Project: COVID Relief Grants – Regional Collaboration
One Application, 40 Jurisdictions, 1000+ Businesses
The Situation
When COVID-19 shut down businesses across the nation the state of Oregon made emergency funds available through Business Oregon for local governments to administer as small business grants. In the region where we were working, 36 cities, three counties, and a Council of Governments were each eligible to apply for and distribute those funds independently.
The Real Challenge
The setup all but guaranteed confusion and inefficiency. Forty separate applications meant overlapping efforts, wasted staff time, and a fragmented experience for small businesses. Most jurisdictions lacked capacity to manage grants, and if each municipality administered its own program, it would overwhelm the state with applications while confusing the very businesses the program aimed to help.
What We Did
In five days, we helped stand up a radically different approach. We convened the Council of Governments to serve as the primary applicant and fiscal agent, and partnered with the regional Workforce Board to administer the grant program. We secured buy-in from all 40 jurisdictions, convincing them to opt into a unified regional request that would allow every business in the region to apply through a single streamlined process—no matter which town or county they were in.
What Changed
Instead of chaos, we created clarity. The regional application model made more than $4 million available to over 1,000 businesses—saving time, eliminating confusion, and modeling what’s possible when public sector partners trust each other enough to coordinate at speed. It demonstrated that collaboration doesn’t need to be slow—just intentional.
