A new online toolkit, designed exclusively for Chattanooga’s small businesses, nonprofits, and faith-based organizations, went live December 17.
The Resiliency Checklist (found at resiliency checklist.org), guides users through a series of questions and then creates a customized checklist to help them prepare their organization for a pandemic, natural disaster, or other crisis.
“At the beginning of the Covid-19 crisis in the spring, it became obvious that there was a discrepancy between those businesses that would be able to ride out the pandemic and those that were going to struggle,” said Mayor Andy Berke. “I’m extremely worried about the future of our economy, we have to find innovative solutions like the Resiliency Checklist that will help small businesses stay open.”
The Enterprise Center created the checklist in collaboration with the City of Chattanooga and community partners, in order to help businesses and nonprofits organize financial and other work-related information that is necessary to have on-hand during emergencies.
In the wake of the Covid-19 crisis and the tornado that came through the region in the spring, many small businesses and nonprofits were unable to apply for available aid because they were not prepared with the proper documentation. The new tool should help business owners and nonprofit leaders stay prepared for whenever a crisis might arise.
“There are so many resources that are out there, but it can be overwhelming to find the ones that you really need,” said Deb Socia, the President and CEO of The Enterprise Center. “We hope the Resiliency Checklist will help users easily identify any actions they need to take to be ready for a crisis ahead of time.”
The toolkit is available in both English and Spanish, and workshops in both languages will be held beginning in January. The website will continue to evolve based on feedback in order to meet the needs of the local community.
A recording of December 17 launch and demonstration can be found here.
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