PPP extended for small businesses hurt by pandemic

ALBANY, Ga. (WALB) - Small business owners are getting a second chance to apply for a federal loan.

The Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) was set to expire at the end of March, however, it was extended. The PPP is now set to end on May 31. The extension will help give small business owners affected by COVID-19 more opportunities to apply for loans.

“That extension will help because there have been more than five million loans made, saving about 52 million jobs. And in the city of Albany, there were only 200 loans, made in the range of $350,000 to a million dollars,” said William Wright, a business owner.

Wright also said few were African-American-owned or minority-owned businesses. Leaders, including Wright, are continuing to host “New Deal” informative workshops to help get those numbers up.

Past workshops indicated some people were confused about how the program works.

“It was just flooded with questions because they did not understand for example, if you were a cosmetologist or beautician or a barber, that you also qualify for the program,” explained Wright.

Dougherty County Commissioner Victor Edwards is sponsoring the workshops. They’ve hosted eight so far and Wright said they’re working on more.

“There’s about $130 billion left in the program. We need to put as much of that money in the hands of small businesses and Albanians as we can, and for the region,” said Wright.

PPP is a Small Business Administration effort. It was originally created under the CARES Act and was continued under The American Rescue Plan Act last week.

There has also been a backlog in processing the loan applications.

The extension gives the Small Business Administration until June 30 to complete the process.

Copyright 2021 WALB. All rights reserved.