couple of hours a week.
When and where is it? Each project involves a series of online sessions to introduce, troubleshoot, and wrap-up the project. Real world projects can be done at home or in your neighborhood at anytime between the sessions. The online sessions are scheduled as follows:
- Conservation trades with the Conservation District: July 15 and Aug 24 and 26 at 4PM
- Electrical utilities with OPALCO: July 20, 22, and 29, and Aug. 12 at 1PM
- Renewable energy with Rainshadow Solar: Sep. 23 and 30, and Oct 7 at 4PM
Do kids have to be in 4-H? They have to join, but the EDC will pay for memberships if they are not already members. There is no obligation to remain in 4-H.
Interested? Have questions? Contact Wendy Waxman Kern, the 4-H Coordinator for San Juan County wendy.waxman@wsu.edu
Deadline: Let us know you are interested by July 5th (conservation work or electrical utilities), or September 1st (renewable energy).
This series is made possible by the generosity of funders of the EDC’s Trades Training Initiative, in particular the San Juan Island Community Foundation, the Lopez Lions, the Friday Harbor Kiwanis, the Raynier Institute and Foundation, San Juan County, the Orcas Kiwanis, Robin VanHyning, and other donors. To support EDC trades programs, please visit www.sanjuansedc.org/donate.
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On Thursday, January 14 2021, the San Juan County Economic Development Council hosted a webinar on the upcoming PPP loan application process, presented by Janie Sacco and Mark Costello from the SBA from 2-330pm. They covered the latest updates to the PPP loan program and took questions from our County business owners.
The program recording is uploaded here.
The PDF deck from the presentation can be viewed and downloaded here.
The EDC will be maintaining a running list of lenders participating in PPP loans for SJC businesses at this link. Please check back periodically as we update this information.
Local Banks:
• Islanders Bank / Banner Bank
• Key Bank
• US Bank
Online Lenders:
• Kabbage
• Bluevine
(at this time it does not appear Square, QuickBooks or PayPal will participate but that could change)
CDFIs:
• NDC Online (National Development Council)
- you can watch a recorded webinar from 1/13 on how to get a PPP loan from NDC here.
Updated 12 January 2021 – There is a great deal to unpack about the Stimulus package (Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021). This summary from the House Small Business Committee is an excellent place to start. Full text of the bill can be read here. We have also linked to some specific relevant articles below. We are continuing to update this post daily.
• The EDC has assembled a work-in-progress list of participating PPP lenders and their web landing pages:
https://www.sanjuansedc.org/ppp-jan2021-financial-institutions/
• SBA has released detailed information on first-time PPP applications and second-draw applications.
• SBA has released the PPP lender application form, you can use this to determine what information your lender will need from you in order to apply.
• SBA has also released applications to be used for first-time/first-draw PPP applicants and second-draw applicants.
1/11/21 – The SBDC slide deck from the 1/8 presentation is available at the link below:
Highlights of the bill include:
• $600 one-time stimulus payment for adults making up to $75K/yr ($1200 for a couple up to $150K) plus $600 per dependent child under 17, via direct deposit as was the case previously. You can track your payment at irs.gov/getmypayment
• 12/31 – SBA has released this section-by-section breakdown on the new PPP: https://www.sanjuansedc.org/123020_sba_ppp2_section-by-section/
• PPP: allows deductions for otherwise deductible expenses paid with a forgiven PPP loan
• PPP: $284BN in funding for another round of PPP, which will also be available to businesses that need a 2nd tranche of funding and can show revenue losses of at least 25%, have fewer than 300 employees, and have used or will use the full amount of their first PPP loan. There are additional new forgivable expenses specifically for restaurants including PPE, software, and supplier costs. See the full text of the summary for details. Restaurants, bars and hospitality (whose NAICS codes start with 72) will be allowed loans of 3.5x monthly payroll; all other businesses will be 2.5x months as with the previous rounds.
• PPP: To be eligible for full loan forgiveness for this new round, PPP borrowers will have to spend no less than 60% of the funds on payroll over a covered period of either eight or 24 weeks.
• PPP: the bill repeals the requirement that PPP borrowers deduct the amount of any EIDL advance from their PPP forgiveness amount.
• PPP: specific 501(c)6 organizations are now eligible.
more PPP details can be found here.
