April 7, 2020
Emergency Resources for Small Businesses
On Friday, April 3, Kansas Secretary of Commerce David Toland, and Secretary of Labor Delia Garcia, along with Laurel Klein Searles, Director of Unemployment Insurance, presented information about Kansas' response to the Covid-19 pandemic for 190 First Friday viewers. The call was instantly disrupted by zoom bombers and forced to close. We re-convened in another zoom room and recorded their presentations for viewing. The call is online at https://www.ksre.k-state.edu/community/business/entrepreneurship/.
The economic impact and jobs impact is almost unimaginable, with 10 million filing for unemployment nationwide in two weeks; the previous high was 695,000 in one week in 1982. The KansasCommerce.gov website shows programs for businesses. Kansas Department of Labor is the first stop for all unemployment questions.
In one day last week, the Kansas Department of Labor had 877,000 attempted calls. Only those who don't have internet should call for assistance. The Department of Labor has daily briefings on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter at 9:30 a.m. on M-T-Th-F and at 3 p.m. on Wednesdays. The briefings and social media sites reflect the most recent information.
For those on KSRE's Teams page, Nancy Daniels has posted notes from the call in the Community Vitality Files under "Small Business Resources."
Federal Legislation was passed on March 27 to bring billions of additional dollars to help small businesses, self-employed and unemployed workers, but the state is waiting for guidance on these programs. For more information, check these agencies' social media accounts and websites for rapidly changing information.