New Aid For Small Businesses As New Yorkers Urged To 'Buy Local'

NEW YORK CITY — Mayor Bill de Blasio on Wednesday announced a set of new grants and no-interest loans to aid New York City's 236,000 small businesses, coinciding with a new campaign urging New Yorkers to "buy local" during the holiday season.

The Department of Small Business Services will offer $35 million in no-interest loans to small businesses in nearly three dozen low-to-moderate income communities and a $700,000 grant for community partners in those neighborhoods to provide recovery support, Commissioner Jonnel Doris said.

Another grant program will pay interest owed by small businesses that took out loans from certain lenders.

Applications for the no-interest loans open Nov. 30. Small businesses in the eligible ZIP codes must have been operating since or before Jan. 1, 2018 and employ between two and 99 workers.

"Now more than ever, Black, Latinx and Asian businesses are struggling with access to capital," Doris said in a prepared statement. "The launch of these programs is a targeted approach to provide relief efforts in communities that need it most."

The small-business aid initiatives, announced just ahead of Black Friday, will be complemented by a new marketing campaign urging New Yorkers to do their holiday shopping at local stores.

"Shop your city. Shop your neighborhood. It makes a huge difference," de Blasio said in a Wednesday news conference. "I’m asking you to do something that’s so simple but so powerful."

The "Shop Your City" initiative will include a five-borough tour starting on Small Business Saturday, a shopping holiday that takes place every year just after Thanksgiving.