Hurricane Ian-Impacted Nonprofits May Be Eligible For Aid In Pinellas

PINELLAS COUNTY, FL — The U.S. Small Business Administration announced that certain Private NonProfit organizations (PNPs) in Pinellas County may be eligible to apply for low-interest disaster loans.

These loans are available following a presidential disaster declaration for public assistance resulting from damages caused by Hurricane Ian beginning Sept. 23.

PNPs located in the counties of Brevard, Charlotte, Collier, DeSoto, Duval, Flagler, Glades, Hardee, Hendry, Highlands, Hillsborough, Indian River, Lake, Lee, Manatee, Monroe, Okeechobee, Orange, Osceola, Pinellas, Polk, Putnam, Saint Johns, Sarasota, Seminole, Sumter and Volusia in Florida are eligible to apply.

PNPs that do not provide critical services of a governmental nature may be eligible to apply. Examples include 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 1.875 percent, with terms of 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 include a safe room or storm shelter, sump pump or French drain to help protect property and occupants from future damage caused by a similar disaster.

The SBA also offers Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL) to help meet working capital needs, such as ongoing operating expenses for PNP organizations. EIDL assistance is available regardless of whether the organization suffered any physical property damage.

PNPs are urged to contact their municipality’s emergency manager to provide information about their organization. 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.

Applicants may apply online using the Electronic Loan Application (ELA) via the SBA’s secure website and should apply under SBA declaration # 17667.

Disaster loan information and application forms may also be obtained by calling the SBA’s Customer Service Center at 800-659-2955 (if you are deaf, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability, dial 7-1-1 to access telecommunications relay services) or by sending an email to DisasterCustomerService@sba.gov. Loan applications can be downloaded from the SBA’s website.

Completed applications should be mailed to: U.S. Small Business Administration, Processing and Disbursement Center, 14925 Kingsport Road, Fort Worth, TX 76155.

The filing deadline to submit applications for physical property damage is Dec. 2. The deadline to submit economic injury applications is July 3, 2023.