New Jersey Specific Loans/Grants for Small Businesses

Thanks to our good friend, Michael Futterman, Partner at McCusker, Anselmi, Rosen & Carvelli, P.C. * for the below helpful information for our Jersey clients and friends!

New Jersey’s Economic Development Authority recently approved a $40M program which will provide grants and loans or guarantee private bank loans to small businesses affected by the coronavirus pandemic. The EDA package includes a half dozen programs for New-Jersey based businesses including the following:

1. The smallest businesses, those 10 or fewer full-time equivalent employees, can receive grants between $1,000 and $5,000. The grants specifically target companies in retail, personal-care, entertainment, recreation, accommodation, food service, laundry and repair services. In order to receive money, businesses will have to attest that they need this money to tide them over and won’t cut any employees or will make every effort to rehire laid off or furloughed staff.
2. The EDA also has set aside $10 million to make loans up to $100,000 each to mid-sized businesses with less than $5 million in annual revenues to help them meet payroll. The 10-year loans would have zero interest for the first five years and the interest rate would be capped at 3 percent for the second half of the loan.
3. Two more programs, $15 million in total, will be run through community development financial institutions to make available low-interest loans to small businesses that may not be able to tap into traditional bank borrowing. The NJ Entrepreneur Support Program targets start-ups with less than $5 million in revenue and fewer than 25 employees by providing 80 percent loan guarantees to entrepreneurs.

The $5 million in small business grants will open for applications at 9 a.m. TODAY. Other programs will be out in the coming weeks.  Application window opens TODAY at 9am, application here, https://www.njeda.com/pdfs/NJEDA_COVID-19_Economic-Response-Package-Initial-W .

*Attorney Advertising: The foregoing is a summary of the laws discussed above for the purpose of providing a general overview of these laws. These materials are not meant, nor should they be construed, to provide information that is specific to any law(s). The above is not legal advice and you should consult with counsel concerning the applicability of any law to your particular situation.