DSD-20-174 - Ontario Small Business COVID-19 Recovery Network Program

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REPORT TO:City of Kitchener Council Meeting DATE OF MEETING:October 26, 2020 SUBMITTED BY:Chris Farrell, Manager, Small Business Centre 519 741 2200 ext 7294 PREPARED BY:Chris Farrell, Manager, Small Business Centre 519 741 2200 ext 7294 WARD (S) INVOLVED:All DATE OF REPORT:October 13, 2020 REPORT NO.:DSD-20-174 SUBJECT:Ontario Small Business COVID-19 Recovery Network program RECOMMENDATION: That the Mayor and Clerk be authorized to sign a funding agreement with the Business Advisory Center Durham on behalf of the Waterloo Region Small Business Centre to deliver the Ontario Small Business COVID-19 Recovery Network program, a program funded by the Ontario Together Fund, withsaid agreement to be to the satisfaction of the City Solicitor:and further, That the General Manager, Development Services be authorized to execute on behalf of the Waterloo Region Small Business Centre amendmentsor documents tothefunding agreement provided such documents or amendments are to the satisfaction of the City Solicitor. BACKGROUND: events, one-on-one coaching, mentoring and connections to industry professionals. For the past seven months, theseservices have been provided virtually,supportingsmall businessesmost affected by COVID-19; retail, food services, hospitality, personal and professional care, tourism and non-profit businesses-19 emergency and recovery stages of the pandemic The centre currently employs 4 FT and 7 temporary employees, working together with partners in the region to provide a high quality of service to small business. TheWaterloo Region Small Business Centre is one of 46Small Business Centres in Ontario funded by the Provincial government. Thenetwork of centres meetsmonthly to share best practicesand knowledge, align the servicesregionally,and identify emerging trends for small businesses. In May 2020 this group collectively developed and submitted a business proposal in response to the Provincial to the COVID-19 recovery. The Provincial government approved the proposal in September to create Ontario Small Business COVID- Ontario Small Business COVID-04millionproject that will build one centralized triage portal (websiteand email) to help small businessesin the wake of the economic fall out of COVID-19. This pan-Ontario project is funded by the province in an agreement with and administered by the Business Advisory Centre Durham(BACD) aregistered non-profit. BACD will enter into agreements with up to 46 Small Business Enterprise Centres (SBECs) and flow Grant funding to each of the SBECs enabling themto hire a service advisor to provide support to small 1 - 1