Small business resource guide

MIAMI, Fla. – Local10.com’s guide for small business owners. The resource is to have everything in one place to find all available loans, grants, forgivable loans, plus programs to assist navigating the criteria of funding programs with one link.

We have heard from many small business owners that finding the available resources has been difficult. For this reason we have complied for you a list of resources from various sources.

The administration’s PPP program guidelines can be found at www.treasury.gov, and the U.S. Small Business Administration’s search tool to find a bank that offers PPP loans can be found at www.sba.gov/paycheckprotection/find.

Chamber Coronavirus Emergency Loans Small Business Checklist

“Save Small Business Fund is a grant put together by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation to help Small Business Owners who have been impacted by the COVID-19 outbreak,” explained Miami’s Downtown Development Authority (DDA) on its website.

https://www.miamidda.com/small-businesses/

“The grant amount is $5,000. The application opens on Monday, April 20th at noon. The application will take about 10 minutes to complete and will only require your business’s W-9 form and basic supporting information about your business, according to DDA.

https://www.savesmallbusiness.com/

Click here for Beacon Council Small Business Resource Center

Links to various programs available to small business owners and the related criteria to include more information on the CARES Act Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), The U.S. Small Business Administration’s Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL), and Short Time Compensation Program.

Congress recently approved an additional $310 billion in funding to restore the PPP Program, which had run out of money.

SBA: Disaster Assistance Loans for Small Businesses Impacted by Coronavirus (COVID-19)

Short Time Compensation Program: Run by the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity, it helps employers maintain their staff by reducing the weekly working hours during temporary slowdowns to mitigate against lay-offs. “High quality workers that you need to keep, you can actually reduce their hours to less than full-time and then keep those employees on board and this program will reimburse the employer for that cost,” explained Finney, “the employee will get full pay and the company will be reimbursed for it.

U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Loans: SBA low interest loans of upwards of $2 Million dollars that the Beacon Council says businesses facing “economic injury” due to COVID-19 can use to “pay fixed debts, payroll, accounts payable, and other bills that can’t be paid because of the disaster’s impact.”

These are also available to non-profit organizations. Click here for information.

Governor Ron DeSantis activated the Florida Small Business Emergency Bridge Loan Program, which can assist small businesses impacted by COVID-19. The bridge loan program, managed by the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity, will provide short-term, interest-free loans to small businesses experiencing economic injury from COVID-19. The application period runs through May 8, 2020. You may access the application and learn more here.

For more resources from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce:

• Paycheck Protection Loan Guide
• Economic Injury Disaster Loan Guide
• Employee Retention Tax Credit Guide
• Coronavirus Response Toolkit for Businesses
• Customizable flyer for businesses to communicate with customers
• Find your local Chamber of Commerce
• The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation's list of small business resources for coronavirus assistance
• CARES Act Guide for Independent Contractors and 1099 Workers
• https://www.uschamber.com/co/run/business-financing/state-government-coronavirus-assistance-guide

City of Miami: Grant and Forgivable Loan programs for small businesses and micro-enterprises (businesses with five or less employees to include business owner), approved Thursday, April 23, 2020

COVID-19 Micro-Enterprise Assistance Program

Objective: Keep micro-enterprises afloat for the next three months with grant funding that can used to pay for rent, payroll, and utilities. Micro-enterprise businesses being defined as a businesses deemed “non-essential” and hence closed per executive order and have five or fewer employees of which one is the owner.

Small Business Emergency Loan Program

Job retention is a loan criteria with the goal of funding helping small business owners keep their current low- to moderate- income employees during the crisis. The loans of $5,000 to $20,000 don’t have to be repaid if jobs are retained for at least 12 months.

Emergency Technical Assistance for Small Business

“There is a need for organizations with business technical expertise to provide assistance to small businesses in the City who cannot afford other professionals to assist them in securing assistance through the PPP or SBA.” Those organizations would be: Catalyst Miami, Hispanic Business Initiative Fund Nationwide, Inc. a/k/a Prospera, and The Allapattah Collaborative Community Development Corp. at $50,000 a piece. Miami DDA (Downtown Development Authority):Miami DDA launched a Small Business Task Force of local professional volunteers made up of attorneys and CPAs to help downtown business owners navigate the ins and out of the loan process.

“In addition, the Miami DDA has also partnered with Prospera Florida – an organization helping Hispanic-owned businesses – to better communicate with the area’s Spanish-speaking business owners,” Miami DDA explained in a news release. If you would like the one-on-one support from a member of the Miami DDA Small Business Task Force email LoanAssistance@miamidda.com to request help.

Business Damage Assessment Survey: The state is urging business owners to complete a survey explaining the impacts of Coronavirus on their business and the local economy. Finney said this data will be leverage to design recovery programs, resources, and initiatives. Click here for the survey.

COVID-19 Emergency Fund

The United Way of Miami-Dade President & CEO Maria Alonso tells Local 10 News, “with 59% of our community’s households living in, or one emergency away from, poverty, COVID-19 impacts such as reduced hours, business closures, and potential layoffs will only heighten the existing needs of the families we serve. ”Here is an additional resources in the works to help small business owners during this unprecedented time.

United Way is working alongside other funders in the community to establish and activate a Miami-Dade Pandemic Response Fund to respond with emergency assistance to individuals, small businesses and nonprofit organizations impacted by the pandemic. The fund will allocate resources to service providers responding to the current COVID-19 pandemic in ways that address short-term impacts and build long-term economic resilience of our community.

All Center for Financial Stability / Mission United

All Center for Financial Stability and Mission United client services will continue to be provided by appointment only, and virtually. By so doing, client travel time will be reduced, response time will be increased all while ensuring the safety of our clients and our teammates.

Should you know of anyone that can benefit from our services during this trying time, please contact:

• Mission United: Call (305) 646-7130 or email missionunited@unitedwaymiami.org

• Center for Financial Stability: Call (305) 646-7171 or email financialstability@unitedwaymiami.org

For the past several weeks, our District’s small business Covid19 outreach included multiple, daily webinars walking potential applicants through the process step-by-step,” stated SBA South Florida District Office Public Affairs Specialist Heather Hines, “We’re also offering entrepreneurs the opportunity to participate in live Q&A sessions during our daily virtual office hours. Upcoming sessions are posted at www.sba.gov/southflorida.“

• Covid19 Small Business Recovery: www.sba.gov/coronavirus
  Covid19 Funding Options: https://www.sba.gov/funding-programs/loans/coronavirus-relief-options
  Sign up for email updates from the SBA: https://www.sba.gov/updates
  Find local SBA Resource Partners: https://www.sba.gov/local-assistance/find/
• Statistical Data on the EIDL and PPP programs