Rep. Brenda Lawrence Urges Small Business Owners to Prepare to Apply for Small Business Administration Disaster Relief Loans
Detroit, MI – Congresswoman Brenda L. Lawrence (MI-14) issued the following statement regarding the opportunity for Michigan small business owners impacted by the Coronavirus outbreak to take advantage of Small Business Administration (SBA) disaster relief loans:
"Throughout the state of Michigan, there are over 870,000 small businesses that employ more than 1.8 million workers, several who now must go without a paycheck or benefits,” said Rep. Lawrence.
“As we work to continue to address the major economic impacts of the Coronavirus spread on our nation’s economy, we must also ensure that our local economy and small business owners across the 14th Congressional district and throughout the state have all the information and resources necessary to survive during these turbulent economic times," Rep. Lawrence continued.
Earlier this month an $8.3 billion supplemental appropriations package was passed, with $1 billion available to the SBA for disaster relief loans to small businesses and nonprofits suffering substantial economic hardship from the global crisis. The Economic Injury Disaster Loan program provides small businesses with working capital of up to $2 million to mitigate the temporary loss of revenue.
Rep. Brenda Lawrence is advising small businesses to take the following steps:
- Start collecting the information you need to apply for loans. Examples can be found at: https://disasterloan.sba.gov/ela/Information/PaperForms.
- For additional information, please visit the SBA’s Coronavirus website: www.sba.gov/disaster-assistance/coronavirus-covid-19, or call SBA’s national disaster relief line: (800) 659-2955.
- Please also contact the Michigan SBA office in Detroit, Michigan (https://www.sba.gov/offices/district/mi/detroit) to address your specific case and ensure you are selecting the right SBA disaster assistance loan.
For Coronavirus resources in Michigan, please see the below information:
- Wayne County: www.waynecounty.com or call (734) 287-7870
- Oakland County: www.oakgov.com/health or call (800) 848-5533
For updated information at the Federal and State level, please visit:
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: www.cdc.gov/coronavirus
- Michigan Department of Health and Human Services: www.michigan.gov/coronavirus
Background:
COVID-19, or Coronavirus, was first identified in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China in December 2019. The virus is thought to spread mainly from close human interaction, however there are increasingly more cases of community spread. It is important to practice good hygiene, such as frequent hand washing and using hand sanitizer, in order to help contain the spread of the virus.
People diagnosed with COVID-19 have reported mild to severe respiratory illness between 2 and 14 days after initial exposure. For updated statistics, please visit the following website: www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/cases-in-us.html
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