We Can’t Wait to Save Small Business
This fall, unless we take action, 1000 more Seattle businesses and one in five Washington restaurants could shutter forever.
Politicians love to talk about how much they love our small businesses, but this moment requires more than just talk. Many exhausted small business owners around the state have been struggling to survive the economic downturn caused by COVID-19 — and as you read this, time is running out for them. While the federal stimulus package this spring certainly helped keep businesses afloat, it was not nearly enough. Now is the time for our leaders to address this crisis with bold, aggressive solutions; unless they do, our economy — and our communities — will pay the price for years to come.
Here’s the hopeful news: there are actionable solutions that our elected leaders could put in place now to save businesses. Officials at the state, county and city levels should all take this moment to think beyond the pre-pandemic concepts of what is possible and what is actionable.
No matter where in Washington you live, you only have to walk through your local business district to see shuttered restaurants and other beloved community touchstones devastated by the pandemic. We’ve known for months that the pandemic is squeezing the air out of small businesses, pushing thin margins into the red, and forcing owners to make tough decisions on whether they can afford to keep their doors open.
As bad as the evidence appears to your eyes, the underlying data is even more distressing: the latest analysis by Yelp suggests that at least 2,000 small businesses in Seattle have already closed forever — a number that could reach as high as 3,000 this fall. Statewide, industry experts predict at least one out of every five restaurants will close for good. The speed and scale of these closures appears to be accelerating — according to Yelp’s data, the rate of closures has increased over the last three months.
Perhaps even more worrying is that the closures and their resulting impacts are being felt most acutely by communities of need — women-owned businesses, businesses owned by (and serving communities of) people of color, and businesses in rural areas. With cold and rain looming, the combination of a potential second wave of the virus and fewer outdoor options will push more businesses to the brink and beyond.
Over the last few months, as the Community Lead for the Governor’s Safe Work and Economic Recovery Advisory Group, I have had the opportunity to sit down with small business owners all across Washington. From these conversations, a set of clear themes have emerged about the types of policies our elected officials should be pursuing.
At the top of the list is ensuring that struggling businesses have access to liquid capital to cover their costs as revenues shrink. Washington State should launch the Washington State Recovery Fund, which would partner with banks to leverage remaining Federal Cares Act funding to create a low-cost and easily accessible loan program for those businesses left out of the federal loan programs of the spring. Low-cost loans can be a lifeline for business owners staring down potential closures, giving them a fighting shot at surviving until our economy begins to pick up again.
Another important action is to make sure the resources and programs that already exist are actually being directed to the people most in need. I have heard from too many business owners that they are simply not getting information about help that they might qualify for already. That dynamic is especially present in communities of need — BIPOC and women-owned businesses, and in rural parts of our state. To bridge that gap, the state should take a two-pronged approach: first, to ensure that as recovery funding is distributed, communities feeling the disproportionate impact are prioritized; and second, to creatively act in a proactive way to engage locally known and trusted messengers who can be huge amplifiers of the state’s messages and information, thereby ensuring they reach the audiences who need them the most.
And finally, while we need to focus on the immediate moment, it is important that we spend time looking ahead to the future, and setting ourselves up to win the recovery. One of the primary obstacles that small business owners have identified is the need for funding that is specifically targeted at reopening and new business start costs, as well as technical assistance to ensure that communities with lower financial resources are able to access and maximize that funding. When the time comes for your favorite neighborhood restaurant to reopen its doors, there should be some support that protects the owners from falling deep into debt simply to cover the cost of goods and services as they ramp back up. A wide variety of stakeholders are invested in this idea, and the governor should bring them together to build a community-driven reopening and investment plan. The need for start-up funding and technical assistance is especially acute in the Black community, and new programs should specifically address this need.
I believe in the power of our government and our institutions to help people through a time of crisis. We have the resources and the will to save businesses, but time is running out–our leaders must act quickly, or the moment will have passed, and the task of rebuilding the economy will be ten times harder.
Small business owners have met the challenge of this moment, reinventing their models while also following public guidance on how to keep their customers and staff safe and healthy. Now it’s our turn to show up for them. The challenge we face is unprecedented, and our solutions must be as well. We can be a state that supports successful small businesses and working people.
We can prove that the vision and opportunity of Washington is not limited by crisis, but strengthened by it.
Want to take action to help save small business? We’ve created an easy one–minute tool to help you send a letter to your state legislators. Feeling particularly ambitious? Check out our full activism toolkit for additional ways you can make a difference.
