Extension: Supporting Small Business in Tough Times

Covid 19 has been hard on small business in Henderson.  Mandated shutdowns for many entrepreneurs caused financial strains and uncertainty for numerous entities.  Several Federal and State programs were set up to help but the majority of business owners were having trouble navigating the rules and procedures to get the help.

Late March, 2020, a local business owner contact Henderson County Extension to ask for any help we might could provide.  With suggestions from our office, a daily conference call was set up to help get answers and guidance as the programs set up were changing almost daily.  Extension helped moderate these calls and followed up after the calls with state and local officials to get the answers to questions.

The first several days, 12-24 small business owners, local economic development personal, and Extension talked through the PPP loans, EIDL, SBA Express Bridge Loan, and SBA debt Relief loan identifying how to get signed up, what rules would effect individual business’, and what the long term impact would be.  Throughout the first 6 weeks, attendee numbers varied between 12 and 32.  After the first couple of weeks, we invited guest speakers to join us to help answer the many questions.  With the help of the Small Business Association, local Economic Development, local elected officials, and Community Economic Development Initiative of Kentucky, most questions regarding the loan programs were answered.

To date, over 60 PPP loans were granted to Henderson county small business for 10-15 million.  Several EIDL loans were granted to local business and it is estimated that over 60 full and part time jobs were saved.  

At the beginning of June, Henderson Chamber of Commerce agreed to continue the teleconferences on a weekly schedule utilizing similar format set up.