A. Program Creation

In January 2010, The Cedar Rapids Chamber of Commerce implemented the “Business Long Term Recovery Initiative” also commonly known as Business Case Management. The program was set up to provide direct one on one assistance to flood affected businesses.  As an extension to the flood recovery efforts in place, Business Case Management was a new concept and was the first of its kind nationwide in disaster recovery.  The program would aid businesses in the following:

1. Evaluate the businesses needs through an initial assessment process
2. Provide businesses with resources to assist with identified needs
3. Provide guidance and assistance to businesses with JumpStart Business programs

The Purpose of the Business Case Management Program was to assist the flood affected business community of Cedar Rapids to ensure long term growth through assessing their current condition, comprehensively identifying their needs and connecting the businesses to available programs and resources which would allow the businesses to develop a plan for implementation and monitor their effectiveness.

B. Program Operation

The Record: The Business Case Management Team spent the early weeks of the program building a database that would create a record of the business interaction that occurred.  Two database systems were initially created to assist in creating the record needed for the program.

1)      Business Contact Manager (BCM)

Microsoft Business Contact Manager was implemented within the first 30 days of the program and served as the “Client Relationship Management System”.  In the summer of 2010, the team upgraded to the 2010 version which allowed additional information to be recorded into the system.

The database tracked items including:

1. Dates and type of contact, except phone contacts
2. Contact information of business
3. Type of business by industry
4. Billing transactions
5. Survey data relative to business information

2)      Custom Access database

This database was built specifically to record the business data collected from the initial assessment. The Business Contact Manager system served the purpose, but lacked essential program functions such as:

• Limited import/export capability
• Limited the ability to integrate data systems such as grant status, city assessor data, online survey data and others.
• The system also operated with server and offline laptop versions which required periodic synchronization and necessitated special security precautions with data on mobile laptops.

The Clients: An early priority in forming the Business Case Management program was to develop a comprehensive list of flood-affected businesses and contact information. The list generated from sources such as JumpStart Business recovery efforts, Chamber of Commerce, community meetings and outreach efforts by a grass roots effort that was formed after the flood by Cedar Rapids businesses called the Small Business Recovery Group.

The Process: The first days of activity were spent developing the database and crafting an initial assessment tool used in one on one business meetings. Within the first three weeks, meetings had been conducted with 29 business owners in their place of business, testing the initial assessment process. The initial assessment was further refined based on business feedback.

The Business Case Management Team utilized an initial assessment to determine the needs of the business at the time of their first meeting. The assessment made it possible for the Case Manager and business owner to focus on immediate needs and services or mentorships available.  The meetings allowed Case Managers to discuss the businesses financial situation, discuss flood recovery programs and evaluate eligibility. Per the initial assessment, data revealed that businesses that had long range strategic plans, flood insurance, little or no debt, available cash reserves or had a national customer base generally fared better after the flood. 

Surveys:  A web based survey tool was used at various times to get quick feedback from the flooded businesses that the Business Case Management Program was assisting.  The encryption module was used to assure participants that their information was secure over the Internet.  Participation generally ranged between 200 and 350 of a target list of 900+ businesses.

Workshops:  The workshop series was designed based on business’ expressed needs. The most significant need from businesses was marketing.  Business owners continued to struggle with the significant loss of revenue as their business model had changed. The use of Social Media was foreign to many business owners and there was a growing need for tax planning as businesses anticipated receiving assistance through the JumpStart Business programs.

In virtually all cases, workshop presenters were owners of flood affected businesses.

C. Case Managers

The Business Case Management’s initial team in January of 2010 was a staff of five people consisting of four Case Managers and a Leader. The Case Managers all had experience in small business ownership, general management skills, and were seasoned professionals within the Cedar Rapids business community.

After the program had been up and operating for eight months additional resources were added due to the need expressed. In September 2010, the Team grew to ten people.  The team added three additional Case Managers, a Communications Specialist and an Administrative Manager.

D. Case Management Assistance with Jump Start 2 Business Programs

Government assistance through the JumpStart 2 Business programs became available in December 2009 to flood affected businesses.  Federal assistance programs required businesses to provide various levels of documentation such as:

• Equipment and inventory receipts
• Application forms
• Tax information
• Insurance information
• Employee wage information
• Leases
• Building occupancy permits

The Case Managers educated businesses about program eligibility and provided assistance in completing the applications as needed.

