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Paycheck Protection Program helping stabilize Florida’s small businesses
By U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Administrator Jovita Carranza
July 22, 2020
Orlando Sentinel
Amid a massively disruptive public health and economic crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) has emerged as one of the most consequential federal disaster responses in memory.
Just three months after its launch, the forgivable loan program stabilized millions of small business enterprises impacted by the pandemic and kept tens of millions of American workers connected to their work.
In Florida alone, nearly 400,000 small businesses and nonprofits have received a PPP loan, injecting more than $32 billion into the state’s small business sector.
Among the PPP’s most notable successes has been its outsized impact on underserved communities — especially for socially and economically disadvantaged small businesses in Florida and across the rest of the country.
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JIRACOR, an Orlando-based, minority-owned defense contractor, also weathered the coronavirus storm thanks to the PPP. Owner Jeannette Coronado said her forgivable loan covered payroll for her 16 employees, enabling her to keep her workforce intact despite a loss of revenue.
Ensuring that minority-owned and underserved small businesses had access to capital was a priority while creating the PPP. Ultimately, the Trump Administration expanded the number of authorized mission lenders to include more than 300 Community Development Financial Institutions and 170 Minority Depository Institutions, among many other small lending institutions — most of which are dedicated to serving entrepreneurs in underserved communities and new business owners.
As a result, more than 1.3 million PPP loans were made by financial institutions working to connect rural and minority-owned businesses with capital.
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In general, the PPP succeeded in stabilizing our economy and beginning its recovery phase. For the second month in a row, the jobs report beat forecasts by a wide margin, showing 4.8 million new jobs, versus expectations of 3.2 million. In just two months of recovery, 34% of jobs lost due to the pandemic have been regained.
Fortunately, there is still PPP funding available for small businesses and nonprofits, and the SBA stands ready to help eligible businesses find a lender. Even as these economic efforts continue, there remain significant challenges facing the small business sector, and both the Trump Administration and Congress are working earnestly to develop additional measures to help small businesses fully recover from the pandemic’s unprecedented disruption.
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Without a doubt, the PPP has made an historic impact in helping to lift up small businesses in Florida communities and push our nation towards economic recovery.
Read more.