Small Business Week Celebrates Perseverance

Businesses nationwide have faced unprecedented challenges in the past year but companies say things are slowly swinging back into place in 2021.

Small Business Week highlights local business owners; many of whom are being hailed as heroes for surviving this unprecedented time. Many continued to support their communities, kept connections with regular customers or even developed new ways to keep employees working.

The Better Business Bureau (BBB) and the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) say they are celebrating the perseverance, strength, and optimism small business owners during this week's Small Business Week.

The BBB said they would tell the story of small businesses and the communities they support, highlighting that small businesses  are the lifeblood of a thriving local economy. And they are encouraging people to visit a favorite small business, virtually or in-person, while practicing social distancing and good hygiene. The more purchases that are made with local companies, the more those consumer dollars both boost the local economy and support small locally-owned businesses.

Meanwhile, U.S. Senator Maggie Hassan held a roundtable discussion today with local businesses at To Share Brewing Company in Manchester to discuss the small business relief that Hassan helped secure in recent COVID-19 packages and to ask how business owners are approaching economic recovery. Businesses participating in the roundtable included To Share Brewing Company, Deo Mwano Consultancy, and Red River Theatres of Concord.

“Small business owners in our state have worked hard to adapt and keep their doors open during this pandemic,” Senator Hassan said. “I’ve worked to help ensure that they receive vital support, and I appreciated hearing from businesses today about the impact of the relief that we have secured and what they need to get through this pandemic.”

“It was great to have Senator Hassan here at To Share Brewery to talk with local businesses about how we’re working to get to the other side of this devastating pandemic,” said Jenni Share, co-owner, To Share Brewery. “The COVID-19 relief that Senator Hassan worked to pass into law – as well as tax relief that Senator Hassan secured for breweries – has played a big role in helping us and fellow businesses stay afloat, and I look forward to continuing to work with Senator Hassan to support our small business community.”

The American Rescue Plan includes the bipartisan Recovery Startup Assistance Act that Senator Hassan introduced to provide payroll assistance through the Employee Retention Tax Credit to new small businesses started during the pandemic. So far, many new businesses have been unable to access other COVID-19 relief programs. The Senator also helped lead efforts to permanently extend the reduction in excise taxes for craft breweries in the government funding and COVID-19 relief package in December.