Business Updates 1/14/21 

California Forward Releases 2021 Roadmap to Shared Prosperity for Regional Business and Community Stakeholders

Every year, California Forward hosts regional business and community stakeholders from around the state at the California Economic Summit to develop a roadmap as a guide to solve California’s most pressing issues. This year’s Roadmap provides solutions to the issues of climate resilience, cradle to career education, broadband action plan, expanding home ownership, regional and inclusive economic development, and investing in small businesses owned by people of color. The full roadmap can be found here.

Paycheck Protection Program Reopens

U.S. Small Business Administration announced earlier this week that the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) has been reopened. Community financial institutions will be able to make First Draw PPP Loans on Monday, January 11, and Second Draw PPP Loans on Wednesday, January 13. The PPP will open to all participating lenders shortly thereafter. This round of the PPP will authorize up to $284 billion toward job retention and other expenses through March 31, 2021. To read more about small business guidance and loan resources, please click here. 

Residents 65 Years and Older Now Eligible To Get COVID19 Vaccine

On January 12th, the OC Health Care Agency issued a press release signifying that all residents 65 years and above are now eligible to get a COVID-19 vaccine. All residents are encouraged to register on Orange County's vaccine and testing management app, Othena, to see when the county has appointments available. Read the full press release here. If you are over the age of 65 and would like to register for an appointment to get a vaccine, please click here. 

Business Updates 1/7/21 

Pandemic Relief Resources:  Late last year, Congress passed legislation providing $900 billion in additional pandemic aid and economic stimulus.  In response, we have updated our guide documents to assist you and your members in navigating these programs, as well as recorded several webinars walking through the provisions of the bill. 

• Updated Guide to Emergency Loans – We have updated our information guides for the pandemic grant and loan programs.  As always, we will continue to update these as more information is provided by the SBA and Dept. of the Treasury.  Click here to view the guide document. 
• Pandemic Webinar Recordings - You can view the Chamber’s webinars explaining the new pandemic relief bills from late December and early January.  We’ve uploaded the recording from this week here, plus the accompanying slides here, and you can find the recording from our December discussion here. 
• Upcoming Webinar – On January 19^th, we will be holding a third webinar to provide further updates on the PPP, EIDL, and other aid programs.  Click here to register.