At Invest Aurora, we commit ourselves every day to providing the necessary resources for local businesses to thrive and grow within the City of Aurora. That is especially true when it comes to identifying business financing options.
Over the last three years, we’ve fielded over 200 retention calls from existing businesses. Many of those business owners were in need of financing but did not know where to find the funds they needed. As part of our ongoing dedication to providing free support services to business owners, we have been able to help our business community obtain millions of dollars in grants and loans such as:
Finish Line Grant
The Finish Line Grant is a program that provides grant funds to assist downtown property owners in completing rehabilitation and property improvement projects. This financing opportunity allows business owners to achieve their expansion and improvement goals, while also improving the economic viability of Aurora as a whole.
John C Dunham Revolving Loan Fund
Businesses looking to complete property improvements that do not qualify for a commercial bank loan may be able to take advantage of the John C Dunham Revolving Loan Fund. This loan pool of over $1.2 million helps to finance Downtown Aurora property improvement projects and is revolving in nature, with repayment amounts leveraging additional future loans. This program is made possible thanks to a generous contribution from the Dunham Foundation.
EDA Revolving Loan Fund
An additional option for businesses having difficulty obtaining traditional bank financing is the EDA Revolving Loan Fund provided by Invest Aurora through a recent grant from the US Economic Development Administration. These loans provide important funding to small businesses that allow them to grow, retain jobs and generate new employment opportunities with competitive wages and benefits throughout Aurora.
Pandemic Relief Funds
We understand that the pandemic has caused a financial strain on businesses, and we have been dedicated to supporting our Aurora business community throughout it all. In fact, in the last 20 months Invest Aurora has not only communicated with businesses about available pandemic relief funds, but have also directly assisted with their successful applications to the different programs.
Staff has called directly and has gone door-to-door to businesses to spread the word about the STABLE Fund, the Restore Aurora Grant Program, the DuPage County Small Business Grant Program, the Kane County Coronavirus Relief Fund Business Grant, the Restaurant Revitalization Program, the Illinois Business Interruption Grant (BIG) and now the Illinois Back to Business Grant (B2B). In total, we’ve assisted businesses with over $7mm of CARES Act, CDBG and ARPA funds coming back to Aurora based businesses.
Invest Aurora economic development specialists are available to answer any questions about these financing opportunities, assist in your application process, or help you discover additional options that might benefit your business. Please reach out to us at info@investaurora.org or 630-256-3160 so we can help you find the financial assistance you need.