ATLANTA — Robeson County one of 12 North Carolina counties in which private nonprofit organizations affected by Hurricane Dorian can now apply for disaster loans from U.S. Small Business Administration.
The U.S. SBA announced Thursday that certain private nonprofit organizations in 12 additional counties in North Carolina have been added to the disaster declaration. Private nonprofit organizations that do not provide critical services of a governmental nature, such as homeless shelters, museums, community centers and schools and may be eligible to apply for low-interest rate disaster loans. These loans are available as the result of a presidential disaster declaration for public assistance resulting from damages caused by Hurricane Dorian on Sept. 1-9.
The other 11 counties are Beaufort, Brunswick, Camden, Carteret, Columbus, Craven, Currituck, Dare, Duplin, Greene, Hoke, Hyde, Jones, Lenoir, New Hanover, Onslow, Pamlico, Pasquotank, Pender, Perquimans, Pitt, Sampson, Tyrrell, Washington and Wayne.
Examples of eligible noncritical PNP organizations include, but are not limited to food kitchens, homeless shelters, museums, libraries, community centers, schools and colleges. Eligible organizations may borrow up to $2 million to repair or replace damaged or destroyed real estate, machinery and equipment, inventory and other business assets. The interest rate is 2.75 percent with terms up to 30 years. Applicants may be eligible for a loan amount increase up to 20 percent of their physical damages, as verified by the SBA for mitigation purposes. Eligible mitigation improvements may include a safe room or storm shelter, sump pump, French drain or retaining wall to help protect property and occupants from future damage caused by a similar disaster.
The SBA also offers Economic Injury Disaster Loans to help meet working capital needs, such as ongoing operating expenses to private nonprofit organizations. Economic Injury Disaster Loan assistance is available regardless of whether or not the organization suffered any physical property damage.
Private nonprofit organizations are urged to contact their county’s Emergency Manager for information about their organization. The information will be submitted to the Federal Emergency Management Agency to determine eligibility for a public assistance grant or whether or not the PNP should be referred to SBA for disaster loan assistance.
Applicants may apply online using the Electronic Loan Application via SBA’s secure website at DisasterLoan.sba.gov. Disaster loan information and application forms may also be obtained by calling the SBA’s Customer Service Center at 800-659-2955, 800-877-8339 for the deaf and hard-of-hearing, or sending an email to [email protected]. Loan applications can also be downloaded from www.sba.gov/disaster. Completed applications should be mailed to: U.S. Small Business Administration, Processing and Disbursement Center, 14925 Kingsport Road, Fort Worth, TX 76155.
The filing deadline to submit applications for physical property damage is Dec. 3. The deadline to submit economic injury applications is July 6, 2020.
