PPP focuses on the smallest businesses

President Joe Biden has reopened the Paycheck Protection Program this week — but it’s focused, at least until the beginning of March, on businesses and nonprofits with fewer than 20 employees.

The Small Business Administation administers the program providing forgivable loans to businesses suffering through the coronavirus pandemic. Biden described the program as bipartisan, but said its first iterations during the Trump administration were hijacked by larger corporations that didn’t need the help the same way smaller mom-and-pops would.

“Small businesses are the engines of our economic progress,” Biden said during a White House speech on Monday. “They’re the glue and the heart and soul of our communities. But they’re getting crushed.”

The restriction to the smallest of businesses will continue until around March 10.

Businesses looking to participate in the Paycheck Protection Program can visit SBA.gov.

Bronx businesses can find free expert mentor

The Institute for Entrepreneurial Leadership has joined forces with the Bronx Community Foundation to provide its own program helping businesses in the borough navigate through the economic hardships of the pandemic.

The Bronx Small Businesses Needs Us initiative pairs small business owners with seasoned business professionals organized into cross-functional teams helping them address their pressing issues.

Volunteers come with a broad range of expertise, including accounting, human resources, public relations, marketing and social media, and sales strategy.

“Our focus is to not only provide grants that our businesses need to remain open and resilient,” said foundation co-founder Derrick Lewis, in a release, but “we are also working to make sure our Bronx-based small businesses and entrepreneurs come out the other side of this crisis stronger and ready to grow again.”

For more information, visit GrowMyBronxBiz.org.

Originally published Feb. 25, 2021