Pandemic Resource Update 6-4-20

Hello everyone,

Real Talk Virtual Summit on Racial Justice – TOMORROW – Friday, June 5

Madison 365 is hosting a virtual summit on racial justice tomorrow.

  • There are 5 panels and each panel will be streamed live on their Facebook page.

  • They will take questions and thoughts via Facebook comments.

  • The video will be available afterward on Facebook, YouTube and their website, and the audio will be available in the Real Talk with Henry Sanders podcast feed.

  • Each panel will be hosted and moderated by Madison365 Publisher & CEO Henry Sanders and Boys and Girls Club of Dane County CEO Michael Johnson.  

UPDATE: “We’re All In” Small Business Grant

Funded by the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act, the We’re All In Small Business Grant Program will provide $2,500 to 30,000 Wisconsin small businesses to assist with the costs of business interruption or for health and safety improvements, wages and salaries, rent, mortgages and inventory.

A business may apply if it fits the following criteria:

  • The business is Wisconsin-based and for profit;

  • The business employs 20 or fewer full-time equivalent (FTE) employees, including the owner;

  • The business has greater than $0 but less than $1 million in annual revenues; and

  • The business was still in business in February 2020 and filed 2019 or 2018 taxes.

  • The business must not be part of a national chain, unless the business is a third-party franchise;

  • Industries covered by other Wisconsin CARES Act Coronavirus Relief Fund programs are ineligible for this program. These are:

    • Crop Production

    • Animal Production or Aquaculture

    • Lessors of Residential Buildings and Dwellings

 Applications will be available on June 15. It is recommended you gather your documents now to prepare to apply. To learn more about the program and the documents that are required, please visit: https://wedc.org/programs-and-resources/wai-small-business-grant/

How will grants be awarded?

After the application period has closed, applications will be reviewed for eligibility and will be scored, ranked and awarded based on industries with the greatest negative impact due to the COVID-19 pandemic, community distress and geographic dispersion. The scoring will also consider whether the business has received assistance through WEDC’s SB20/20 program or Ethnic Minority Emergency Grant initiative, or through the U.S. Small Business Administration Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program or Payroll Protection Program.

Changes to PPP Loans Forgiveness – Pending…

This is the big small business news of the day as Congress just passed the Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act yesterday evening. The bill is awaiting President Trump’s signature to become law, but every indication at this time is that this will happen without issue and soon.

This bill modifies provisions made to the forgiveness aspect to PPP, some notable ones below:

  • It extends the coverage period to use funds (from 8 to 24 weeks)

  • The non-payroll portion of the forgivable amount was upped from 25% to 40%.

  • The Safe Harbor date was moved from June 30th to Dec 31st

  • The maturity of the remaining balance after forgiveness is a minimum of 5 years (as opposed to 2 originally)

I imagine more info will be coming out on this soon in a clear and digestible format, but the National Law Review does a good job of summarizing the changes here.

*Do note that due to the new PPP bill being passed through Congress yesterday evening and that it still awaits President Trump’s signature to become law, the PPP page has not been updated to reflect the bill’s changes yet.

SCORE

Many business owners have found SCORE’s free online resources of great benefit over the years. You might find their website: score.org. Among loads of other topics, they have lots of resources for re-opening your small business: Actions Plans and Webinars are just a start. Note that their resources are FREE.

PUA (Unemployment Insurance for the self-employed)

Thus far, I have received confirmation from one business-owner who has received PUA benefits, out of hundreds of businesses we’re supporting across the state. As such, I do not have much more to report here, but please let me know if we can increase our total count of 1 to 2 (or 3? Possibly too optimistic?).

This article probably won’t provide much comfort, but might give insight into why the backlog.

EIDL

We’re continuing to hear from businesses that have received word back on their EIDL loan application (but seemingly no updates on further advances being awarded). As of last Friday, the SBA had approved 8,236 EIDL loans in Wisconsin, up roughly 3,000 from the week before.

For those who received a pre-approval amount, a number of you have been asking how long you have to decide whether of not to move forward with the loan, and unfortunately I can’t say with confidence how long you have. The SBA told us originally that everyone would have up to 6 months, but the acceptance website has very little information on this. There also isn’t a “decline” option at this time for those who know they do not want to move forward with the loan.

Checking on the status of your EIDL advance/loan:

https://www.merchantmaverick.com/economic-injury-disaster-loan-application-status/

One client has shared her experience in case it can be of use to others:

“I called the first phone number under By Phone (1-800-659-2955) in the link. My call was answered on the first try and I wasn’t required to hold. However, I neglected to ask for “Tier 2” as instructed in the article and the operator told me there was no way to look up the status of my loan. I hung up and called the same number again. My call was immediately answered. When I asked to speak to someone on Tier 2 my call was transferred, I was on hold for 15 minutes and the person who answered asked for my loan application number and was able to tell me the loan amount I would be offered and that I'd be receiving an offer email in the next week or two”

FAQs Answered by the WI SBDC

Lastly, the Wisconsin Small Business Development Center (SBDC) has some great FAQ pages on PPP*, EIDL (both the loan and the advance), as well small business covid questions in general. I would highly recommend checking them out, especially if you have any questions on SBA programs.

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Pandemic Resource Update 6-16-20

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Pandemic Resource Update 5-19-20