When disaster strikes, recovery efforts often focus first on homes, roads, utilities, and individual assistance. Small businesses can find themselves in a difficult position. Many are expected to keep employees working, serve customers, and help restore a sense of normalcy, yet they often face some of the greatest financial challenges in the days and weeks after a disaster. Without timely support, temporary setbacks can become permanent closures, costing communities jobs, local services, and economic stability.
For more than 30 years, LiftFund has worked alongside communities recovering from disasters. Across more than 50 disasters nationwide, the organization has been trusted to help create billions of dollars in economic impact to sustain local economies. In Kerr County alone, LiftFund responsibly delivered millions of dollars in grants and zero-interest loans to affected businesses. Those businesses included childcare providers, restaurants, contractors, retailers, pharmacies, and service companies that residents rely on every day. Their recovery helped protect jobs and restore essential services.
Across disasters, LiftFund has observed a consistent pattern. Business owners often need assistance long before traditional recovery resources become available. When funding arrives too late, a business that might have survived can be forced to close its doors. To address that challenge, LiftFund is establishing the Small Business Disaster & Resilience Fund to provide rapid response capital, stabilization grants, and longer-term recovery financing when business owners need it most.
The initiative was introduced during The Business of Rebuilding convening in Kerrville, which brought together leaders from the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, Wells Fargo, the Office of the Governor of Texas, The Community Foundation of the Texas Hill Country, James Avery, local business owners, and community leaders to discuss how recovery efforts can better support small businesses. A common theme emerged throughout the discussion: small businesses are often central to a community's recovery, yet they rarely receive the same attention as other parts of the recovery system.
The Fund is not intended to replace FEMA, SBA disaster loans, insurance programs, or local recovery efforts. It addresses a gap that often exists in the earliest stages of recovery, when business owners must decide whether they can continue operating.
LiftFund believes rapid response capital should become a permanent part of disaster recovery. When businesses remain open, employees continue earning paychecks, families maintain income, and residents retain access to the goods and services they depend on. Recovery becomes more than rebuilding structures. It becomes restoring the economic activity that allows a community to move forward.
While in Kerrville for The Business of Rebuilding, our team also took time to reconnect to the mission that drives our work every day. We intentionally chose to gather in Kerrville not only to strengthen our team, but also to support local businesses and contribute to the community's ongoing economic recovery.
We’re grateful for the opportunity to spend time together reflecting on our purpose and supporting the Kerrville community along the way.
