NJEDA Small Business Emergency Assistant Grant

From the Somerset County Business Partnership: we are continuing to serve the business community by offering resources to help your business, particularly during this confusing time. If you have not yet checked these out, please see our business resources here. 

On March 26, 2020, additional programs from the New Jersey Economic Development Authority (NJEDA) were introduced to help area businesses. Information on these programs can be seen below. Additionally, we have been offering a variety of webinars that will help you decipher what is in these programs and how you can access them. Please continue to check out our events page here to access and register for these webinars.

  • Small Business Emergency Assistance Grant Program: A $5 million program that will provide grants up to $5,000 to small businesses in retail, arts, entertainment, recreation, accommodation, food service and other services — such as repair, maintenance, personal and laundry services — to stabilize their operations and reduce the need for layoffs or furloughs.
  • Small Business Emergency Assistance Loan Program: A $10 million program that will provide working capital loans of up to $100,000 to businesses with less than $5 million in revenues. Loans made through the program will have 10-year terms with zero percent for the first five years, then resetting to the EDA’s prevailing floor rate (capped at 3%) for the remaining five years.
  • Community Development Finance Institution Emergency Loan Loss Reserve Fund: A $10 million capital reserve fund to take a first loss position on CDFI loans that provide low-interest working capital to microbusinesses. This will allow CDFIs to withstand loan defaults due to the outbreak, which will allow them to provide more loans at lower interest rates to microbusinesses affected by the outbreak.
  • CDFI Emergency Assistance Grant Program: A $1.25 million program that will provide grants of up to $250,000 to CDFIs to scale operations or reduce interest rates for the duration of the outbreak.
  • NJ Entrepreneur Support Program: A $5 million program that will encourage continued capital flows to new companies, often in the innovation economy, and temporarily support a shaky market by providing 80% loan guarantees for working capital loans to entrepreneurs.
  • Small Business Emergency Assistance Guarantee Program: A $10 million program that will provide 50% guarantees on working capital loans and waive fees on loans made through institutions participating in the NJEDA’s existing Premier Lender or Premier CDFI programs.
  • Emergency Technical Assistance Program: A $150,000 program that will support technical assistance to New Jersey-based companies applying for assistance through the U.S. Small Business Administration. The organizations contracted will be paid based on SBA application submissions supported by the technical assistance they provide.

You can read the entire release here.  Applications submissions accepted beginning March 30, 2020.  To apply, see the contact list of Participating Premier Partner banks.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at 908-722-9217.