Doug McCrory

Senator McCrory Joins U.S. Small Business Administration For Small Business COVID-19 Relief Programs Webinar for Minority Owned Businesses

Today, State Senator Doug McCrory (D-Hartford) co-hosted a webinar to share information on how minority-owned businesses in Connecticut can access financial relief available under the federal CARES Act, through the U.S. Small Business Administration, and at the state level.

“We cannot neglect small businesses in our community that have faced challenges in receiving federal and state assistance in the past and, now, due to COVID-19,” said Sen. McCrory, who is a Connecticut Minority Business Initiative Advisory Board member. “We must make every effort to inform business owners of color about relief programs available to them and how to access them.”

Joining Sen. McCrory on the webinar to discuss minority-owned business financial relief were Julio Casiano and William C. Tierney from the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Connecticut District Office; Glendowlyn Thames, Deputy Commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD); Kim Hawkins, Vice President and Chief Operating Officer for HEDCO, Inc. and Howard K Hill, a Minority Business Initiative Advisory Board member.

Sen. McCrory worked with Governor Ned Lamont, DECD, the Connecticut Minority Business Initiative, and HEDCO, Inc. to launch the COVID -19 Business Response Program. As discussed on the webinar, the program allows for minority-owned and women-owned small businesses to apply for a forgivable zero-interest line of credit for up to $20,000.

To be eligible for the program:

• Be a for-profit business with 20 or less full-time and/or part-time employees
• A minimum 51% minority/women ownership required
• In good standing with the Department of Revenue services
• Operating for at least six months

The line of credit is eligible for forgiveness if the company can demonstrate the funds went toward covering the first three months of expenditures as a result of COVID-19. Interested small businesses can learn more at www.hedcoinc.com. The application deadline is April 30.

The webinar was held at the same time that the latest COVID-19 relief bill, passed by the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives this week, directs $310 billion in additional lending authority for the Paycheck Protection Program, with $60 billion reserved for loans issued by smaller lenders. In addition, $60 billion for separate disaster loans to small businesses.