E. Scope of Services

The diagram below characterizes the breadth of services delivered by the Case Managers.

F. Funding and Billing of the program:

This Business Case Management Program was funded by two sources:

            Initial:              Community Disaster Grant – state funding
            Expansion:       Community Development Block Grant – federal funding

Billing for services was one part of the administrative functions of the program. Billing was completed per event which was when a Case Manager interacted with or provided a service for the business. The following were the four categories used for billing and administrative purposes.

1. Business Assessment: This was the initial meeting with the business owner.
2. Follow-up Advisory: This was an event associated with a service provided by a Case Manager which may be marketing, business planning, financial or accounting review, resource referrals with community organizations.
3. Follow-up General: This was an event used for funding advocacy which was assistance with JumpStart Business applications and eligibility, workshop events and business needs follow up meetings. 
4. Documentation: This event was used when Case Managers helped businesses with understanding the JumpStart Business programs and the required documentation needed with the application.

G. Collective Business Issues

The process of interviewing businesses, developing relationships, providing resources, and information obtained from survey and focus group feedback identified the following as the primary issues business faced resulting from the flood.

Financial

• Loss of revenue leading to cash flow crisis. Revenues impacted in several ways:
• Personal assets of owners were a primary resource to fund rebuilding and subsidize business cash needs.
• Businesses experienced significant increases in long-term debt with little or no return on investment (ROI) on new disaster debt overhead
• Loan and debt decisions made without much knowledge of future impact to the market.
• Businesses saw employee losses due to personal homes flooding.
• There was need for staff down-sizing and layoffs.
• Personal flood loss in addition to business loss causing there to be no separation from the disaster.
• Recapitalizing the business drained or greatly reduced personal assets of owners.

• Temporary business closing
• Customers displaced by the disaster
• Customers who could not find the business
• Customer fear/apprehension about going into certain areas and stability of businesses
• National recession
• Inability of business to produce at normal levels

Business operation

• Clean-up contract issues including price-gouging, theft, and local company sub-contracting to outside firms, difficult to understand contracts.
• Businesses had to make choices about what equipment they could afford to replace. Many reduced equipment capability.
• Issues from humidity caused computer and equipment failures months after the flood.

Flood Recovery Programs

• Lack of a comprehensive source of disaster information for business.
• Many government requirement hurdles.

Impact of Flood

• There is a huge emotional toll on individuals which often was a barrier to making progress on redevelopment.
• Professional mental health consulting services could have been more widely offered through discrete means such as business case management contract and could have been available much longer as emotional stress built.
• Lack of suitable facilities to relocate within desired geographic areas.

Barriers

• City code and building permit issues
• Davis-Bacon requirements for construction that was in any way federally funded. Impacted many steam utility contracts and held up payments. Most contractors had difficulty providing documentation after the fact. The Davis-Bacon Act of 1931 is a United States federal law which established the requirement for paying prevailing wages on public works projects. All federal government construction contracts, and most contracts for federally assisted construction over $2,000, must include provisions for paying workers on-site no less than the locally prevailing wages and benefits paid on similar projects. Davis-Bacon requires a substantial amount of documentation be provided on an ongoing basis including payroll reporting.  This was a substantial barrier to comply.
• SBA loan issues included heavy collateral requirements, security interest, owner income restrictions, home refinancing restriction, substantial documentation requirements, lost paperwork, rep assignment transfers. Terms were generally 4 percent and 8 percent interest rates, up to 30 year term. 8 percent if you could obtain financing elsewhere.
• Businesses had many agencies to work with that were outside their normal course of business. The Business Case Management Program provided resources to help with understanding requirements and working effectively with various agencies.

Positive Outcomes

• Local financial assistance was most timely, then state, then federal.
• Businesses did a tremendous job of helping themselves.
• Employees, overall, were phenomenal during the flood and in rebuilding. Many loyal employees.
• Volunteer clean up labor and other assistance was abundant in the first several months. Non-flooded businesses helping flooded business. Competitors helping their flooded counterparts.
• Commercial banks in the area were highly responsive.

