BE IT RESOLVED, that the Hennepin County Board of Commissioners hereby allocates up to $700,000 of its federal funding from the Coronavirus Relief Fund available under section 601(a) of the Social Security Act, as added by section 5001 of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) to create and implement a Hennepin County business resource recovery network to support businesses in recovering from the ongoing economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, during the period October 20, 2020 through December 30, 2020; and that the Controller be authorized to accept, transfer and disburse funds as directed; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the County Administrator be authorized to negotiate Amendment 1 to Agreement PR00002386 with the Greater Minneapolis Chamber Development Foundation to implement the Hennepin County business recovery resource network, providing peer to peer business roundtables, a critical topics series, and matching businesses with specialized technical assistance and coaching, with no change in the contract period, increasing the not to exceed amount by $200,000 for a new not to exceed amount of $250,000; that following review and approval by the County Attorney's Office, the Chair be authorized to sign the amendment on behalf of the county; and that the Controller be authorized to disburse funds as directed; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the County Administrator be authorized to negotiate an Agreement with Workbay, LLC, or authorized reseller, to develop and implement a technology platform to support the Hennepin County business recovery resource network, during the period October 20, 2020 through December 30, 2020, with a not to exceed amount of $75,000; that following review and approval by the County Attorney's Office, the County Administrator be authorized to sign the agreement on behalf of the county; and that the Controller be authorized to disburse funds as directed; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the County Administrator be authorized to initiate a Request for Proposal (RFP) process and negotiate agreements with multiple selected vendors to provide customized business consulting, specialized technical and technological assistance, and coaching to support business recovery from the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, during the period October 20, 2020 through December 30, 2020, with a total combined not to exceed amount of $300,000; that following review and approval by the County Attorney's Office, the County Administrator be authorized to sign the agreements on behalf of the county; and that the Controller be authorized to disburse funds as directed; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the County Administrator be authorized to initiate an RFP process and negotiate agreements with multiple selected vendors to provide culturally and geographically inclusive outreach and promotion of resources available through the Hennepin County business recovery resource network to businesses seeking support to recover from the economic impacts of COVID-19, during the period October 20, 2020 through December 30, 2020, with a total combined not to exceed amount of $125,000; that following review and approval by the County Attorney's Office, the County Administrator be authorized to sign the agreements on behalf of the county; and that the Controller be authorized to disburse funds as directed; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that any funding amounts not utilized will be returned to the CARES Act fund at Hennepin County for future distribution.

History: Section 601(a) of the Social Security Act, as added by section 5001 of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), established the Coronavirus Relief Fund (Fund) and appropriated $150 billion to the Fund. Under the CARES Act, the Fund is to be used to make payments for specified uses to States and certain local governments; the District of Columbia and U.S. Territories; and Tribal governments. Hennepin County received a direct payment out of the Fund from the U.S. Treasury.

The CARES Act provides that money from the Fund may only be used to cover costs that:

1. are necessary expenditures incurred due to the public health emergency with respect to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID–19);
2. were not accounted for in the budget most recently approved as of March 27, 2020 (the date of enactment of the CARES Act) for the State or government; and
3. were incurred during the period that begins on March 1, 2020 and ends on December 30, 2020.

Allowable expenditures include those incurred to respond to second-order effects of the emergency, such as economic impacts. Federal guidance for the Coronavirus Relief Fund specifically includes as allowable “expenditures related to the provision of grants to small businesses to reimburse the costs of business interruption caused by required closures.” as well as expenses “associated with conducting a recovery planning project or operating a recovery coordination office”.

Hennepin County has taken swift and substantive action to engage and support the business community with the unprecedented economic impacts of COVID-19.  On May 5, 2020 (Resolution 20-0170), June 2, 2020 (Resolution 20-0210R1), June 23, 2020 (Resolution 20-0247), July 28, 2020 (Resolution 20-0270), and September 29 (Resolution 20-0360) Hennepin County allocated a total of $40,040,000 in CARES Act funding to emergency small business relief/recovery. Specific activities funded include culturally specific small business outreach and navigation assistance, technical assistance, grant administration, and direct emergency grant funding to assist local businesses with costs of business interruption due to COVID-19.

On May 5, 2020 (Resolution 20-0167), Hennepin County created the Business Advisory Council “to support the rapid recovery of the Hennepin County business community from the COVID-19 pandemic by identifying opportunities and needs in the business community, providing guidance and input to county staff on potential programs and initiatives, and to act as a liaison between the business community and Hennepin County.”  Members of the twenty-person Business Advisory Council include business leaders from diverse cultural backgrounds, industries, geographies, and scale of business.  In a series of large group discussions and smaller focused conversations held to-date, the Business Advisory Council has generated a short list of prioritized, actionable strategies to address immediate needs of local businesses threatened by the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The current action would provide a fast-track for implementation of these strategies through an expanded scope of services provided by Amendment 1 to Agreement PR00002386 with the Greater Minneapolis Chamber Development Foundation dba the Minneapolis Regional Chamber Foundation, now merged with the TwinWest Chamber.  The combined strategies provided by the expanded scope would build out a business recovery resource network in three areas related to COVID-19 recovery:

• Business Assistance and Coaching – 1:1 technical and technological assistance leveraging the expertise of consultants and subject matter experts. 
• Industry-specific Peer to Peer Roundtables - serving multiple segments of the economy with a focus on those most impacted by COVID-19. 
• Critical Topics Series – featuring tactical and practical presentations with thought leader experts and open dialogue focused on small to mid-size businesses. 

Webinars, best practices, and toolkits emerging from roundtables and the topics series will be broadly available to local businesses.

Workbay, LLC will develop and implement a technology platform to support the Hennepin County business recovery resource network by matching technical experts and business consultants with businesses based on their specific needs. 

Technical experts and business consultants with specialized expertise will be identified using a Request for Proposals (RFP) process with a focus on local entrepreneurs and organizations. 

Local chambers of commerce, culturally specific business organizations, and other nonprofit economic development organizations well-positioned to connect Hennepin County businesses seeking assistance with COVID-19 recovery-related resources will also be identified using an RFP process.  

Impact/Outcomes: Approval of this request will create and implement a Hennepin County business resource recovery network to support businesses in recovering from the ongoing economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic by providing peer to peer business roundtables, a critical topics series, and matching businesses with specialized technical assistance and coaching.