MaineStream Finance

Category: COVID-19 Small Business

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Greater Bangor & Eastern Maine Restaurant Revitalization Fund Overview

Posted on by Jason Bird

NOTICE: THIS PROGRAM CLOSED IN LATE MAY

Monday, May 10, 8:30 AM

Thanks to all who joined Hosts Maine SBA and SBDC as they answer your questions on the Restaurant Revitalization Fund. You can listen to the webinar here:

LISTEN/WATCH HERE: WEBINAR RECORDING

About this Event

ATTENTION all Restaurant Owners and Foodpreneurs in Greater Bangor and Eastern Maine (but all Maine biz owners are welcome). It’s not too late to apply for the SBA Restaurant Revitalization Fund! We will have experts from Maine SBA and SBDC-Bangor to present the basics of the SBA Restaurant Revitalization Fund, and most importantly, answer your questions and concerns. Hosted by Maine SBA and SBDC in coordination with MaineStream Finance and many business support organizations throughout Greater Bangor and Eastern Maine.

Notes:

  • You don’t have to have a physical restaurant location – caterers and food truck businesses are welcome to apply as are many other businesses who serve food and drink to the public!
  • Simultaneous translation in Mandarin and Spanish will be available.
  • This session will be recorded.

Speakers and Hosts

  • Diane Sturgeon, District Director, Maine SBA
  • Ann McAlhany, Business Advisor, SBDC-Bangor

Offered in Partnership with:

  • Bangor Region Chamber of Commerce
  • City of Brewer – Economic Development
  • City of Ellsworth – Economic Development
  • Downtown Bangor Partnership
  • Eastern Maine Development Corporation (EMDC)
  • Ellsworth Area Chamber of Commerce
  • Greater Bangor Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB)
  • Heart of Ellsworth
  • MaineStream Finance
  • Small Business Development Center (SBDC)-Maine/Bangor
  • Sunrise County Economic Council (SCEC)

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AVAILABLE SMALL BUSINESS RELIEF GRANTS and LOANS for MAINE BUSINESSES (updated 6/3/21)

Posted on by Jason Bird

Right now, there are several COVID-19 relief grant programs available for small businesses, including the self-employed and sole proprietors, through the US Government/SBA and State of Maine/DECD.  Penquis and MaineStream Finance, the Piscataquis County Economic Development Council (PCEDC), the Piscataquis Chamber of Commerce, the Katahdin Chamber of Commerce, Destination Moosehead Lake, and EMDC have partnered together to form the Piscataquis and Katahdin Region Economic Recovery Task Force to bring this information to the public, particularly for Piscataquis County and Northern Penobscot County, in an understandable way. This is a living document which will be updated as more information becomes available.

We are here to help you, your friends, or neighbors through each step of the process – so please pass this on.  Please contact MaineStream Finance at MSFInfo@penquis.org for more information or if you have questions. 

Economic Recovery Task Force Resources

City of Bangor Microenterprise Grants – Deadline June 11

SBA ECONOMIC INJURY DISASTER LOAN (EIDL) – OPEN

EIDL is open again – with a deadline of December 31, 2021.  EIDL loans have low interest rates of less than 4% and long-term loan terms of up to 30 years to be used for operating expenses.   Loan payments can be deferred for as many as 24 months/2 years. More information can be found in the Grant Prep link on page 4 or on the SBA website for the EIDL program (where you can also apply directly to the SBA). 

SBA SHUTTERED VENUE OPERATORS GRANT (SVOG)/ SAVE OUR STAGES (OPEN)

SVOG includes $15 billion in grants to shuttered venues, like museums, concert halls, etc. Eligible applicants may qualify for grants equal to 45% of their typical gross earned revenue, not to exceed $10 million. $2 billion is reserved for eligible applications with up to 50 full-time employees.  You do not have to rush for this grant. Please note, you can take a SVOG Grant and a new PPP loan – you must apply for PPP first, and it may be deducted from SVOG proceeds. For details, see page 5 in the Grant Prep packet link or click on the SBA SVOG site here. You can register to apply here.

STATE OF MAINE MICRO-ENTREPRISE GRANT

Microenterprise Grants from the State of Maine are up to $5,000 for businesses with five or fewer employees, with an owner whose income is in the low to moderate range as defined by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). A meeting with a Maine SBDC business advisor is required to apply. For details, see page 4 in the Grant Prep packet link above or click on the SBDC site here.

AND DON’T FORGET EMPLOYEE RETENTION TAX CREDITS

Through the Employee Retention Credit, the IRS allows employers to claim up to $7,000 per employee per quarter for much of 2020 and 2021 through June 30, 2021. One can claim wages with the SBA Paycheck Protection Program and ERP at the same time now. If you are unsure how to do this, call your local accountant for help!

