Small Business Loan Program

Overview

The Small Business Loan Program is a lending program to assist disaster-impacted small businesses with non-construction expenses. The purpose of this program is to aid in the recovery of small businesses located in eligible areas that were affected by Hurricanes Laura, Delta, Ida and/or the May 2021 Severe Storms.

The state provides program assistance to eligible businesses and/or non-profit organizations through participating non-profit lenders, who have implemented and administered a lending program to assist impacted businesses and non-profits. The state has entered into subrecipient agreements with implementing partners including local community development organizations such as non-profits, community development financial institutions, local credit unions and other eligible organizations.

To qualify for a loan, businesses must have met the following criteria:

• 1-50 full-time employees (35 hours or more per week)
• Open at the time of the disaster event (meaning the business was in operation)
• Minimum $25,000 in annual gross revenues before the disaster event
• Located in one of the parishes eligible for program participation, shown here (PDF)
• Experienced either a financial or physical loss as a result of one of 2020-2021 disaster events
• Have an eligible unmet need after accounting for duplication of benefits

The application deadline businesses impacted by Hurricanes Laura and Delta was extended to Dec. 30. 2024.

As the application portal is closed, businesses interested in applying for assistance during the extension period will need to submit their application through the South Central Planning and Development Commission website or by phone at 1-800-630-3791.  Only a limited amount of program funding is still available, so businesses are encouraged to submit their applications as soon as possible to SCPDC.

If additional funds become available, more applicants may be eligible to receive program assistance and the application portal may be reopened.