Lessons Learned

• Important wet documents should preserved instead of disposed of. Methods include air drying, freezing, etc.
• Businesses with the largest percentage of unreimbursed expenses/loss through insurance or grants are large businesses and commercial building owners.
• Many businesses discovered business interruption insurance was invalid because the underlying flood peril was not covered.
• Sewer backup insurance coverage varied greatly by insurance company.
• Many businesses threw away more than needed. More could have been salvaged. 

H. Program Evaluation

During the process of the Business Case Management Program several changes were made to accommodate the needs of the business community.  The program was ever changing and new components were added to build the strength of the services. As the program completed two years of operation the following are key successes and reflections of how the program operated.

In future Business Case Management initiatives, the following should be considered in the structuring of the program to maximize efficiency and effectiveness.

Successes

• Face-to-face meetings and assessments were held at the business owners’ sites focusing on the individual needs of the business.  This setting permitted the free flow of information and conveyed the advocacy role of the Case Managers. 
• Collaboration with third party mentors, coaches, business experts were established and leveraged early in the initiative.  Key organizations providing mentors included the Small Business Development Center and SCORE.
• Case Managers providing advisory services had business ownership and leadership experience.
• Developed workshops based on the expressed needs of business owners including sales, marketing including social media, tax planning, business strategy, and grant education.
• Educated businesses about grant program eligibility and hands-on documentation support to insure the business’ received maximum awards.
• Case Managers coordinated business owner meetings with legislators and media to convey their stories, and establish the need for assistance programs and recovery resources.
• A database with business and statistical information about the disaster was created to support the delivery of needs based services.  This information also assisted in creating new funding proposals as well as revisions to early recovery funding programs.
• Partnered with the funding program administrator to problem solve program and client issues.
• Worked with the Chamber’s Flood Recovery committee, city, state, HUD and businesses to develop and propose more effective grant programs targeted at areas of unmet need.

Click here to read about a couple of case studies; a manufacturing company and a coffee shop.

Insights

Insight #1 – The Business Case Management program was not put into place and operational until 18 months after the flood.

• Change:  The Business Case Management Program should be operational immediately after a disaster to be most effective. 
• Outcome: Businesses would be engaged at the time of the disaster and linked with resources immediately. Businesses would benefit from the initial assessment to help determine critical issues in business redevelopment and a plan of action would be developed.

Insight #2 – There was a three to four month period between the time of the initial assessment and the delivery of services.

• Change:  The delivery of services to businesses per the initial assessment would be delivered through the use of referrals for services and one on one assistance from the Case Managers would occur on a regular basis.
• Outcome:  Connection to resources to work on items that were identified as needs would empower businesses and assist them in their redevelopment process. 

Insight # 3 –The database software that was used for recording the client contact and services provided had limitations.

• Change: The database software would be able to record all client contacts, services provided and would allow for full import/export ability to record survey data. A cloud-based (web access) Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system or similar platform would be optimum.
• Outcome:  The database software would be user friendly, provide mobile access, tiered security, real time data and connectivity to outside sources such as grant data.

Insight #4 – Performance measurements were not clearly established at the start of the program.

• Change: Clearly defined, performance measurements and goals for how program success would be measured would be established prior to program delivery
• Outcome:  Performance measurement results would determine program impact, changes needed, investment and success.

Insight #5 – There was no one source of business contact information which presented problems such as multiple business contact data bases, different business names were presented, contact information varied.

• Change:  There should be an identified source within the community who is tracking business information including contact information, location, revenue, employee count, and industry.
• Outcome: Having a readily available database would allow the Business Case Management Team to reach out to businesses in a systematic fashion, Case Managers could have been best matched with industry type, and businesses in the highest flood impacted areas could have been made priority and assurance that all businesses were offered services.

Insight # 6 – Not all businesses were interested in engaging in the Case Management Services offered.

• Change:  Have the Business Case Management Team in place shortly after the disaster and have marketing efforts established to promote the value of the service available.
• Outcome: More businesses would engage and the number of businesses serviced would increase.

Insight #7 – A thorough view into the future was not considered when businesses starting rebuilding.

• Change: A view into the future should include research conclusions from previous disasters on the economic impacts and what to expect for market changes. In addition, resources should be available to help businesses consider and revise strategic plans, marketing strategy and business plans.
• Outcome: No outcome to report