State issues $94 million in grant funding to small businesses, municipalities

State officials released $94 million to small businesses and local governments Thursday to help industries and municipalities reeling from the coronavirus pandemic.

Small businesses were awarded more than $46 million in business interruption grants, while 163 municipalities outside of Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake and Will counties received over $48 million in grants.

Pritzker said the grants are intended to keep small businesses “going and growing” despite the “exceptionally hard time” many businesses now find themselves in because of the pandemic.

The second round of interruption grant funding has been released to 1,238 businesses in over 340 communities; $12.4 million will go to businesses in Chicago, officials said. The city has seen a total of $33 million in business grants so far, Pritzker said.

In another move aimed at helping businesses, the city modified its curfew for nonessential businesses, requiring businesses to close from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m., and extended hours for onsite or to-go alcohol sales at bars and restaurants until 11 p.m.

Alcohol sales at liquor stores, grocery stores and other places with a packaged goods license must still end at 9 p.m., city officials said Thursday.

There’s $220 million available for the second round of the grants, which are aimed at small businesses statewide in sectors like hospitality or the performing arts, which have been hit hard by the virus. The state is focusing on small businesses downstate and in disproportionately affected areas.

The governor said the state has provided $19.5 million for restaurants and bars and is working on expediting the ability for others to receive grant funding.

“We’ve paid special attention to the industries that are most impacted by our efforts to fight this virus, with restaurants and bars,” Pritzker said.

He also called on the federal government to “deliver more for Americans in every state, and especially … here in Illinois because this is not a crisis that any state can weather alone.”

The grant funding can be used for payroll, rent, personal protective equipment and other operational costs.

Downstate communities have been awarded $20.4 million in this round of grant awards, for a total of $32 million outside of Chicago and the five collar counties.

During the first round, the state directed $49 million to restaurants, gyms and other businesses in disproportionately impacted areas, according to figures from the state’s Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.