The U.S. Small Business Administration continues to deliver vital economic aid nationally, regionally, and in our local communities to small businesses, which employ an overwhelming majority of the nation, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Following are the most recent updates on the various programs. Please let me or your local public affairs specialist know you have any questions or wish to schedule an interview with your area SBA district director concerning any of the agency’s programs and their local impact.

Restaurant Revitalization Fund: Restaurants, bars, and other small businesses offering on-site food and beverages are the core of our neighborhoods and propel economic activity on our Main Streets. Nearly half of all restaurant, bar, and other food and drinking place workers (6 million) lost or left their jobs between February and April 2020, and the industry was still down 2.3 million jobs in December 2020. 

On Monday, May 3, the SBA opened the RRF application portal and, per this news release, in the first two days the SBA received:

• 186,200 applications from restaurants, bars, and other eligible businesses in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and five U.S. territories.
• 97,600 applications of which came from restaurants, bars, and other eligible businesses owned and controlled by women (46,400), veterans (4,200), socially and economically disadvantaged individuals (30,800), or some combination of the three (16,200).
• 61,700 applications from businesses with under $500,000 in annual pre-pandemic revenue, representing some of the smallest restaurants and bars in America. 

The White House also issued a fact sheet with more detail on the Administration’s support for the industry. 

Paycheck Protection Program: As of late Monday, all appropriated general funding for PPP federal guarantees was exhausted, however a portion of the Community Financial Institution (CFI) set aside remains. A statement attributable to the SBA regarding this is:  “After more than a year of operation and serving more than eight million small businesses, funding for the bipartisan Paycheck Protection Program has been exhausted. The SBA will continue funding outstanding approved PPP applications, but new qualifying applications will only be funded through Community Financial Institutions, financial lenders who serve underserved communities. The SBA is committed to delivering economic aid through the many COVID relief programs it is currently administering and beyond.”

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Shuttered Venue Operators Grant: As of 12pm ET on Monday, May 3 (one week since the program’s opening), the SVOG application portal had received 22,538 SVOG applications. Of those applications, 10,300 have been submitted to the SBA (the remaining 12,238 have been started but not submitted). Local/state data is not available at this time. The SBA began reviewing the SVOG applications upon receipt and it is expected SVOG Priority 1 (90% revenue loss) applicants will receive notice of awards this month and disbursement by the end of May if they respond in a timely manner to the notice of award. (On background and because I understand the federal grant process could be new to you, here’s some additional info from grants.gov about the federal grant award phase: Award Phase | GRANTS.GOV). 

Economic Injury Disaster Loans / Targeted EIDL Advance: According to the EIDL Report issued on April 29, 2021, nationally nearly 3.8 million EIDLs have been approved by the SBA for nearly $206 billion. The Great Lakes Region has received about 12% of the nation’s approved EIDLs.

As of this week, the SBA has received around one million applications for the Targeted EIDL Advance program. According to the April 29 report, 89,755 Targeted EIDL Advances had been approved for $733.1 million nationally. The Great Lakes Region has received approximately 12% of the funding for this program as well.

For detailed information on SBA’s COVID-19 economic relief programs for small businesses and other eligible entities, visit www.sba.gov/relief and www.sba.gov/asistencia (en Español).