The Small Business Administration (SBA) has opened a recovery center in Augusta for local business owners seeking relief after Hurricane Helene, Sen. Jon Ossoff announced Friday.
The SBA offers loans for small businesses to help recover from disasters, specifically for those costs not covered either by insurance or by FEMA. Businesses—big and small—homeowners, renters and nonprofits, which are located in a declared disaster areas, are eligible to apply.
Both Richmond and Columbia counties are among the 16 counties in the east Georgia region currently under a disaster declaration. This means entrepreneurs in the area are eligible for physical and economic injury disaster loans, according to the SBA.
Prospective recipients may apply in person, and schedule an appointment by visiting the SBA’s website. SBA staff would be at the recovery center to assist with disaster loan applications, accept documents, and provide updates on an application statuses.
According to the SBA, with the changes to FEMA’s Sequence of Delivery, Georgians are now encouraged to simultaneously apply for FEMA grants and the SBA low-interest disaster loan assistance to fully recover.
Because of changes in FEMA’s Sequence of Delivery—the order in which relief organizations provide assistance to disaster survivors—the SBA encourages citizens to apply for both FEMA grants and the SBA low-interest disaster loan simultaneously.
Regular hours as the center would be Monday through Friday, from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., though it will be closed this coming Monday, Oct. 14.
The filing deadline to return applications for physical property damage is Nov. 29, and the deadline to return economic injury applications is June 30 of next year.
The Business Recovery Center is at 3626 Walton Way Ext., Ste. 1. For more information visit sba.gov/funding-programs/disaster-assistance or call 1-800-659-2955.
Skyler Q. Andrews is a staff reporter covering business for The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
