Helping Small Businesses in Kansas City Recover From the Pandemic

Background

Kansas City has multiple programs and resources available to local small businesses to help them grow and expand. They partnered with the Economic Development Corporation of Kansas City to develop the Kansas City Small Business (KC SMB) Capital Program. This program aimed to help small businesses that experienced negative economic or disproportionate impacts from the pandemic by giving them “starting” capital.

The program aims to foster economic growth, innovation, and entrepreneurship in the city by offering various financial assistance options for starting capital. This initiative enables small businesses in Kansas City to obtain low-interest loans, grants, and other financial support to aid their growth and expansion. Additionally, the program provides training and technical assistance to help entrepreneurs acquire the skills and knowledge necessary to thrive in today's competitive business landscape.

The small business capital programs offered include:

• Kiva Kansas City – crowdfunded microloans with 0% interest, providing small businesses with the opportunity to access up to $15,000 in capital
• Micro-Business Grants – small businesses in need of expansion or poised for growth can apply for grants of $10,000, $15,000, or $25,000
• Loan Readiness Program – a technical assistance program to help small businesses navigate the complexities of bank loan applications
• Small Business Development Accounts (IDAs) – the program provides checking and savings accounts with a 4:1 match, allowing eligible businesses to secure

Challenge

Having multiple programs available is great for small businesses, but it also takes a lot of time to submit applications for each program. Each of the small business capital programs also had its own set of eligibility criteria that were required to be considered for the program.

Kansas City wanted to ensure that the application process was user-friendly, provided clear instructions to applicants, and did not require too much time from applicants. They also wanted to ensure that small businesses only applied to programs where they fit the minimum eligibility criteria so they did not waste time on applications that would ultimately get denied.

Beam's Solution

The Beam platform can support multiple programs and applications hosted on the same platform so that applicants can easily find what they are looking for. We created a general intake form that all small businesses were required to complete before being given the application to a specific program. This intake form collected all the basic information required to determine what program(s) they were eligible for and would be a good fit for them.

After the initial eligibility assessment, applicants were directed to complete program-specific application(s) through the same application portal. On the program review side, program administrators could view all application responses directly from the Beam portal or download the applications to be reviewed by a panel. Micro-business grant awards were managed within the Beam platform, with payments being made directly to small businesses via direct deposit.

Results

300+ applications
$70K distributed
4 small businesses awarded