SEATTLE — By Gov. Jay Inslee's order it will be nearly a month before most Washington business will reopen so today he highlighted the programs that are designed to help.
At the now empty Cascadia grill in Olympia, any help will be welcome. Only the loyalty of customers ordering take out is keeping it afloat.
Juju Guarino and Jef Dukes are the co-owners.
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“We've had some people do very nice things for us. We're actually doing surprisingly well,” said co-owner Jef Dukes
But they had to close the ice cream shop they opened coincidentally the first week that closures were announced. Now there's a loan and rent to pay.
That's where a $5 million state fund for emergency grants to small business could help.
“The grants will provide up to $10,000 for small businesses that have under 10 employees,” said Inslee.
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“Whatever it can be that will help a small business like us,” said co-owner Guarino.
“The ice cream shop is going need a lot of help yeah, so the program is wonderful,” Dukes said.
The state commerce department is working with established business groups to get the money out quickly.
“We hope that in some ways this is a bridge. Those same companies may be eligible for the Small Business Administration loans offered by the federal government,” said Washington Department of Commerce Director Lisa Brown
Guarino and Dukes are applying for SBA loans, too. But it's a challenge.
“A lot of the language is financial, there's like four different categories and each one has its own set of rules and regulations and we didn't know which one applied to us,” Dukes said.
The governor's order keeps most businesses closed until May 5. Even though there is progress in slowing the pace of the virus.
“There's going to be a human inclination to let up, take it easy a little bit, thinking that we're on top of this. That could be a fatal mistake,” Inslee warned.
The governor says Washington has already spend $120 million of the $200 million appropriated to fight COVID-19. He says businesses and individuals will find programs to help at the state’s coronavirus website: https://coronavirus.wa.gov/
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