The Ohio Small Business Development Center (SBDC) at Lakeland Community College is aiding and counseling local small businesses and private nonprofits being directly and indirectly affected by the coronavirus.

Since Monday, the SBDC at Lakeland office has had an influx of calls from worried business owners.

"People are calling us and they don't know where to turn," said Cathy Walsh, director of the SBDC at Lakeland. "We are strongly encouraging people with questions to call or email us to schedule a phone or email session sooner with us rather than later. The U.S. Small Business Administration has a new loan category that will be available for up to $2 million for small business and private nonprofits. Unlike typical SBA loans that come directly from banks, this loan will come via the U.S treasury."

Applications will be submitted directly to the Small Business Administration (SBA) through SBA.gov/disaster.

The top two questions Walsh indicated that they were hearing the most are (1) how to apply for disaster assistance and (2) when can they apply.

The new SBA loan is anticipated to be available Friday, March 20. A sample application and instruction documents are available online at lakelandcc.edu/SBDC.

More information is also available at SBA.gov/disaster.

For additional questions and specific, one-on-one help, contact Cathy Walsh at
cwalsh@lakelandcc.edu or 440.525.7707 (leave a phone message with name number where you can be reached).

By: Jessica Novak