essential community
Owning Our
Pandemic
by Kyle Jacobson were then able to build a program from the foundation up. But it took weeks for that money to arrive to communities, and we had already had our program up and going. The framework was in place. ... We really hit the ground running really early on in the pandemic, and it did help get the process going for folks and get money out there quicker than other places were able to.”
COVID-19 was the pandemic everyone saw coming, yet nobody prepared for. The boogeyman in plain sight. Once the virus came to Wisconsin, County Executive Joe Parisi recognized that if he didn’t act soon, the nightmare would last well past nightfall. Joe’s first efforts were toward ensuring the homeless would have access to food and shelter. When satisfied that food banks and local shelters were in a better position to handle the ongoing crisis, he addressed Dane County’s small businesses as “part of our comprehensive package to help people through the worst of the economic hardships brought about by the pandemic.” Things happened fast. Office of the County Executive Chief of Staff Josh Wescott says, “We quickly identified the real difficulties and real challenges that would be born by our local small businesses. Given the well-established, really incredible relationship we have with Dane Buy Local, Joe had asked me to reach out to Colin Murray [executive director of Dane Buy Local] and assess what’s happening. To no surprise, the 18 | m a d i s o n e s s e n t i a l s
report was not favorable. There were a lot of businesses in really precarious situations, and that’s where we got to work, connected the dots, and built the program.” Monies allocated to the program started at $250,000. Colin says, “We’ve been working with the Latino Chamber, the Black Chamber, and WWBIC to help get that word out there along with efforts we’ve done on our own.” At one point, applications were coming in at the rate of one every two minutes. Josh checked in with Colin to see how the program was going, and Colin told him that the money wasn’t enough. So the funds were upped to $550,000. Again, Josh reached out, and again, more money was needed. Josh says, “When we first connected with Colin and talked about a way to build something like this, we were among really the first handful of places in the country that were even doing this because we started the program with county money. Over time, as the federal CARES Act came in and other things to all communities, other communities
By the time this article is in print, Colin anticipates that the program’s entire $10.8 million will have been allocated to small businesses through grant agreements. To put that number in perspective, Colin pointed out that the next closest program he’s seen is on the East Coast at around $5 million. “One survey out there has indicated that up to 42 percent of small businesses will not survive the pandemic,” says Colin. “I think because of this program, what Joe has done, what the county has done, we’re going to reduce that percentage here. We’re going to have businesses disappear, but we’re going to reduce that number significantly because of this program and Joe’s foresight in understanding the importance of small businesses.” Joe says, “Dane County is incredibly unique if you look at Mount Horeb, Monroe Street, etc. Throughout the county, a big part of our uniqueness is our local business community and what they bring. We benefit in so many ways. We obviously benefit in a big way economically, but it’s also part of our identity as a community, and it’s important that we not take that for granted and work to maintain that
