That’s because they’ve run out of money.
Frederick, Md (KM) The Maryland Department of Commerce has run out of money in its Emergency Relief Loan and Grant Funds for small businesses which have suffered financially due to the coronavirus pandemic. As a result, it’s not taking nay more applications for these programs.
“The Department of Commerce, the two funds that we had business relief, the grant fund and the loan fund, we took the applications down for that,” says Secretary of Commerce Kelly Schulz, who was a guest recently on WFMD’s “Mid-Maryland Live.”
“We have had 40,000 applications that have come in. We wanted to continue to get the process put in place. And try to get it so that if we get additional funds from the federal government, we would able to easily due a plug-in-place for that,” Schulz says.
Last month, Governor Larry Hogan announced that $125-million had been set aside by the Commerce Department to provide loans and grants to small companies. and non-profits which have suffered from loss of business due to the COVID-19 crisis. As of Monday, April 6th, the Department of Commerce announced on its website that it was no longer taking applications for these two programs.
But Secretary Schulz says all its not lost for business owners who are hurting due to the coronavirus and need relief. “It’s really important that everybody go to the federal government programs,” she says. “The federal government, they have $350-million in their SBA PPP fund right. And according to what I’ve seen in the news, they’re looking to expand that even more, perhaps in Congress.”
The PPP program is the Paycheck Protection Program run by the US Small Business Administration which helps businesses keep their workforce employed during the coronavirus emergency.