For Small-Business Owners, a Shifting Landscape of Resources

Small businesses across the country have been pounded by the pandemic. Entrepreneurs have been forced to make drastic cuts and pivot to new business models to keep going. Financial aid, though, is what has kept the lights on.

But today, many sources, including private foundations and the federal government, that once offered loans and grants have either closed their financial aid programs or put them on hold.

The biggest player, the Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program (P.P.P.), shut down in August, and Congress hasn’t agreed to more aid. If there is no agreement, it will fall to the new administration to negotiate an aid package in late January.

This has put small-business owners in a tough spot. After her business storefront was closed for three months, a PPP loan helped Destiny Burns, 56, the founder of the four-year-old CLE Urban Winery in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, stay afloat.

In June, Ms. Burns received a small P.P.P. loan and money from the Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program. “I stabilized operations in my business, and the proceeds of the E.I.D.L. loan give me a cash cushion that was immeasurably helpful and enabled me to sleep at night,” she said.

She used the funds to invest in an upgraded website with enhanced e-commerce capabilities and installed UV light filtration systems in the air handlers at the winery.

She recently applied for a Small Business Relief Grant, designed to provide relief to Ohio businesses that have been hurt by the pandemic.

In late October, Gov. Mike DeWine of Ohio designated up to $125 million of funding received by the state from the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act to provide $10,000 grants to for-profit businesses with 25 employees or less. There is also a $2,500 grant being offered for bars and restaurants (active liquor license holders only).

Ms. Burns is also applying for P.P.P. loan forgiveness. “My loan was well below $50,000, so I can use that ‘simplified’ form that was recently released,” she said. “It is still a complicated and daunting process.”

For now, she’s open for business with reduced hours and capacity. “But I’m hanging in there,” Ms. Burns said. “I’m still in a revenue hole, though, for 2020 as compared to last year — about a 30 percent year-over-year drop.

“Coronavirus cases are surging in Ohio right now, so I am unsure how it will play out — we’ll see,” she added.

Here’s a rundown of what resources are available to small-business owners like Ms. Burns. Keep in mind that the rules continue to shift.

Small Business Administration

The P.P.P. program is closed. For small-business operators who did receive one, the loans are forgivable; in essence, they are turned into grants, if the funds were used for payroll costs, interest on mortgages, rent and utilities (a portion of the forgiven amount must have been used for payroll).

Originally, the loans had to be used within eight weeks of receiving the money. That allotted time was pushed to 24 weeks through the P.P.P. Flexibility Act, which also extended the deferment date of the first payment on the loan to 10 months after the end of the covered period, and the loan forgiveness application was simplified.

The S.B.A. does have other helpful offerings. Its Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program provides up to six months of working capital, with a fixed interest rate of 3.75 percent. Payment can be deferred for a year, but interest will accrue. Loans have repayments of up to 30 years.

The agency is also providing small businesses that have a relationship with an S.B.A. Express Lender to access a bridge loan of up to $25,000.

Apply online at the S.B.A.’s website or at 800-659-2955. The site also has a directory to find its local offices.

SCORE, a nonprofit affiliated with the S.B.A., provides a Small Business Resilience Hub that lists financial tools and resources, as well as access to mentoring and educational workshops nationwide. Its…