SUNY Small Business Development Center Offers Assistance for Businesses Affected by Storm

Albany – The State University of New York’s Small Business Development Center (SBDC) today began offering disaster relief services to business owners affected by Hurricane Sandy.

“SUNY is proud to be able to offer assistance to communities throughout New York State as they recover from the damage left in Hurricane Sandy’s wake, whether it is by providing shelter on our campuses, volunteering in affected communities, or helping businesses get back up and running,” said Chancellor Zimpher. “I commend the efforts of the SBDC and our campuses across New York for their efforts to help the state get back on its feet.”

"The SBDC is committed to helping businesses throughout the impacted areas that were affected by this tragic event,” says James King, SBDC State Director. “Our business advisors are trained to deal with this type of emergency, and our objective is to help these businesses get back to being fully operational as soon as possible."

Highly trained, disaster-experienced SBDC advisors are available to assist with the following:

·    Completing U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) disaster loan applications

·    Finding information about available financial assistance and claim filing

·    Filling out requests for loans, claims, and assistance forms

·    Helping re-create lost financial records, if necessary, to document losses

·    Locating and setting up short-term and permanent replacement facilities

·    Assessing environmental cleanup options

·    Developing an emergency response plan for the business

·    Strategic planning for rebuilding the business and marketing to new potential customers

·    Identifying and addressing other issues of concern to affected businesses

·    Developing a business continuity plan for response to potential future disasters

In addition, business owners located in declared disaster areas may be eligible for financial assistance from the SBA. For small businesses, the SBA offers Economic Injury Disaster Loans to help meet working capital needs caused by the disaster. Economic Injury Disaster Loan assistance is available regardless of whether the business suffered any physical property damage.

Businesses and private non-profit organizations of any size may borrow up to $2 million to repair or replace disaster damaged or destroyed real estate, machinery and equipment, inventory, and other business assets. The SBA may increase a loan up to 20 percent of the total amount of disaster damage to real estate and/or leasehold improvements, as verified by SBA, to make improvements that lessen the risk of property damage by future disasters of the same kind.

Interest rates are as low as 1.688 percent for homeowners and renters, 3 percent for non-profit organizations, and 4 percent for businesses with terms up to 30 years. Loan amounts and terms are set by the SBA and are based on each applicant’s financial condition. Applicants may apply online using the electronic loan application via SBA’s secure website at https://disasterloan.sba.gov/ela.

About the SUNY SBDC
The SBDC, administered by the University at Albany, has 24 regional service centers located throughout the New York State on SUNY, City University of New York (CUNY) and private university campuses. Since inception in 1984, the SBDC has provided small business advisement services to more than 355,000 New Yorkers. The SBDC also provides training and business research to existing business owners and entrepreneurs. SBDC clients have invested more than $4.7 billion in NY, impacting 159,000 jobs. The SBDC is funded in part by the U.S. Small Business Administration, the State of New York, local communities and host campuses. As a result of this leveraged support, the SBDC staff provides confidential one-on-one business advisement services at no direct cost to the citizens and entrepreneurs of New York. For more information about the SBDC, visit www.nyssbdc.org.

About the State University of New York

The State University of New York is the largest comprehensive university system in the United States, educating approximately 468,000 students in more than 7,500 degree and certificate programs on 64 campuses with nearly 3 million alumni around the globe. To learn more about how SUNY creates opportunity, visit www.suny.edu. 

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