MadREP and other organizations conduct survey of businesses to help direct economic aid

Businesses from around the state can help state and federal agencies determine where economic aid is most needed during the COVID-19 pandemic by completing a survey managed by the state’s economic development organizations.

The survey — conducted by the Madison Region Economic Partnership (MadREP) and the eight other regional organizations in the state along with the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. and UW-Oshkosh — asks businesses to detail how many employees have been laid off, whether the business can keep up with typical bill and supply payments, what aid the business may need and how long it can feasibly stay in business under current circumstances.

The answers will provide “information that can help mobilize our response, the state response and the federal response,” said MadREP president Paul Jadin, who is overseeing the data collection along with New North economic development region executive director Barb LaMue and interim director of the UW-Oshkosh Center for Customized Research and Services Jeffrey Sachse.

An unprecedented number of workers in the state have filed for unemployment in recent weeks as Wisconsin ordered the closure of nonessential businesses — such as dine-in restaurants, bars and many retail stores — to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus and COVID-19, the respiratory disease it causes.

Responses from the survey, which may be conducted monthly as the closures continue, will be analyzed by Sachse and UW-Oshkosh to better identify which regions and industries in the state would benefit most from economic aid.

“Businesses around the state are impacted both by the health crisis and shutdown order,” LaMue said in a statement. “We want to understand and quantify the unexpected costs, lost revenue and lost jobs or reduced hours. Resources for small businesses with very tight cash flow will be especially important during Wisconsin’s recovery.”