• EIDL: reintroduces the EIDG advance grant, targeting the up-to-$10,000 advance to low-income communities (*we are awaiting guidance from SBA if the definition of low-income communities includes any parts of San Juan County) to ensure continuity, adaptation, and resiliency; permit small businesses in low-income communities that received an EIDL advance to receive additional funds, up to $10,000; extend covered period for emergency EIDL grants through December 31, 2021;
• Employee Retention Tax Credit would be extended through July 1, 2021. The bill would increase the fully refundable portion of qualified wages from 50% to 70%, among other changes. It also greatly expands the ERTC in 2021, with the new ERTC credit offering a maximum of $14,000 per employee through June 30, 2021. Originally, the CARES Act only allowed businesses to choose PPP or ERTC. Businesses should take these major changes into account for year-end tax planning purposes and start using it to help them plan out 2021. If a business used and exhausted a PPP loan early in 2020, for example, they could then use the ERTC to help them with their 2020 taxes. You now have the opportunity before the end of the year to claim that tax credit and look back at prior quarters and count those wages. Any wages upon which an ERC is computed, however, would not be forgivable costs under the PPP program.
• Venues (1/5/21): The Grants for Shuttered Venue Operators Bill—also known as the Save Our Stages Bill — allows independent entertainment businesses, like music venues and movie theaters, along with other cultural entities, to apply for grants from the Small Business Administration to support six months of payments to employees and for costs including rent, utilities and maintenance. Applicants must have lost at least 25 percent of their revenue to qualify, and those that have lost more than 90 percent will be able to apply first, within the first two weeks after the bill becomes law. For more details go here and here— we will update when an application portal for this grant program becomes available.
• Local Newspapers, TV, and Radio: The second round of PPP loans is open to many media outlets that weren’t eligible for the first round of loans, including outlets owned by out-of-state companies.
• FFCRA: extends employer tax credits for providing both paid sick leave and paid family and medical leave under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act through March 21, 2021
• UI / ESD: The legislation changed and extended Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) and Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC), including an additional $300 per week for all eligible claimants for 10 weeks, from 1/3/21 to 3/13/21. The additional $300 should start being paid 1/15 to claimants who are eligible for benefits, retroactive to w/ending 1/2.
Those on PUA as of March 14 can claim through April 5; extending the maximum number of weeks from 39 to 50.
12/28 – due to the bill not being signed until 12/28, WA ESD is paying eligible PUA recipients $55o to cover what would be 2 weeks of missed payments. PEUC and regular UI recipients are able to apply for Extended Benefits in their eservices account as of 12/27 or prior.
12/29 – Claimants don’t need to click the new alert to apply for a PUA claim, but it’s not a problem if you did. Because the new federal stimulus was signed into law after PUA & PEUC expired, it created some confusion in the computer system. Continue to submit your weekly claims as usual. The link will go away when we update the system. More Q&A: esd.wa.gov/newsroom/covid-19-worker-information
The bill also provides an extra benefit of $100 per week for certain workers who have both wage and self-employment income but whose base UI benefit calculation doesn’t take their self-employment into account.
Please let your affected employees know not to call ESD to ask about these extended benefits – claimants will see updates and instructions in their eservices inlbox, or via email or postal mail, as soon as ESD has implemented the new benefits.
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More details will be posted as SBA and Treasury make their deployment plans and timelines public. We encourage you to discuss these changes with your tax professional and CPA in the coming days.
December 2, 2020 — The San Juan County EDC is resuming regular programming with the return of our Business Recovery Zoom Meetings, now called Business Recovery Workshops. This bi-weekly workshop, in a Zoom environment, will give business owners the opportunity to speak with professionals on a wide variety of topics related to the continuing economic recovery in San Juan County and stay on top of trends and data.
Please join us for our premiere meeting on Tuesday, December 8 from 9 to 945am at the link below. EDC Executive Director Victoria Compton will lead a conversation about the County’s current economic picture, and what getting through the winter months may look like for businesses. We will be joined by Val Curtis to discuss social media and marketing as more local businesses seek to find a way to pivot to an effective online presence.
To join the meeting:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82977916322?pwd=MVNXTDZUNVdtbjExWjMrZVd4SWo2dz09
One tap mobile:
+12532158782,,82977916322#,,,,,,0#,,770224# US (Tacoma)
Dial-in:
+1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)
Meeting ID: 829 7791 6322
Passcode: 770224
PAST RECORDINGS:
UPDATED 12/2/20 – at 1pm today the application portal opened. Go to http://startup.choosewashingtonstate.com/working-washington-round-3/ to begin your application. Applications received by 12/11/20 will be prioritized.
