Shopper’s Guide, 6 Firms Get SBA Loans : Rebuilding: The federal agency also extends until Sept. 15 the deadline for applying for disaster relief.
Willie Brown’s West Century Boulevard marketing firm was far removed from the destruction that engulfed much of South Los Angeles during the civil disturbances this year.
But the riots’ impact reverberated widely. By the time the fires and looting had waned, nearly 70% of the businesses that advertised in the fledging inner-city shopper’s guide published by Brown’s company either had burned or closed. Since then, the publication has teetered on the brink, even as the need for a guide to link South Los Angeles consumers to businesses still offering services has grown more vital.
Now, though, Brown is hopeful that his monthly reader--the “Shop and Win Shoppers Mart”--not only will survive but thrive. On Monday he received a $25,000 check from the Small Business Administration, the first installment of a $135,000 economic injury disaster loan that will allow him to catch up on delinquent bills and put the magazine’s eight employees back to work full time.
The money will not solve all his problems, he said, but it will provide breathing space that he hopes will give his magazine the help it needs.
“This will allow us to continue to operate,” said Brown, whose magazine--the Inner City Pennysaver--is distributed to 120,000 households in South Los Angeles, the Crenshaw district, Baldwin Hills, View Park, Ladera Heights and Inglewood.
“But we still have needs,” he said. “I’m hoping there will be an increased interest in the publication on the part of consumers and that as the community rebuilds, more advertising revenue will come in.”
Brown was one of seven business owners who appeared at a downtown news conference to receive SBA checks totaling $215,000, the first installments on loans of more than $1 million, said SBA spokeswoman Diane Brady.
To date, the SBA has approved $156 million in assistance through 2,198 loans. More than 1,600 loan applications are being processed and about 850 requests for help have been turned down--most because business owners were not able to demonstrate that they could repay the loans, Brady said.
Still, SBA officials believe that only a fraction of riot victims eligible to apply for loans have done so. The process has been particularly hard for business owners who lost everything.
“Many people are having a hard time reconstructing records,” Brady said, “but we know there are a lot out there who still need help.”
To accommodate those victims, the SBA has extended until Sept. 15 the deadline for applying for disaster loans that cover destruction of property. Applications for economic injury disaster loans must be submitted by Feb. 2.
In response to the needs of riot victims, the SBA has reduced the amount of paperwork required to complete loan applications, speeded loan processing and disbursed checks faster, Brady said. But the agency has come under fire from some business owners who argue that such SBA loan requirements as a 30-year pay-back period and $500,000 loan maximum should be suspended.
However, Brady said many loan requirements at issue are congressionally mandated, giving the agency little leeway in altering them.
Riot victims can get SBA assistance at these sites through Aug. 15: 3407 6th St. from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.; the Department of Water and Power, 4030 Crenshaw Blvd., from 10 a.m to 7 p.m., and the Compton Transit Center, 307 Tamarind Ave., from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Loan applications and other SBA information are available by calling (800) 488-5323.
In addition, these groups have offered to help prepare disaster loan applications at no charge: the USC School of Business Administration, (213) 740-0646; the L.A. Economic Support Team, (213) 893-2970 and the L.A. Business Resource Network, (213) 482-1311.
