SBA Disaster Assistance Now Available in Putnam County, Georgia for Private NonProfit Organizations

ATLANTA, March 8 -- The Small Business Administration's Office of Disaster Assistance issued the following news release:

The U.S. Small Business Administration announced today that Putnam County has been added to the Presidential declaration for Public Assistance and reminding eligible Private NonProfit (PNP) organizations in Georgia of the April 10 deadline to submit disaster loan applications for physical damages resulting from severe storms, tornadoes, winds and flooding on Jan. 21-22, 2017. PNPs located in Appling, Baker, Berrien, Brantley, Brooks, Bulloch, Calhoun, Clay, Colquitt, Cook, Crisp, Dougherty, Echols, Lowndes, Putnam, Randolph, Tattnall, Thomas, Turner, Upson, Ware, Wilcox and Worth in Georgia. Examples of eligible non-critical PNP organizations include, but are not limited to, food kitchens, homeless shelters, museums, libraries, community centers, schools and colleges. PNP organizations may borrow up to $2 million to repair or replace damaged or destroyed real estate, machinery and equipment, inventory and other business assets. The interest rate is 2.5 percent with terms up to 30 years. Applicants may be eligible for a loan amount increase up to 20 percent of their physical damages, as verified by the SBA for mitigation purposes. Eligible mitigation improvements may now include a safe room or storm shelter to help protect property and occupants from future damage caused by a similar disaster. The SBA also offers Economic Injury Disaster Loans to help meet working capital needs, such as ongoing operating expenses to PNP organizations. Economic Injury Disaster Loan assistance is available regardless of whether the organization suffered any physical property damage. Applicants may apply online using the Electronic Loan Application (ELA) via SBA's secure website at https://disasterloan.sba.gov/ela. Disaster loan information and application forms may also be obtained by calling the SBA's Customer Service Center at 800-659-2955 (800-877-8339 for the deaf and hard-of-hearing) or by sending an email to [email protected]. Applications can also be downloaded from the SBA's website at www.sba.gov/disaster. Completed applications should be mailed to: U.S. Small Business Administration, Processing and Disbursement Center, 14925 Kingsport Road, Fort Worth, TX 76155. "PNP organizations are urged to contact their County's Emergency Manager to obtain information about local briefings. At the meeting, PNP representatives will need to provide information about their organization," said Frank Skaggs, director of SBA Field Operations Center East in Atlanta. The information will be submitted to FEMA to determine eligibility for a Public Assistance grant or whether the PNP should be referred to SBA for disaster loan assistance. The filing deadline to return applications for physical property damage is April 10, 2017. The deadline to return economic injury applications is Nov. 7, 2017.

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