November 10th Program

was this week's speaker.  He told us about the role of the Small Business Administration in disaster recovery, with emphasis on recovery from Hurricane Ike. He told us 40-50% of the 500 million federal dollars available will come through the SBA.  Approximately 80% of this will go to renters and home owners.  To date only about 15 % of those affected have filled out SBA papers.  SBA loans are available at 2.87% for individuals and 4.7% for businesses.  The terms are very flexible, up to 30 years in some instances.

He stressed the need to fill out an SBA application to get the ball rolling.  You don't have to know how much you need or if you will actually need a loan to make the application.  The SBA may actually make referrals back to FEMA for grants that would not be available if the SBA application was not completed. 

Mr. Sherrill stressed that the deadline for applications is December 12, 2008.  There are SBA Application Centers in several locations around the Triangle where face-to-face assistance is available.