Small Business

Business Oregon: Small Business Navigator

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General Information

As of April 1st, there is a temporary moratorium on commercial evictions and terminations of rental agreements and leases for businesses who do not meet rental payment.

Minimizing Layoffs

Many small businesses are facing the grim reality of possible employee layoffs. Many small businesses have cut operations, services, and open and employee hours to help protect public health. There are resources available to help employers minimize layoffs.

  • Workshare Oregon: This program allows employers to leverage Unemployment Insurance (UI) to subsidize a portion of lost wages for employers whose work time is reduced. You can click here to learn more about the Workshare Oregon program. If you want to use the program, click here to apply.
    • Why Workshare?
      • Employer Benefits:
      • Offers staffing options when times are tough
      • Provides a way to keep valued employees during slow times
      • Helps you avoid expensive re-training 
      • Rewards staff loyalty
      • Keeps your quality and efficiency high, even when times are slow
      • Enables you to be better prepared to ramp up when the market does
      • Provides confidential and discreet support for your business and your employees
      • Employee Benefits:
      • ​Helps avoid hardships usually associated with layoffs
      • Unemployment insurance benefits reduce the impact of lost wages
      • No job-hunting requirements as with traditional unemployment insurance claims
      • Benefits stay intact, despite not being employed full-time
      • Reduction in hours, while they need to be available to work for their employer at all times, gives schedule flexibility
    • Workshare Eligibility
      • Employees must qualify for Oregon unemployment insurance benefits.
      • The plan must cover at least three employees.
      • The normal weekly hours of work and wages are reduced at least 20%, but not more than 40%.
  • Employees under the plan must have worked for you continuously for six months on a full-time basis, or for one year on a part-time basis before you submit the Work Share plan.
  • Work Share plans cannot last more than one year.
  • A worker can receive up to 52 weeks of Work Share benefits under a plan. The Work Share payments a worker receives are deducted from the available maximum benefit amount on their Unemployment Insurance claim. If there is a remaining balance, the worker may be able to draw regular benefits if needed, as long as they are otherwise eligible to receive them.
  • Workers who’ve used all of their regular benefits or have an Unemployment Insurance claim against another state cannot receive Work Share benefits.
  • Work Share benefits are not paid if the employee works more than the reduced hours that are not within the 20 to 40 percent limitation. It may be possible for a worker to qualify for regular benefits under these circumstances if their earnings are less than their weekly benefit payment amount, and they work less than 40 hours.
  • The employee must be available for work to the Work Share employer.
  • Oregon Rapid Response and Layoff Aversion: This is a service to help employers and employees avoid layoffs and get back to work as quickly as possible. If you’re curious about Oregon Rapid Response, click here to learn more. You can also contact your local team contacts with Oregon Rapid response. Click here to find your contact if you cannot find them below.
    • Willamette Workforce Partnership: Albany, Dallas, Lebanon, McMinnville, Salem, and Woodburn
      • Suzie Gibson, Business Engagement, Manager
    • Lane Workforce Partnership: Eugene and Florence

State Financial Assistance

  • Small Business Loan Modifications and Forgiveness
    • Loan modifications for direct loan programs administered by Business Oregon (Oregon Business Development Fund, Entrepreneurial Development Loan Fund, Oregon Royalty Fund) that defer payments and interest, with no fees.
    • Loan modifications for the Business Oregon loan guarantee and loan loss reserve programs (Credit Enhancement Fund, Capital Access Program).
    • Forgiveness of existing loans through Business Oregon to Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs), to strengthen the CDFIs’ financial position and ability to continue small business lending.
  • Small Business Relief Funding
    • Creation of the “Small Business Stabilization Fund” within the Oregon Community Foundation with initial contribution of $700,000 from the Oregon Growth Fund. This fund will include capital from additional sources to leverage and deploy to intermediary organizations around the state to put money in the hands of small businesses.
    • Request for $10 million of the Oregon Cultural Trust fund to create an emergency relief funding program for arts and cultural organizations.
    • $300 Above-the-Line Charitable Deduction to support non-profits: for tax year starting in 2020, an individual taxpayer who does not itemize is permitted to claim up to $300 in qualified charitable contributions.
  • Business Oregon—the state’s economic development agency. Operates several direct loan and loan guarantee programs for small businesses.
    • Oregon Business Development Fund (OBDF) provides direct loans that can be sued for permanent working capital. Participants must create or retain jobs and must typically be a traded-sector business in manufacturing, processing or distribution.
    • Oregon Royalty Fund (ORF) provides direct loans to help early stage (post R & D and prototyping), scalable, and high-margin small businesses obtain short-term working capital.
    • Capital Access (CAP) provides a form of loan portfolio loss reserve so financial institutions may make business loans that carry higher than conventional risks while complying with federal and state banking regulations.
    • Credit Enhancement Fund (CEF) provides loan guarantees to financial institutions in order to increase capital availability to small businesses.

Federal Financial Assistance

  • Small Business Administration (SBA) COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loan— Funds for the SBA were exhausted Thursday, April 16th, 2020. Congress is attempting to pass legislation authorizing increased funding. Please continue to check here and with your local Small Business Development Center for updates. When funds are available, Oregon should be an eligible region for SBA Loan Assistance. For guidance filling out the form:
    • Small Business Debt Relief Program, providing immediate relief to small businesses with current SBA loans by covering all loan payments, interest and fees for six months.
    • Grants of up to $10,000 to small businesses and non-profits who have applied for an Economic Injury Disaster Loan.
  • Workshare—Additional funding is going to workshare, which helps employers keep employees on the payroll by paying part of their wages.
  • Paycheck Protection Program—Small businesses can receive fully forgivable loans through this newly-created program to address important payroll and operational costs. The federal government has guaranteed these loans, so no personal guarantee or collateral will be required.
  • Federal Emergency Aid Legislation—As the federal aid package gets rolled out, Senator Jeff Merkley assembled some helpful FAQs for what is in it and how it can help.
  • United States Department of Agriculture Business and Industry Loan Guarantee for rural businesses

General Resources for Small Businesses

Stayton Sublimity Chamber of Commerce: The local chamber of commerce in Stayton and Sublimity has collected a variety of links just to support businesses. The executive director of the local chamber also compiled an Eat Local Restaurant & Grocery List of local businesses that are still able to operate and what services they are providing (take-out, delivery, curbside pickup, etc.) and in the Santiam Local Podcast on Episode #11 the chamber director stated that eighty cents of every dollar spent on local business in the community stays in the community.

Follow Santiam Local in Instagram @SantiamLocal and Facebook @SantiamLocal.