We at Bear Paw Development understand that this is a trying time for small business owners in our region and are committed to assisting our communities in navigating through this unforeseen and very unfortunate situation.

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Director of Small Business Development, Joe LaPlante, jlaplante@bearpaw.org, 406-399-1557

Director of Loan Services, Tiffany Melby, tmelby@bearpaw.org, 406-265-9226

Director of Food and Ag Development, Michael Peter, mpeter@bearpaw.org, 406-697-2389

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State of Montana Coronavirus Relief Programs:

• Click here to apply for Financial Assistance through the State of Montana starting May 7th at 8:00 AM.

  • Click the link to learn about the new financial relief programs: https://commerce.mt.gov/Coronavirus-Relief​

General Guidance:

• CDC:

  • Main Coronavirus page:
    https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html

  • Business Response Guidance: 
    https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/guidance-business-response.html

• World Health Organization: 
  https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019

• Governor’s Coronavirus Task Force website: COVID19.mt.gov

• Montana Department of Health and Human Services: www.dphhs.mt.gov

• Montana Dept. of Labor and Industry COVID-19 Resource website for Employers and Employees: http://dli.mt.gov/employer-covid-19.

• MontanaWorks, the Montana Department of Labor & Industry’s portal to support businesses, job seekers and to file for unemployment:
  https://montanaworks.gov/ 

• Guidance on the Essential Critical Infrastructure Workforce at CISA.gov (scroll down for details on each sector):
  https://www.cisa.gov/publication/guidance-essential-critical-infrastructure-workforce 

• Montana Small Business Development Center, Tools and Training for Small Business’s: https://sbdc.mt.gov/

• Montana Lodging & Hospitality Association: https://www.mtlha.com/

 

Security and Telework:

• Montana Dept. of Labor and Industry Remote Workforce Toolkit: http://wsd.dli.mt.gov/employers/remote-workforce-toolkit 

• The National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) has published information on Telework Security Basics.

 

Food Safety and Manufacturing:

• FDA Food Safety and the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19): 
  https://www.fda.gov/food/food-safety-during-emergencies/food-safety-and-coronavirus-disease-2019-covid-19

• Food Northwest Social Distancing in Food Manufacturing Facilities
  https://www.foodnorthwest.org/food-northwest-social-distancing-in-food-mfg

• Free 12-minute online training course for food manufacturers: https://www.alchemysystems.com/content/covid19-training-course/

 

Funding and Taxes:

• SBA Disaster Assistance: https://www.sba.gov/funding-programs/disaster-assistance
  OR https://disasterloan.sba.gov/ela/Information/EIDLLoansCONTACT (800) 659-2955

• SBA Montana: https://www.sba.gov/offices/district/mt/helena

• IRS guidance on the new family leave (sick leave) act and associated tax credits and treatment:
  https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/treasury-irs-and-labor-announce-plan-to-implement-coronavirus-related-paid-leave-for-workers-and-tax-credits-for-small-and-midsize-businesses-to-swiftly-recover-the-cost-of-providing-coronavirus

• IRS Coronavirus Tax Relief website: https://www.irs.gov/coronavirus

• EXIM Bank export assistance fact sheet: https://www.exim.gov/fact-sheet-exim-covid-19-assistance

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