VIDEO | Del. Delegation Highlights Relief Available For Small Businesses

The recently-passed American Rescue Plan contains numerous elements that could help small businesses impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic – including some that might not have been able to get into previous programs, such as payroll protection.

There is also a specific allocation for the restaurant industry, according to Senator Chris Coons, D-Del. Coons spoke during a recent virtual event with Small Business Administration officials and local chambers of commerce hosted by Delaware’s delegation on Capitol Hill.

“The American Rescue Plan is what our state and our country need most at this moment,” Coons said. “Throughout the pandemic, through last year and this year, small business owners in Delaware have been working to preserve jobs in our community, and the American Rescue Plan delivers emergency grants, more lending, more investment, particularly to hard-hit small businesses and nonprofits, that will help them to both retain and hire folks. It puts the full force of the federal government behind ending the pandemic and helping our state recover.”

“There is no doubt that COVID-19’s impact has tested the small business community nationwide and here, in the First State,” Delaware SBA Director John Fleming said. “The American Rescue Plan Act empowers SBA to bring small businesses navigating COVID-19’s impact real relief, with programs like the Paycheck Protection Program, the Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program, the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant, the Targeted Economic Injury Disaster Loan Advance, the Restaurant Revitalization Fund, and the Community Navigator pilot program. Agencywide and here, in Delaware, SBA aims to be an entrepreneurial resource, for the pandemic’s duration and beyond.”