ORLANDO, Fla. – Less than one week after its launch, 317 small and medium businesses have registered for help and guidance through the Orlando Economic Partnership’s new Businesses Recovery Assistance and Collaborative Engagement program.
According to Laureen Martinez, with the Orlando Economic Partnership, the program allows for small businesses to fill out a questionnaire and then get paired up with an ambassador who has been trained and has researched the different resources available for small business, from federal paycheck protection loans to disaster loans.
"Some businesses are just happy to hear a voice, someone to talk to and it's helpful to have someone walk you through the steps," Martinez said. "It can get overwhelming."
Right now she said there are less than 10 ambassadors reaching out to the small businesses, but that the nonprofit is in the process of training more to help small businesses owners navigate what can be a complicated process, especially if you are a true mom and pop shop, or have little employees.
"We are doing our best to walk business owners through and really be that voice of comfort for them," Martinez said. "We are also keeping an eye with what's happening from day to day, for example we are watching what's happening with this latest stimulus package."
Martinez is referencing the movements in Congress to refund and replenish the both the Paycheck Protection Program and the EIDL Disaster Loan program for small businesses.
Unfortunately, for Harris Drucker, he said as he and his wife are the co-owners of The Barefoot Spa and they don’t have employees, he doesn’t qualify for any of the state bridge loans or the federal loans.
It’s why he registered for BRACE and is waiting to speak to an ambassador soon.
“As a mom and pop with no employees, we don’t qualify for any loans out there,” he said. “So we are looking for all the help we can get. We have been closed down now for five weeks with no income, we haven’t gotten our stimulus checks yet, we can file for unemployment but we haven’t heard anything.”
Martinez said the ambassadors are making their way down the list of businesses to call and that though it may take a few days, they will be talking to someone.
The owners of the Clock Shop in Eustis, who have only three employees, had a lot of questions on how to apply for those loans. Their niece turned to BRACE for help and spoke to an ambassador who helped them successfully apply.
"When you are a bigger corporation you have a lot more resources and you don't always have that as a small business," she said. "I was ready to cry happy tears because we just couldn't find the information that we needed, so it was beyond a beautiful thing to have help when you really needed it."
If you are small business owner and want to register to speak to an ambassador, click here.
The Orlando Economic Partnership is also hosting webinars for small businesses and launched a website full of resources. For more information, click here.