The Governor announced a short term bridge loan opportunity to provide eligible business hit hard by COVID-19 with up to $5,000 to cover expenses. To qualify, applicants must have applied for the SBA COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loan and have an application number from that process. The RI program is essentially a bridge loan for the EIDL award and designed to get cash quickly to the businesses who need it most. There are two categories of eligible business who can apply for this relief including restaurants and other food service businesses, and micro-businesses with 2-10 employees. The fund is made possible by a $1M contribution by Bank Newport and a matching fund of $1M from RI Commerce Corporation’s Small Business Loan Fund. Apply here!

This program is designed to assist small businesses that have been impacted by COVID-19 and left out of federal stimulus programs. The program offers grants of up to $5,000 to qualifying microenterprises. Funds may be used for working capital to cover business costs, such as rent, staffing, utilities. To qualify, you must be a bona fide business entity with up to five employees in a participating municipality and one or more of the business’s employees must be an owner. The total household income of the business owner must be 80% or less of their area median income (AMI). AMI chart by region here. If your business is in a participating town, reach out to the corresponding representative listed here for each town here.

Small businesses across the country, the backbone of our nation’s economy, are facing potentially devastating economic pressure as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. Financial assistance at this critical time can make the difference between staying in business, or closing permanently. Thanks to support from a variety of funders, we are providing grants to small businesses to help them keep functioning and remain vital facets of their local economies. Round 4 is currently closed and round 5 is scheduled to open around July 27. Please register here for updates on upcoming rounds. For questions, please review the FAQ Click here  to read about past grantees.

The SBA Paycheck Protection Program is designed to keep workers employed during the shutdown. The program provided access to low interest and potentially forgivable loans for small business owners and nonprofit organizations. LISC offered the PPP program through our SBA subsidiary, immito.  Currently, LISC is no longer accepting applications for the PPP in order to process the remaining applications by the June 30^th deadline. We will post future opportunities related to PPP if they arise.

Announcement will be coming.

LISC Rhode Island, in partnership with the Rhode Island Department of Human Services, will administer a $5M fund for child care providers who have been impacted by COVID-19.  The fund, made available through the CARES Act, will address small capital projects necessary for child care providers to reopen under new guidelines from DHS and the CDC.  Funds also will be available to offset costs incurred due to the shutdown. For more information, click here