LIKELY SMALL BUSINESS RELIEF PROGRAMS COMING FROM MARCH FEDERAL RELIEF BILL

OTHER GRANTS AND RELIEF FOR BUSINESSES

GRANTS

LOANS

OTHER SITES TO MONITOR that are Maine-focused:

Nationally, check out the following for updates to government and private relief programs:

CLOSED GRANTS

SBA Restaurant Revitalization Fund (RRF) – CLOSED

Registration opens on April 30 and applications open on Monday May 3. These funds will go relatively quickly at only $28.6 Billion for the entire US. This will be a pure grant – not forgivable loan and does allow for more informal food businesses like food trucks and caterers. The minimum amount is $1,000 and the maximum is $5 million. The amount will be generally based on the decline in gross revenues from 2019 to 2020 (less any PPP funds).

SBA PAYCHECK PROTECTION PROGRAM (PPP) – CLOSED

DEADLINE IS EXTENDED TO MAY 31! Whether you took PPP in 2020 or not, this program is likely still for you as a business owner – especially if you are self-employed or a company with less than 20 employees.  There are many improvements and clarifications and the process should be much smoother.  There will not be a mad rush like last time.  If you felt like PPP was not for you last time, we urge you to look at it this time – it is much better and SBA wants you to apply for the self-employed, those who have been incarcerated, those with student loan issues, and for immigrant entrepreneurs.  US Residents with legal status are eligible. The calculation for Schedule C IRS tax filers who are self-employed is much, much better as well, calculating the PPP amount on Gross Income instead of Net Income.

Start with your bank or credit union first, and if they are not doing PPP, MaineStream Finance can give you 2-3 ideas on where to go.  There are also three nonprofit community lenders offering PPP in Maine:

More information can be found in the Grant Prep link on page 3 or on the SBA website for the PPP program. 

P.S. If you are a nonprofit, there is a great resource page and webinar on Federal Aid for you and how PPP and SVOG applies to you here on the Council of Nonprofits webpage, FMA/IFF, the Nonprofit Finance Fund (NFF). Maine Association of Nonprofits (MANP) also has a good resource page.

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Maine & Beyond – Small Business Relief Grants Available in December 2020 / January 2021

Posted on by Jason Bird

The Federal Government and Maine’s own congressional delegation, particularly Senator Collins and King and Representative Golden, are working on a relief aid bill that would include another SBA Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) round and other relief aid for small businesses.  The momentum looks strong, so be on the lookout for late December/early January. 

Until then, there are still a few relief grants for small businesses and their workers out there, especially for the hospitality/restaurant industry.  Below is a list of available or upcoming programs we know of.  If you have any questions for a client, friend, or neighbor, they can email us at MSFInfo@penquis.org and we’ll see what we can find together. 

Do note within the list below, competition for the national funds will especially be fierce and may run out quickly (and your chances of being funded are likely lower than the local grants).  The best advice is to apply immediately, as most of these programs are first come, first served until the funds run out.  Here are additional resources for local programs:

And also remember to buy local for your holiday shopping!!!

Chris Linder, CEO

December 9, 2020

LOCAL – MAINE-BASED GRANTS

Maine Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD) Grant for Tourism, Hospitality and Retail – APPLY NOW! (including Food Service/Breweries, and Entertainment)– there is a new grant available that must be sdisbursed by December 31 for the three industries above – this is first come, first serve and urgent to apply now.  The application is simple and quick. https://www.maine.gov/decd/economic-recovery-grants

Pandemic Relief Program (PRP) – Dept of Labor.  Governor Janet Mills and Commissioner of Labor Laura Fortman announced that the Administration will provide certain individuals who are unemployed due to COVID-19 with a one-time direct relief payment of $600 through the State’s newly-created Pandemic Relief Program (PRP). The relief payment is meant to assist unemployed Maine people at a time when they continue to face substantial economic hardship as a result of COVID-19 and are losing their Federal unemployment benefits at the end of the month unless Congress acts. This payment includes self-employed, sole proprietors, and other business owners who are unemployed and losing their Federal unemployment benefits this month. https://www.maine.gov/governor/mills/news/mills-administration-announces-one-time-relief-payment-mainers-unemployed-due-covid-19-2020-12

Island Institute Small Business Resilience Grants Through the Tom Glenn Community Impact Fund, the Institute is offering grants of up to $1,500 to support island and coastal small businesses, artists and makers, and working waterfront businesses. http://form.jotform.com/201274314776152http://form.jotform.com/201274314776152

Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry (DACF) and CEI [2 programs] – both due December 18

  1. Agriculture and Food Processing Infrastructure Reimbursement Program Reimbursements for infrastructure and e-commerce updates are available.  Guidelines are pretty broad, so if you have clients in these sectors, have them check it out even if they don’t think they have made such improvements.  https://www.ceimaine.org/covid-19-resources-for-businesses/maine-covid-grants/
  2. Farmer E-Commerce Reimbursement Program The DACF CARES Act E-Commerce Reimbursement Program is offering up to $5,000 in reimbursements to Maine farms that have recently purchased e-commerce infrastructure due to business interruptions caused by COVID-19 social distancing measures and in response to the public health emergency. https://www.ceimaine.org/covid-19-resources-for-businesses/maine-covid-grants/

NATIONAL

Native Small Business Grant-NCAI: With support from Google.org, the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) is issuing business stabilization grants in the amount of $5,000 each to a total of 170 selected Native-owned small businesses that have been severely impacted by the curtailing of commercial activity caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. https://www.ncai.org/Covid-19/Get-Involved/apply-for-ncai-funding#ResponseFund

LISC-Lowe’s Rural Relief Small Business Grants (Open December 29 – January 5) LISC is inviting small business owners in rural locations (of 50,000 or less residents) across the country to apply for the LISC-Lowe’s Rural Relief Small Business Grants program that range from $5,000 to $20,000. https://www.lisc.org/covid-19/small-business-assistance/rural-relief-small-business-grants/

James Beard Foundation Food & Beverage Industry Relief Fund for Black and Indigenous Americans (coming/not yet open – sign up for email updates) The Fund will provide financial resources up to $15,000 for food or beverage businesses that are majority-owned by Black or Indigenous individuals. These grants are part of the Open for Good campaign, launched in April to rebuild an independent restaurant industry that is stronger, more equitable, more sustainable, and more resilient when it re-opens post-COVID-19.  https://www.jamesbeard.org/investment-fund

Another Round, Another Rally Fund for Hospitality Workers ($500) The Fund is offering $500 relief grants for hospitality workers who lost their jobs or had their hours slashed in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak. https://anotherroundanotherrally.org/apply-for-aid/

Restaurant Workers’ Community Foundation- Southern Smoke Emergency Relief Program for Bar & Restaurant Workers (average $2,000) Southern Smoke is a nonprofit 501c3 charitable foundation. Our Emergency Relief Program provides emergency funding to those employed by or own restaurants or bars or are employed by a restaurant or bar supplier that are faced unforeseen expenses that cannot or will not be covered by insurance. https://form.southernsmoke.org/smoke/application/

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A Call to All Bankers: we know the self-employed and neediest were not served by PPP. Let’s do what is right – not what is best for us next time.

Posted on by Jason Bird

As of Apr 15/16, the SBA PPP forgivable loan program was fully allocated despite thousands of loan applications still in process. BDN reports 1/10 small businesses received support. Top recipients: restaurants, hotels, law offices, and auto repair shops in Maine. A new allocation of $250 billion to $350 billion for PPP is in the works in Congress.

If you look at the average US PPP loan size, $239,152 per PYMNTS.com, the self-employed/sole proprietors did not fare well. That is roughly a business of $1.4 million in annual payroll costs – not counting other operating costs like costs of goods, etc. – and not your average self-employed. Maine banks and credit unions were fairer to all businesses with an average loan size of $157,000 or a company with annual payroll costs of $942,000 – but still not the self-employed (on average).

For this next PPP round or whatever it is called, let’s as the financial industry quit pretending we are out there doing this purely from the goodness of our hearts and for our concern for our communities. I am not attacking any one bank, or the SBA or Treasury, or our legislators – we love you all since we partner with so many of you and receive financial support from you (truth be told). The time that SBA and the banks had to implement was crazy – I applaud you in many ways and feel for you as you lost sleep and weekends. There are even some banks and CUs out there who did the right thing – who did not play favoritism or focus on the big “small businesses”. But please, please all of you (or most of you) do the right thing next time – please. We can do better.

The numbers don’t lie – we know what happened for the banking industry overall:

  1. Bigger, existing “small businesses” were served more because they are the ones you want to keep happy and not go under with bad debt. Punto. Period. Even if banks were not paid the fees they received by SBA (see below), who would they focus on? The ones with large loans that could go bad, with large investment accounts, sweep accounts, payroll services for hundreds of employees OR Joe Smith, the lobsterman (I’m in Maine.) with a $5,000-limit credit card he does not use and a checking account with an average balance of $200?
  2. You were paid handsomely for larger loans. We know you had the choice of being paid 5% on a $349,000 loan (fee of $17,450) and 5% on a $10,000 loan (fee of $500) – which loan did you do first? Please don’t cover it up or showcase your 1-2 $10,000 loans – you know what you did. Admit it now – do better next time.

