Many Local Small Businesses Holding On To Hope They’ll Get Relief From The Second Round Of Federal Stimulus Funding

CHARLOTTE, NC. — For weeks, local small businesses have been opening up to WCCB about their struggles during the stay at home order. Including Corri Smith, who owns marketing and PR company Black Wednesday.

Smith, along with many other local small business owners, were not among the nearly 40,000 who got money from the federal Paycheck Protection Program. Many local businesses are holding on to hope they’ll get relief from the second round of federal stimulus funding.

“The PPP thing, yeah it’s very hard to understand and things keep changing daily,” says Smith.

According to the Charlotte Business Journal, North Carolina ranks 42nd in the nation for the percentage of presumably eligible businesses. Even though it’s 10th in the nation for the number of small businesses.

WCCB asked Congresswoman Alma Adams what can be done to help.

“We added additional funding. $60 billion another $30 billion carved out specifically for our smaller businesses. That would allow our institutions whether they are credit unions, community banks, whether they were minority banks as well, to be involved in this process,” says Congresswoman Adams.

Mark Vitner is a senior economist at Wells Fargo. He says most businesses with good bank relationships got money from the first round of PPP.

Typically the larger firms that have a credit history that are better positioned. Because of the process that was involved in this they probably are the ones that had established relationships. Many of the smaller businesses may not of had those established relationships,” says Vitner.

Fintech companies like Pay-Pal  can help. They are one of the first non-banks approved to give loans through the paycheck protection program.