Hickenlooper, Bennet to SBA: Relaunch an SVOG Website Capable of Handling Traffic, Quickly Processing Applications

Press Release

Colorado U.S. Senators John Hickenlooper and Michael Bennet urged the Small Business Administration (SBA) to enact important improvements as the agency prepares to relaunch the Shuttered Venues Operators Grant (SVOG) application portal. The senators' recommendations would help give venue operators a clear and equitable pathway to accessing much-needed relief.

"As you know, many shuttered venues and other businesses eligible for SVOG have now gone more than a year with dramatically reduced revenue, while receiving little or no assistance through other pandemic relief efforts. What's more, these businesses have now waited nearly five months for SVOG to launch--often with great uncertainty--since Congress created the program in December 2020. If we fail to provide adequate support for shuttered venues hit hardest by the pandemic, we risk temporary job losses turning permanent, higher long-term unemployment rates, and the permanent loss of many small businesses and cultural treasures that are fixtures of our economy and local communities," wrote the senators.

The Shuttered Venue Operators Grant program, which was expanded by the American Rescue Plan, will help save independent venues by providing relief equal to 45 percent of pre-pandemic revenue or up to $10 million. More information in the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant, including how to apply, is available HERE.

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