The Washington State Department of Financial Institutions (DFI) and Department of Commerce are reminding Washington’s small businesses, eligible nonprofits, and lenders the federal Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) has been funded with $284 billion for a new round of forgivable loans. The loan program is administered by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). Applications are being accepted now for both first and second draw loans.

The first round of the PPP, which ran from March to August 2020, helped 5.2 million small businesses nationwide keep 51 million American workers employed. More than 107,000 Washington state businesses received PPP loans.

“Small businesses are the lifeblood of our country, of Washington State,” DFI Director Charlie Clark said. “It’s so important they get the assistance they need to continue beyond this pandemic. Washington’s financial institutions stepped up in a big way during the first PPP allocations, and we know they will again.”

“These federal loans have been crucial for helping small businesses and our overall economy,” Commerce Director Lisa Brown said. “Small businesses can take steps now to get ready to apply, starting with finding a participating lender and finding out what kind of documentation they need to prepare.”

The SBA is currently only accepting loan applications from participating community financial institutions (CFIs). Businesses can find a participating CFI at Lender Match. The program will open to all lenders next Tuesday.

The Washington Small Business Development Center (SBDC), a partnership between the SBA and Washington State University, is providing virtual webinars on the loans:

“SBA Round 2 COVID-19 relief and PPP Application” is at 10 a.m. Friday, Jan. 15. Register here.
Additional PPP webinars will be provided every Friday at 10 a.m. through March. For more information, visit https://wsbdc.ecenterdirect.com/events.

Additional SBA resources for businesses

SBA E-Bulletin with information about the PPP program and other relief options
Fact sheets: Paycheck Protection Program First Draw Loans: Overview (sba.gov) and Paycheck Protection Program Second Draw Loans: Overview (sba.gov)

SBA PPP web pages: www.sba.gov/ppp or www.sba.gov/paycheckprotection
Email updates: www.sba.gov/updates
SBA social media: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | YouTube | LinkedIn

The above is a press release from the WA Department of Financial Institutions. The Auburn Examiner has not independently verified its contents and encourages our readers to personally verify any information they find may be overly biased or questionable. The publication of this press release does not indicate an endorsement of its content.