Funding expected to go quickly, small businesses encouraged to be ready to apply
Florida SBDC Network Headquarters (Pensacola, Fla.) – The Florida SBDC Network, the state’s principal provider of business assistance, encourages small businesses impacted by the coronavirus to prepare for the availability of federal disaster assistance.
Following today’s signing of the “Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act,” Congress has appropriated an additional $380 billion to refund and restart small business disaster and relief loan programs, including the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program.
“We applaud Congress and President Trump for making this much-needed capital available to our state’s small businesses, who are still struggling from the unprecedented impacts of the coronavirus,” said Michael W. Myhre, CEO of the Florida SBDC Network. “We anticipate that the SBA will begin accepting applications again early next week and that funding will go quickly, so we are encouraging our state’s small businesses to prepare to apply.”
The “Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act,” includes an additional $320 billion for the PPP, which incentivizes businesses to keep their workers on the payroll, and $60 billion (including $50 billion in loans and $10 billion in grants) for the EIDL program.
Since the passage of the CARES Act, nearly 70,000 small businesses in Florida have received $655.9 million in loans through the EIDL program, including $272.7 million in Emergency Advance Grants, and 88,997 Florida businesses have received $17.9 billion from the PPP.
"According to a recent study by Thryv and America’s SBDC, 49 percent of U.S. small businesses say they can only survive one to two more months if they are not allowed to reopen in early May,” added Myhre. “These loans are important, however more than half (57 percent) of small businesses indicated they experienced issues when applying. At the Florida SBDC, we are committed to doing all we can to help small business owners access this and other emergency assistance they need to survive.”
As part of its service offering, Florida SBDC professionally certified consultants and disaster specialists are available to provide confidential, no-cost consulting to help affected businesses understand available disaster assistance and loans, determine eligibility, prepare loan applications, as well as navigate other post-disaster challenges.
The Florida SBDC Network recently developed a guide to help small businesses understand available federal disaster loans and provide tips for impacted businesses to do right now to stay afloat.
To access the guide, and for more information on state and federal resources available to small businesses impacted by COVID-19, please visit www.FloridaSBDC.org.
For loan application assistance, please contact the Florida SBDC office nearest you at www.FloridaSBDC.org/locations.
