(INDIANAPOLIS) – Indy is setting up an emergency loan fund to keep small businesses afloat during the coronavirus lockdown.
The relief bill approved by Congress on Friday includes help for small businesses, and they’re also eligible for disaster loans from the Small Business Administration. But Mayor Joe Hogsett says that assistance will take four-to-six weeks to arrive, and some businesses don’t have the resources to pay their bills until then.
The city and the Indy Chamber have created a “rapid response” loan fund to tide them over . The fund will issue loans of up to$25,000 to businesses struggling to survive the coronavirus lockdown.
The city and Anthem have chipped in $2.5 million so far. The goal is to raise four times
that from private and charitable donations.If the fund grows big enough, it’ll make loans available not just within Indianapolis, but in the surrounding metro area.
Indy Chamber president Michael Huber says the Chamber is encouraging restaurants and small retailers to apply. He says those businesses were among the first and hardest hit, as convention business began to evaporate. Hogsett says those businesses will be critical to reviving the city’s economy once the pandemic is over.
