Vanessa Pugh has a message for small companies impacted by COVID: On the subject of accessing financing amid the pandemic, which has hit some within the Black and Brown communities particularly onerous, there may be assist.

“My finest hope is that folks perceive there are sources,” mentioned Pugh, an unbiased contractor with the Nationwide Council, whose mission contains creating jobs by way of small-business lending.

No enterprise is simply too small, mentioned Pugh, a former deputy commissioner for Suffolk County Financial Growth & Planning. And no scenario is simply too dire.

For struggling enterprise homeowners, this can be a welcome message, though it could be one thing they need to hear repeatedly earlier than recognizing that reliable help is on the market. Some are so busy they don’t know the place to show for assist.

“A enterprise proprietor could also be a part of a one-, or two- or three-person staff, and all of their blood, sweat and tears and work goes into operating the enterprise,” mentioned Pugh, who now runs her personal small enterprise, Acts2 Consulting.

It’s a predicament that makes it onerous to hunt out stable entry to capital, and even when homeowners do, there are functions to fill out, significant narratives to tug collectively and monetary data to assemble. The method can get overwhelming, with the pandemic making it that a lot tougher, significantly for ladies and minority-owned companies, advocates say.

As companies look towards financial restoration, 44 % of small enterprise homeowners have lower than three months’ money reserves, placing companies and staff members in danger within the occasion of a COVID-19-related shutdown or different emergency, in accordance with a latest survey. Highlighting what could possibly be an “uneven restoration,” the quantity was even larger, 51 %, for Black-owned companies. That’s in accordance with Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Enterprise Voices, which polled 1,145 individuals Aug. 30 by way of Sept. 1.

As for the outlook on entry to capital, solely 31 % of the respondents mentioned they had been very assured they might get entry to funding whereas solely 20 % of Black-owned small companies reported being very assured of their entry to capital.

This outlook is “extraordinarily troubling,” mentioned Matt Cohen, the president and CEO of the Lengthy Island Affiliation.

“It’s crucial that we guarantee they’ve the sources and help to climate this disaster,” he mentioned. The LIA has “performed outreach to small companies throughout the pandemic and developed partnerships with organizations together with the Lengthy Island African American Chamber of Commerce and Lengthy Island Hispanic Chamber of Commerce to make sure Lengthy Island companies can entry mortgage and grant applications and obtain technical help.”

And the “issues for Black-owned enterprise are nonetheless Covid-19 associated as Black communities had been disproportionately affected, and a stage of hesitancy nonetheless persists in Black shopper confidence,” mentioned Phil Andrews, Lengthy Island African American Chamber of Commerce president.

Entry to capital, he added, “stays an issue because of vital gaps in authorities applications designed to help financial restoration.”

Along with entry to capital, “policymakers ought to know {that a} vital variety of small minority enterprise homeowners want technical help” in addition to “entry to small enterprise counseling” so as “to resolve the advanced wants of small enterprise homeowners,” he mentioned.

Nonetheless, there are “wonderful” applications presently accessible, together with by way of state and county sources, Pugh mentioned. And homeowners disproportionally impacted by the pandemic could find a way by way of the NDC to “borrow as much as $100,000 with enticing compensation phrases” and get hands-on help by way of the lifetime of the mortgage,” she mentioned.

Pugh’s function is to comply with up with homeowners who’re matched with an NDC program, and to debate the phrases of the mortgage and to see in the event that they wish to transfer ahead. “Generally it takes 10 requires cash that’s accessible, that could be a useful resource,” she mentioned.

In a time of information-overload and misinformation, homeowners have their plates full, and should not see the chance.

Some could fall upon scams or get entangled with mortgage applications the place they could obtain a fast surge of funds, however the phrases change into very unfavorable.

“Further funding shouldn’t be simple to return by,” mentioned Leslie Tayne, founding father of Tayne Legislation Group, a debt options regulation agency.

Conventional lending will be “an extended course of,” she mentioned. “It requires quite a lot of hoops to be authorised.”

Homeowners with restricted money move and inadequate credit score historical past could also be vulnerable to unfavorable applications, she mentioned.

Maintaining with funds in these situations can “hinder a enterprise” and “choke them,” she mentioned.

And, she identified, these sorts of applications are “not consumer-based loans,” and they also don’t include the protections of the Truthful Debt Assortment Practices Act.

“It may be very abusive to the enterprise proprietor,” she mentioned.

Pugh mentioned homeowners want to listen to “trusted and valued voices” to acknowledge good alternatives.

Which is why discovering trusted sources in the neighborhood is essential. The LIA has a full listing of sources for minority companies.

And there are venues and occasions the place homeowners can converse with sources, in addition to with friends about their expertise with entry to capital.

The Artwork of Giving & Ujamaa Fest, showcasing Black-owned companies on the Plaza at Wyandanch on Sept. 25 from midday to six p.m., is one such alternative. Dan Lloyd, the lead facility of the Babylon Industrial Growth Company’s Financial Inclusion Program, can be on the competition. He mentioned he’s keen to talk with folks in regards to the monetary, technical and authorized help this system offers to minority, ladies and veteran-owned companies inside Babylon Township.

“There are lots of potential grants and low-interest loans accessible,” together with by way of New York Ahead by way of Empire State Growth, he mentioned.

He mentioned this system lately partnered with Hofstra’s Ascend Lengthy Island (the place Pugh can be a advisor) to help advertising and technical help – addressing gross sales and income, enterprise development and closure charges and extra – for eight organizations.

And Pugh mentioned that Enhance Nassau Useful resource Middle will assist determine alternatives from “begin to end.” One other trusted voice for data, Pugh mentioned, is the Minority Commerce Weekly revealed on-line by Jim Woods.

Lorraine Kennedy-Gayle, the proprietor of Island Jerk, with places in Babylon and Wyandanch, mentioned she swaps insights about entry to capital with enterprise homeowners. Via Suffolk’s Division of Financial Growth, she was capable of apply for the federal Paycheck Safety Program.

“The cash got here in a well timed vogue,” she mentioned, including that with out it, her enterprise would have “not been capable of survive.”

“I do share this with different enterprise homeowners” who since discovered comparable success, she mentioned.

These sorts of efforts assist homeowners discover significant sources.

It’s with robust messaging, Pugh mentioned, that can assist consultants “ensure they’re getting the data to the individuals who want it most.”