INDUSTRY DIRT Suds Creative and Retention Express announce new partnership Suds Creative, of Meridian, Ohio, a leader in data-driven marketing and CX technology for the car wash industry, announced on January 5, 2022, a new partnership with Retention Express LLC, an outsourced, white labeled, customer experience support team focused on membership retention across all customer touchpoints for car wash operators. The partnership will focus on identifying strategic opportunities for collaboration between the companies on a client-by-client basis. “Our goal is to drive greater revenue for our clients and we’re laser-focused on strategies and tools that will help the hundreds of operators we work with achieve their business goals. Aligning with Retention Express allows us to expand our ability to help clients deliver outstanding customer support to members and customers without increasing their own team size and allowing their employees to better serve on-site customers,” said Jason Baumgartner, CEO of Suds Creative, in a company press release. Added Bobby Thomson, CEO of Retention Express, “We are thrilled to partner with Suds and to provide car wash owners a dedicated solution to closing the back door of churn, delivering superior customer support, and creating more satisfied customers. We really are able to quarterback the off-site customer experience while our specialists capture the voice of their customer by solving every inbound customer inquiry through a first call resolution approach and providing owners with valuable insights and analytics.” SBA pledges support in recovering from pandemic Last year, according to a November 24, 2021, Small Business Administration (SBA) press release, shoppers came together in full force to support their local communities, and Small Business Saturday hit a record high with an estimated $19.8 billion in reported spending. This year, holiday consumers broke new records. Under Administrator Isabella Casillas Guzman, the U.S. SBA has been at the forefront of the recovery effort, equitably delivering economic relief to small businesses along Main Streets – from the mom-and-pop restaurants and retail shops to the contractors and small manufacturers. While much progress has been made to get Americans back to work, back to business, and back to normal, the Administration and the SBA have continued to make equity a priority by increasing access to government resources, lowering the barriers to opportunity, and helping expand the reach of the customers we serve. The U.S. SBA’s implementation of President 34 • WINTER 2022 Updates made to COVID EIDL guidelines The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) announced on November 19, 2021, the updated guidance for COVID Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program applicants to better serve small business owners in need, while funding remains available. Since its inception, the COVID EIDL program, a federal disaster relief loan designed to better serve and support our small business communities still reeling from the pandemic, especially hard-hit sectors such as restaurants, gyms, and hotels, has approved nearly $300 billion in relief aid. Specifically, the following updated guidance is being provided: • EIDL loan and Targeted Advance applications will be accepted until December 31 and will continue to be processed after this date until funds are exhausted. • Supplemental Targeted Advance applications will be accepted until December 31; however, the SBA may be unable to process some Supplemental Targeted Advance applications submitted near the December 31 deadline due to legal requirements. The SBA cannot continue to process Supplemental Targeted Advance applications after December 31 and strongly encourages eligible small businesses to apply by Biden’s American Rescue Plan (ARP) and other traditional loan programs have helped the smallest of small businesses survive, and the work continues. In the midst of a global pandemic, under Administrator Guzman, the SBA delivered a record number of its traditional loans to our nation’s small businesses while also scaling up to meet the immense demand for COVID-related economic relief. In 2021, SBA has overseen the distribution of nearly $416.3 billion in emergency relief aid to more than 6 million impacted small businesses through the Paycheck Protection Program ($280 billion), Restaurant Revitalization Fund ($28.6 billion), Shuttered Venue Operators Grant ($13.4 billion), COVID Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program ($88 billion), and COVID EIDL Targeted and Supplemental Advance programs ($6.3 billion combined). This support has directly helped small businesses stay open and keep workers on payrolls, especially for those owned by our underserved, including women, people of color, veterans, and rural and low-income communities. Highlights of the significant ARP resources going to our hardest hit, underserved small businesses: • The Shuttered Venue Operators Grant has awarded grants to nearly 13,000 live venues, theaters, and other entertainment and cultural hubs. Since the inception of the SVOG program, more than 90% of the December 10 to ensure adequate processing time. • Borrowers can request increases up to their maximum eligible loan amount for up to two years after their loan origination date, or until the funds are exhausted, whichever is sooner. • The SBA will accept and review reconsideration and appeal requests for COVID EIDL applications received on or before December 31 if the reconsideration/appeal is received within the timeframes in the regulation. This means six months from the date of decline for reconsiderations and 30 days from the date of reconsideration decline for appeals – unless funding is no longer available. “The COVID Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) and EIDL Advance programs still have billions of dollars available to help small businesses hard hit by the pandemic. More than 3.8 million businesses employing more than 20 million people have found financial relief through SBA’s Economic Injury Disaster Loans,” said Patrick Kelley, Associate Administrator for SBA’s Office of Capital Access. “Key enhancements have been made to the loan program that will help our nation’s businesses recover and get back on track.” grants have supported venues with fewer than 50 employees – or the smallest of small businesses – a key priority of this Administration. • The retooled COVID EIDL Targeted and Supplemental Advance programs have provided almost 500,000 small businesses approximately $6.3 billion in financial relief, focused on supporting those from lowincome communities who were especially hard-hit and are still reeling from the pandemic. • And the Community Navigators Pilot Program has awarded nearly $100 million in funding to 51 organizations that will work with hundreds of local groups to connect small business owners to government resources and help level the playing field for America’s entrepreneurs. The two-year grants were designated in three tiers at $1 million, $2.5 million and $5 million. Through SBA’s core lending programs, $44.8 billion in funding was delivered to small businesses in fiscal year (FY) 2021 through more than 61,000 loans. Out of $36.5 billion in 7(a) loans, nearly $11 billion went to minority business owners ($7.5 billion for Asian American and Pacific Islanders, $2.1 billion for Hispanic Americans, $959 million for Black Americans, and $246 million American In-
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