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Business Resources - Sorting Thru the Assistance

March 28, 2020

Financial aid for businesses is going to come through many channels. Below we provide access to major bill that was passed by the US Congress on March 27, and which will become the primary source of federal funds that can flow to help businesses. The bill's implementation will involve several federal agencies. For purposes of this blog we focus on just a couple of them:

Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) passed on March 27, 2020; this link takes you to the full bill: Language of the CARES Bill
This link provides you an easy-to-digest summary of the CARES Act from the Tax Foundation
Primary federal agency:
1. A significant amount of funding will flow through the US Small Business Administration.
2. As of Saturday, March 28 this website is not updated with information about the CARES Act but it is expected that by early the week of March 30, the agency will begin rolling out information webinars about the CARES funding.
3. In the meantime, SBA encourages small businesses to take advantage of its existing Economic Injury Disaster Loan Assistance Program (EIDL).
4. According to the SBA, small businesses using the EIDL will still be able to apply for support from the CARES Act as the program is launched.
Primary state agency:
1. The Virginia Small Business Development Center Network is the Commonwealth's primary source of technical assistance for small businesses. Check out their helpful EIDL SBDC webinar from March 26, 2020.
  1. The webinar contains 10 minutes of overview and about 35 minutes of live Q&A.
  2. The first 10 minutes of this webinar provides an overview of the EIDL program. It does NOT provide an overview of the CARES Act.
  3. At 13:25 in the webinar the Q&A begins.
  4. At 33:00 in the webinar you hear a little about the difference between the EIDL Program and the CARES Act.
2. In the MPA Region, there are two Small Business Development Centers to contact for one-on-one technical assistance to walk you thru the loan processes:
  1. Mary Washington University SBDC for businesses in Essex, King and Queen, King William, Mathews and Middlesex.
  2. Hampton Roads SBDC for businesses in Gloucester.
Good overall links to keep you informed about federal, state and local actions related to the current economic situation: