The Small Business Administration’s Office of Disaster Recovery and Resilience announced the agency will open a temporary Disaster Loan Outreach Center in Decatur’s City Hall at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 20, through 6 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 22.
The SBA’s public affairs supervisor, Corey Williams, says the new center directly responds to the needs of people and businesses affected by tornadoes that struck the community over Labor Day weekend.
“Our administrator, Isabel Castilla Guzman, visited Rogers in the Bentonville area on July 18,” Williams said. “And in consultation with Arkansas State Rep. Delia Hawk, she mentioned that there were certain areas of western Benton County who felt that there was a need to be able to have a center closer to them because many of them are sole proprietors, and they're unable to kind of make that trip all the way into town, back and forth. So we wanted to make sure that we're bringing the full array of SBA services to western Benton County in these rural areas to address the needs of those that are in that area.”
The agency offers low-interest disaster assistance, which includes loans to businesses of all sizes, homeowners, renters and nonprofits.
“Business owners can borrow up to $2 million to repair and replace disaster-damaged real estate, machinery, inventory and equipment,” Williams said. “But the most important thing that I really want to emphasize for business owners, as well as nonprofits in this western Benton County area, is the need for working capital, and that's the purpose of the Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program, which provides working capital to sustain the business during this recovery period.”
Economic Injury loans provide funding that may assist business owners in paying their employees, meeting their monthly lease or mortgage obligations, or pivoting to a new operation while they complete repairs.
“However, that business or nonprofit sees fit to use the funds to keep their business operational during this recovery period,” Williams said. “And then homeowners can borrow up to $500,000 to repair and replace disaster-damaged real estate, and up to $100,000 to repair and replace disaster-damaged personal property, which would also include any vehicles that were lost. Interest rates for homeowners are as low as 2.688%, interest rates for nonprofits are fixed at 3.25%, and interest rates for business owners are as low as 4%.”
Williams says the SBA’s physical loan office will increase accessibility for people affected by storm damage who live in Benton County’s rural areas. The agency also emphasizes the urgency of these loans.
“The deadline to apply is actually Aug. 28, 2024,” Williams said. “So if you have any physical damage, it is key to visit one, visit the Disaster Loan Outreach Center in Decatur, or visit the Disaster Recovery Center in Rogers. Further, for any businesses or nonprofits that may not have suffered any physical damage, the deadline to apply for economic injury is March 3, 2025, but so many businesses wait until months five, six, seven, eight and nine to realize they've had drops in sales and are having to lay off employees. So the one thing that I would encourage any business or nonprofit is to be proactive in looking for the Economic Injury Disaster Loan for the working capital to keep the business the same during that period, don't wait until all your resources are tapped out and then apply. Because the good thing with the SBA program is once you're approved for the loan, you can always request an increase in the loan amount for up to two years once you've been approved.”
Visit SBA.gov to learn more about the agency and the services you might qualify for. Along with the incoming Decatur location, there’s an additional disaster recovery center in Bentonville with SBA representatives available to meet with businesses and residents to answer questions, explain SBA’s disaster loan program, and close their approved loans.
Ozarks at Large transcripts are created on a deadline. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. The authoritative record of KUAF programming is the audio record.
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