Recognizing that small businesses are the backbone of the New York economy and are also disproportionately bearing the negative impact of the pandemic's financial fallout, the state is launching its own loan program to support them, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced.
Cuomo said small businesses, which make up 90 percent of New York's entire business community, are "taking a real beating in this situation" and "facing the toughest challenges" as a result of the crisis.
"The economic projections, vis-a-vis small business are actually frightening," Cuomo said. "More than100,000 have shut down permanently since the pandemic hit. Many just don't have the staying power to pay all the fixed costs...Minority owned businesses face a far greater risk, and have received less in federal relief."
With assistance from private banks, the state is taking matters into its own hands and launching a $100 million relief program - the New York Forward Loan Fund - targeting small businesses and MWBEs that didn't get federal help in particular, Cuomo said.
Also able to apply: Nonprofits and small landlords who have seen a loss of rental income as a results of the pandemic. The loans are not forgivable, either in part or whole, and they need to be paid back over a five year period with interest.
Eligible businesses will have 20 or fewer FTE employees and less than $3 million in gross revenues. Also, they must not have received a loan from either the SBA Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) or SBA Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) for COVID-19 in 2020.
For more information, go to: https://esd.ny.gov/economic-recovery-covid-19-loans-small-businesses, to apply, go here: https://esd.ny.gov/nyforwardloans-info.