Chattanooga Mayor and The Enterprise Center unveil “Small Business Resiliency Kit”
No one would doubt that most small businesses have been adversely impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, certainly some more than others. Many will never return.
As is frequently the case in Chattanooga, city leaders and other organizations came together to do something to try to help as the “hoped for” recovery will begin to unfold in 2021 with COVID-19 vaccines becoming more widely available.
Yesterday, during a virtual press conference, The Enterprise Center unveiled a Chattanooga specific “Small Business Resiliency Kit.” The tagline says it all: “Everything you need to prepare your business, non-profit or faith-based organization for a crisis.”
Mayor Andy Berke, who participated in the announcement, emphasized that, while the online site was developed to help businesses dealing with the pandemic, there are many other types of natural and manmade disasters that require a resilient community.
That point was underscored on the site where it was noted that “the list and resources were inspired by the struggles many local organizations faced in applying for PPP (Payroll Protection Program) and FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) assistance in response to COVID-19 and the April 2020 tornadoes.”
Even though the version unveiled yesterday is designed to serve those who live in the Chattanooga area, Geoff Millener, Senior Program and Operations Officer at The Enterprise Center, said the checklist was built with open source software, enabling other communities to adopt it and then adapt it to their specific needs.
The ultimate goal is to provide a place where organizations will be able to identify and manage important information and relationships so they are better prepared if a very disruptive event occurs.