November 25, 2020 — Last week, Gov. Jay Inslee announced an additional $70 million for business grants. $50 million of that is for a new round of Working Washington business grants. The remainder will go toward funding all qualified businesses that applied in earlier rounds of our resiliency grant program. (NOTE: Businesses who applied for the resiliency grant program will not need to take any action).
The application portal and additional information will be posted at www.commerce.wa.gov/bizgrants.
Round 3: Working Washington Business Grants – $50 million
Who can apply?
These grants are prioritized for:
- Small businesses with annual revenues of $5 million or less in 2019
AND
- Businesses in the sectors that are most impacted by the recent public health measures as well as businesses in sectors that have experienced significant, cumulative impacts. Examples include full-service restaurants, fitness centers, bowling alleys and music and event venues.
- Certain nonprofits may also be eligible if they have a primary business activity that falls into a similar category as noted above. Example – a nonprofit full-service restaurant or nonprofit music venue.
If the state Department of Commerce is able to fund all the eligible applicants from the priority pool, and funds remain, Commerce may be able to provide grants to additional businesses or nonprofits from other sectors or who have annual revenues larger than $5 million.
What does the grant pay for?
- The maximum grant award will be up to $20,000.
- The grant can only cover expenses or costs incurred due to COVID-19 and that were necessary to continue business operations.
How can I apply?
- The online application portal will open early next week (the week of Nov. 30). The portal link will be available at commerce.wa.gov/bizgrants. Additional information about eligibility and prioritization will also be posted there.
- Priority will be given to applications received by Dec. 10. If Commerce is able to fund all the eligible applicants who submit by that time, we may be able to consider eligible applicants who submit after the 10th.
- Checklist of the information you’ll need to have ready:
- Applicant W-9 Request for Taxpayer Identification Number
- Copy of valid government issued photo I.D.
- For Tribal-member owned businesses: license or certification if business activity is conducted outside the tribal jurisdiction; letter or certification from the tribe recognizing you as a business if business activity is within the tribal jurisdiction.
- Copy of 2019 Tax Return or other confirmation of Business Gross Revenues for 2019.
- For businesses with a physical location, evidence of that location, such as lease, tax statement, utility bill, etc.
- NAICS code or clear description of your primary business activity. A NAICS code is helpful, but not necessary. If you have never used a NAICS code, you can learn more here: What is a NAICS Code? and explore NAICS codes to see which one fits your business.
This round of applications will go directly through Commerce, not the EDC. We will pass on more information as it becomes available from Commerce.
Recording of the 1-hour conversation with Q&A from the community can be watched here.
November 24, 2020 — The San Juan County EDC will host a listening session with State Representative Alex Ramel (WA-4o) on Thursday December 10, 2020, from 5p-6p PST. The event will be held via Zoom and pre-registration is required.
The Representative hopes to hear from you about the challenges you’re facing throughout fall and winter, what successes you had during summer that you’d like to see continued, and how the state can find innovative and immediately responsive ways to support you, your business, your employees, and your community.
November 19, 2020 — This year, more than ever, business owners and community leaders and legislators need data and information to make knowledgeable decisions. Join the Economic Development Council (EDC) for our fifth annual Datapalooza! event on Wednesday, December 9, 2020 from 11am to 12:30pm via Zoom. Participants can learn more about how the pandemic affected area industries and employment, while sharing in compelling bring-your-own lunch conversation with the group.
This year’s program, sponsored in part by Island Market, will include presentations by noted speakers James McCafferty, director of WWU’s Center for Economic & Business Research and Dr. Anneliese Vance-Sherman, regional labor economist for the State of Washington.
The presentations will explore our region’s economy and demographics – past, present, and future – including industry, employment, sales data, and current trends. This in-depth analysis will enable leaders and businesspeople to make informed decisions about issues that affect our community and economy.
For more information please visit https://www.sanjuansedc.org/datapalooza/
Datapalooza 2020 Presentation
- Video (on YouTube); automatically generated closed captions available.
- Slide decks for the EDC’s intro and guest speakers presentations (links to PDFs for download).
Datapalooza 2019 Slide Deck
https://www.sanjuansedc.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Datapalooza-2019.pdf
Datapalooza 2018 Slide Deck
https://www.sanjuansedc.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/DatapaloozaSlides2018.pdf