I don’t understand why community lenders like us who are US Treasury certified and SBA microlenders are left out – not able to serve PPP loans. (News flash: PPP is just a type of PRI. PPP is not special or complicated or new. Nonprofits can take on PPP, i.e. a type of PRI, in our sleep with two arms tied behind our backs. Don’t know what a PRI is? A program-related investment, or PRI, is a “loan” that is forgiven if you hit certain donor/lender requirements or performance measures…sound familiar?) I’ll just assume lenders like us won’t be included and simply ask that for PPP or P3 or “Triple P” 2.0, we hope Congress, the SBA, and the US Treasury consider (and our banks and CUS ask for) the following:

  • carve out a significant portion only for the self employed in the new allocation. I did not run any numbers, but $50 billion of the $250 billion seems fair – 20% of the new allocation or 8.3% of the total (by the way – who chose $349 billion – was that one extra billion to go to $350B just too much?)
  • change/improve/increase the financial incentives to banks and credit unions to want to serve the self-employed and serve non-clients more (pssst – the banks aren’t really doing it for free…we just don’t see it)
  • improve on some of the PPP requirements that don’t work for non-service sole proprietors like fishermen and truckers with heavy fixed costs, e.g. not allowing those with Schedule C tax return losses to apply.
  • add time for self-employed and smaller financial institutions who truly serve the self-employed to apply and disburse the funds through July and August and truly help those FIs who serve self-employed to get set-up, find partnerships, etc.
  • assess and run the numbers on who “took care of their own”, i.e. served much bigger businesses who were long-standing clients, for P3 v.1 and those who truly focused on smaller loans/self-employed and new clients. For P3 v.2, reward those financial institutions who served the neediest more – pay them more, give them more allocation availability, and give them more liquidity.  Provide them technical support and match them up with tech companies who can make the process easier. Break P3 v.1 results down by bank, by bank/CU type and size, median loan size, by industry, by employee total, by race, by gender of the owner, by average employee salary, by organization type, and by geography – state and rural/urban, and, US Treasury and our friendly bank regulators, by census tract and average incomes by census tract….
  • reduce the overall friction to applying and accessing. Many things were done right by allowing businesses to attest to the truthfulness of the information, not requiring collateral, holding banks harmless for incorrect reporting, and allowing banks to make decisions quickly. But boy, was it complicated and confusing, especially for the self-employed. Now is not the time to get cute about trying to slip up the cheaters or those who misstate (though I guarantee you there are cheaters all around who took PPP loans – big, small, and tiny. They will get their due – we will find them out.)

Per the US Department of Labor, Maine is the second highest state with a high proportion of the self-employed (Montana is first). BDN has been sounding this alarm since early April here and here. Minorities and immigrants tend to be more self-employed. We at MaineStream work with low-income business owners (Yes! There are low-income business owners!) Whether you want to serve them or not, losing them to destitution and closure will hurt the overall Maine economy – this is a fact (Study: Maine has most vulnerable economy.) Do what is right – make it so – we can all do better. Give me a call or email me – I’d be happy to talk it through and on how to improve access regardless of the next “interim final” (my favorite term out of all of this) rule. We can do better – come on Mainers (who happen to be bankers/lenders).

Chris Linder, CEO, MaineStream Finance, Bangor, Maine

Originally published April 17, 2020

To find out more about Small Business issues during COVID-19, including financing, go here.

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Ran out of Federal/SBA Funds or Never Accessed Them? Here are some options for Small Businesses.

Posted on by Jason Bird

What can you do for funding in between Federal (SBA) and State (FAME) programs being available, when unemployment runs out, or when you re-open and not all your customers are bak?  It’s not all bleak and below are a few options that we have found over the last few weeks.  Do be careful– these are moving targets, funds are running out fast and must be replenished, and scammers are looking for you.  We at MaineStream and partners like SBDC and SCORE are here to help guide you through these issues along the way.

Grants (more are on our COVID-19 Small Business website in the “industry-specific” or “donations” sections)

Loans (lower cost and/or some other type of relief).  Please note, loans still must be paid back–carefully pause before borrowing and skip loans altogether if you don’t think you will pay it back. 

-Chris Linder

Portions published in the MaineBiz article, “Maine small-biz funding roundup: more loans, fintech and options for self-employed” on April 22, 2020.

To find out more about Small Business issues during COVID-19, including financing, go here.

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