Very Few Small Businesses Have Received Federal Aid
While roughly a quarter of American families have received stimulus funds so far, Business.org reports that only 5.7% of U.S. small businesses received financial assistance from the initial $349 billion earmarked by the federal government. An additional $310 billion has been put into the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), but will that be enough?
The numbers are particularly low in our region. A mere 5.5% of small businesses in South Carolina have been approved for funding. In North Carolina, just 4.3% of small business have received PPP loans.
The report points out that states like California, which received only 2.8% financing, will take a major hit to their small business ecosystem. Even businesses in the 15% funded state of North Dakota will struggle to recover from this economic crisis. This is why it’s so important to support your favorite locally-owned small businesses in the coming months. One way to do that is through Operation Gift Card.
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