LATEST UPDATES
EDA approved aid package for NJ Businesses and Non-profits:
Small Business Emergency Assistance Grant Program: A $5 million program that will provide grants up to $5,000 to small businesses in retail, arts, entertainment, recreation, accommodation, food service, and other services – such as repair, maintenance, personal and laundry services – to stabilize their operations and reduce the need for employee layoffs and furloughs.
Small Business Emergency Assistance Loan Program: A $10 million program that will provide working capital loans up to $100,000 to businesses with less than $5 million in revenues. Loans made through the program will have 10-year terms with 0% interest for the first 5 years, then resetting to the EDA’s prevailing floor rate (capped at 3%) for the remaining five years.
Community Development Finance Institution (CDFI) Emergency Loan Loss Reserve Fund: A $10 million capital reserve fund to take first loss position on CDFI loans that provide low interest working capital to microbusinesses. This will allow CDFI’s to withstand loan defaults due to outbreak, which will allow them to provide more loans defaults due to the outbreak, which will allow them to provide more loans at lower interest rates to microbusinesses affected by the pandemic.
CDFI Emergency Assistance Grant Program: A $1.25 million program that will provide grants up to $250,000 to CDFI’s to scale operations or reduce interest rates for the duration of the outbreak.
NJ Entrepreneur Support Program: A $5 million program that will encourage continued capital flows to innovation economy companies and temporarily support a cautious investor market by providing 80% loan guarantees for working capital loans to start-up entrepreneurs.
Small Business Emergency Assistance Guarantee Program: A $10 million program that will provide 50% guarantees on working capital loans and waive fees on loans made through institutions participating in the EDA’s existing Premier Lender or CDFI programs.
Emergency Technical Assistance Program: A $150,000 program that will support technical assistance to New Jersey-based companies applying for Economic organizations contracted will be paid based on SBA application submissions supported by the technical assistance they provide.
More information about these EDA programs could be found on the NJ COVID-19 Business Information web portal.
Mass Testing Sites Update: This Saturday, March 28th, the mass testing sites at Bergen Community College (BCC) and PNC Arts Center site will only be testing symptomatic healthcare workers and first responders.
Major Disaster Declaration Granted: Governor Murphy announced that President Donald J. Trump has issued a Major Disaster Declaration for the State of New Jersey. The declaration will provide federal assistance to supplement statewide recovery efforts affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
NJ Transit to receive $1B from federal relief package: As part of the $2 Trillion federal stimulus package that was passed on Wednesday, NJ Transit will receive at least $1 billion. The House is expected to vote on the package on Friday. NJ Transit had asked the federal government for $1.25 billion in funding after having lost 88% of ridership due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
New Cases: Today, Governor Murphy announced that an additional 2,492 New Jersey residents have been tested positive for COVID-19 since yesterday, bringing the statewide total to 6,876. 19 New Jersey residents have lost their lives since yesterday, bringing the total number of New Jersey deaths to 81.
COVID-19 RESOURCES
All NJ residents with questions or concerns about COVID-19 and resources available to them should visit: www.covid19.nj.gov
The State of NJ has established this link on COVID-19/Novel Coronavirus Information for New Jersey Businesses.
US Small Business Administration Loans: New Jersey’s small businesses and private non-profit organizations facing hardship due to the coronavirus outbreak are eligible to apply for Economic Injury Disaster Loans. These working capital loans are designed to help small and most non-profits meet their ordinary and financial business obligations during the pandemic.
Applicants may apply online and download applications at https://www.disasterloan.sba.gov/ela.
Jobs and Assistance: A new online portal to provide information to impacted small business owners. The portal includes information on Executive Orders, regulations impacting small businesses and access to financial assistance from the US Small Business Administration (SBA).
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