On behalf of my community’s Main Street program, I urge your support of the $100M Main Street Community Recovery and Revitalization competitive grant program, of which twenty-five (25%) percent will provide support for small and micro-business as they attempt to safely reopen and operate with reduced sales for the foreseeable future. The remaining seventy-five (75%) percent would support Main Street programs so that they can continue providing technical assistance to Main Street small businesses to utilize relief funding sources, transition to e-commerce and comply with social distancing guidelines.
 
The COVID-19 pandemic has had an outsized and profound impact on smaller, locally-owned businesses that form the backbone of our nation’s communities. In a recent Main Street America survey of over 5,800 small businesses, 57 percent reported a decline in revenues of more than 75 percent since the onset of the crisis.

Main Street programs work directly in communities to connect local businesses with what they need to thrive–whether that is assisting with business plan development, identifying financing opportunities, or working with local government to ensure a friendly business climate. During this pandemic, that support has been essential to continued operations under shifting regulations and needs.

For four decades, Main Street America programs have provided crucial on-the-ground support for local businesses—attracting more than $85 billion in public and private investment, creating 672,000 net new jobs and over 150,00 net new businesses. In 2019, Main Street programs leveraged an average of $30 in public and private investment for every dollar spent on the program.

I urge your support of the Main Street America Community Recovery and Revitalization Program to stabilize and help expand state Main Street programs so that they can continue to respond to this crisis across the United States.