IN FOCUS -- There are numerous organizations out there across Wisconsin doing their part to help small businesses endure the hardships brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We provide quality business entrepreneurial training, financial training, and access to fair and responsible capitol through small and microbusiness loans,” said Wendy Baumann, the president and chief visionary officer of the Wisconsin Women’s Business Initiative Corporation (WWBIC), “some of the businesses that we know where hit specifically hard are food and beverage restaurant businesses, retail businesses, and some service businesses.”

Baumann said WWBIC has been around for decades helping businesses get started and keep running before the pandemic hit, but once it did, she said it a proactive role helping the businesses it was already working with get access to the available resources they would need in order to keep their doors open. She said a lot of those businesses are currently in a “holding pattern,” or are just trying to hold on as more developments happen with a vaccine.

“It’s going to take some time, but I think there’s hope,” said Baumann, “the goal is [to find out] what we can do to reduce any kind of costs those businesses have, what could we do in pivoting in order to try to increase revenue for these micro and small businesses.”

The biggest fear these businesses likely have here according to Baumann is the fear of the unknown, specifically questioning how long the safety precautions need to be in place to protect the people, but tend to reduce consumer spending.

Charter Communications LLC, the parent company of Spectrum News 1, recently loaned WWBIC $1 million to help businesses in the community. Baumann said that loan has already been put to use in Wisconsin communities.

“We are using that funding directly for lending,” said Baumann, “in addition, Charter also provided us with a complimentary grant, and that grant really goes to the business assistance and technical assistance.”

Baumann said if a business does want to reach out for assistance from WWBIC, they should find the information to do so on WWBIC’s website.

She also has one message for consumers: “Buy from these small businesses because if after this you want to go back to that laundromat, back to that coffee shop, to that restaurant, to that plumber, to that small manufacturing company. [If] you want to frequent them after this all occurs, then you need to frequent them now.”