West Palm Beach offering loan program to small, minority and woman-owned businesses

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — The City of West Palm Beach is offering a new loan program to help small businesses recover from the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This month, city leaders are rolling out the ‘Small and Minority/Woman Business Recovery Assistance Program.'

The goal is to provide eligible businesses with microloans between $5,000 and $20,000 to help them recover from epidemic-related shortfalls.

“The pandemic has impacted businesses of all types,” said Mayor Keith James in a statement. “With this assistance program, the city hopes to provide critical aid to small businesses that are so important to our community’s economic health and our city’s continued economic resilience.”

Businesses certified by the city as Small Business Enterprise, SBE, and/or Minority/Woman Business Enterprise (MWBE) will be eligible to apply for a 60-month microloan with an interest rate of up to 10%.

Program eligibility requirements for applicants are as follow:

• Business must be located within the City of West Palm Beach
• Be legally authorized to do business within the city by virtue of a valid business license,
• Be certified as a SBE and/or M/WBE with the city,
• Properties must be free of any city lien encumbrances and code violations,
• Property taxes on the property must be current if the business owner is the property owner,
• Business must have been opened and be operational for a minimum of 18 months at loan closing,
• Business gross annual revenues cannot exceed $1,000,000,
• Credit score of over 580 is required to qualify,
• Business liquid assets of under $150,000.

The program is facilitated by the city’s Office of Equal Opportunity (OEO).

For more information about the recovery assistance program, click here.