TCTX Thrive 1.0 Small Business Relief Program (2020-2021)

Travis County launched the TCTX Thrive Small Business Program in June 2020 using up to $10 million of Coronavirus Relief Funds via the CARES Act. Learn more about the program below.

Program Design

The TCTX Thrive Small Business Program included reimbursement grants of up to $40,000 and business coaching for 225 local small businesses that:

• Were located and headquartered in unincorporated Travis County, in any Travis County city’s extraterritorial jurisdiction (ETJ), or in another city of village within the county but outside the City of Austin incorporated limits.
• Had been in business since March 1, 2019.
• Had fewer than 25 full-time equivalent employees on March 1, 2020.
• Had a maximum net revenue of $500,000 annually.

A full summary of the TCTX Thrive program guidelines can be found here.

Program Administrator

BCL of Texas was hired as the program administrator for TCTX Thrive.  Learn more about BCL of Texas here  and view the BCL of Texas’ TCTX Thrive page here.

Application Process Results

• 1,543 program inquiries were received from June 1, 2020-July 10, 2020.
• The pre-application period was extended from June 15, 2020-July 10, 2020.
• 520 individual businesses were determined eligible from their Pre‐Eligibility Questionnaire.
• 434 of the 520 eligible businesses submitted completed applications by the July 31, 2020 deadline.
• 335 of the 434 applicants were determined to be eligible.

Travis County Commissioners Court Approved Priorities

The 335 eligible businesses were prioritized based on the following:

Priority 1:

• Minority-owned business or Women-owned business
• Section 3 Business concern
• Located in an Opportunity Zone or a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) low- to moderate-income census tract
• Did not use a contracted professional (other than a non-profit technical assistance provider recognized by BCL of Texas) to assist in the submission of their application. 

Priority 2:

• Geographic distribution
• Variety of business/industry types
• The County grouped applicants by net revenue categories to allow a variety of small business types to gain access to the program. Of the $9,000,000 available:
  • $4,000,000 was set aside for businesses with less than $150,000 in net revenue
  • $3,000,000 was set aside for businesses with $150,000 - $299,999 in net revenue
  • $2,000,000 was set aside for businesses with $300,000 - $500,000 in net revenue

Priority 3:

• Independently-owned franchises

Review Committee’s Recommendations

Based on the Travis County Commissioner Court approved priorities, BCL of Texas—the TCTX Thrive program administrator—created a ranked list of businesses for a County-staffed Review Committee’s consideration. 

The Review Committee evaluated BCL of Texas’ recommendations to affirm they were in alignment with the Commissioners Court established priorities. The Review Committee made one substantive change to BCL of Texas’ recommendations. Per the guidance provided, all of the locally owned franchises were at the bottom of the list no matter their application score. The lowest score in the top 225 was an 86. The Review Committee had the franchises with a score of 86 or higher moved into the top 225. This change allowed more Priority 1 businesses to be in the top 225. Of note, the Review Committee evaluated the lists without the benefit of seeing the names of the businesses so they could have complete objectivity. 

Details about the top 225 businesses are as follows:

• 93% (210 out of 225) businesses are Priority 1 businesses.
• Thirty-three unique zip codes, out of approximately 41 zip codes primarily outside the City of Austin corporate limits, are represented in the top 225 businesses. 
• No businesses had over $300,000 in net revenue with most earning less than $150,000 net revenue; therefore, the net revenue categories outlined in Priority 2 were not needed.
• Business types within all three lists were diverse. This speaks to the effectiveness of the outreach by BCL of Texas, its nonprofit partners, and the Commissioners Court member offices. 

Final Results

The TCTX Thrive Program spent $9,435,898 assisting 224 businesses with an average reimbursement of $37,688. The program had to move into the waiting list since some businesses declined the assistance for a variety of reasons. Of the 224 businesses assisted, 66% were woman-owned and 52% were minority-owned. The assisted businesses represented 13 diverse industry types and had the following demographic and geographic attributes:

A full presentation of the TCTX Thrive Program can be found here (pdf).

Program Status

The program is now closed.

To reach the Travis County Small Business Program team, please contact [email protected].