The Native American Chamber of Commerce of Illinois to Support the State of Illinois in Accelerating Economic Recovery for Native American Owned Small Businesses

NACC-IL to Conduct Outreach and Provide 1-on-1 Technical Assistance to Ensure Native Owned Businesses Statewide Have Access to Economic Recovery Funds

Governor J.B. Pritzker and the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) has selected the Native American Chamber of Commerce of Illinois (NACC-IL) to support the Small Business Community Navigator and Back to Business (B2B) Programs to assist Native American-owned small business across the state in accessing over $250 million in economic recovery funds. These programs will provide much-needed grant funding for small businesses to rebuild and recover after experiencing significant losses due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"The pandemic has affected our state's Native American community particularly hard," said Andrew Johnson, Executive Director of NACC-IL. "We are fortunate to have an incredibly experienced team assembled to support the Back to Business program to help American Indian businesses and organizations apply and rebuild."

Using a hub-and-spoke model to reach small businesses most in need, NACC-IL will serve as a spoke in the Community Navigators network collaborating with over 100 regional partners and community-based organizations to engage underserved small businesses, including Native American, rural, veteran, and women-owned businesses. In this capacity, NACC-IL will partner with three Native and Women-owned businesses, Visionary Ventures NFP Corporation, Wolf River Consulting, and Native American Financial Literacy Services, to offer specialized, culturally appropriate outreach and engagement to Native communities throughout Illinois. Together, this team of financial and communication experts will offer Native small businesses owners grant application assistance, document review, webinars, and virtual and onsite training and technical assistance.

The B2B Grant Program will prioritize hard-hit industries and communities, providing grants from $5,000-$150,000 to help businesses most impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic recover operational losses. The B2B grant will fund companies that have not yet qualified for State or Federal assistance. Native-owned businesses applying for the B2B grant must demonstrate a reduction in revenue in 2020 compared with 2019.

Eligible Native-owned businesses will need to provide 2019 and 2020 Federal tax returns, two business bank statements-one from (March through December 2020) and the most recent, and a business owner ID. Business owners can apply and track their application status in real-time on the B2B application portal at www.illinois.gov/dceo. Applications will be accepted starting Wednesday, August 18, 2021.

For more information on how to apply and access Native-owned small business assistance, visit: https://www.nacc-il.org/