April 3, 2020
In addition to providing rent relief to tenants impacted by COVID-19, the Port of Seattle is taking extra steps to help its small business partners understand and access resources being distributed as part of the Federal CARES Act.
Congress made $350 million available for small businesses impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and these disaster loans are specifically tailored to help companies through these challenging times. The Port partners with hundreds of small businesses across our operations so we want to help these companies access loans that can help them survive and recover from this crisis.
Port staff were already working with local Small Business Development Centers (SBDCs) to stay abreast of how these new loan programs work. According to Rich Shockley, Director of Highline College’s SBDC, “We have been inundated with requests for help and for information on these new loan programs. It’s been sobering to see the wide and swift impact of the economic fallout on small businesses in our region. These federal aid packages, along with the Port’s recent assistance, are two solid steps towards building a sound financial foundation for small businesses in the region.”
Shockley and his associates have been having lots of ZOOM calls with clients lately. The SBDCs have also produced a lot of timely webinars for small businesses that want to learn about loan programs or how they can be resilient during these times.
The Port of Seattle is working with the SBDCs and other partners to provide several webinars for our small business partners when the final details surrounding new loan programs become available.
The Port is also staying in close touch with local banks and lending institutions because they will be responsible for packaging these federal disaster loans. Many local banks are certified Small Business Administration lenders already, so getting loans approved and funds dispersed should be efficient. We will nonetheless monitor how these new disaster loans are working to ensure that urgent small business loan requests do not fall through the cracks.
Stay tuned for updates on how the Port is helping small businesses during the pandemic. Review the latest relief and recovery actions the Port is undertaking.
And use the links below to get resources for impacted businesses:
