(Boston, MA)
– Today, Massachusetts Growth Capital Corporation (MGCC) in partnership with Massachusetts Association of Community Development Corporation (MACDC) announced support for all Massachusetts small businesses owners, including those with limited English proficiency, by providing
multilingual translation and application assistance
for the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). These services will provide an opportunity for small business owners in Massachusetts impacted by COVID-19 who would otherwise be unable to tap into the SBA’s economic relief resources. All small businesses in Massachusetts are strongly encouraged to use these resources when applying to the second round of PPP at their local, participating bank once available. Please be advised, MGCC and MACDC are not eligible lenders for the program. A list of participating PPP lenders can be found at
https://www.sba.gov/paycheckprotection/find
.
This initiative brings together 49 Technical Assistance (TA) Providers located throughout Massachusetts and organized under the
Small Business Technical Assistance Grant Program
to utilize their skills. The PPP application has been translated into 19 languages and is available to download on MGCC’s website,
empoweringsmallbusiness.org
, along with a list of TA Providers sorted by language proficiency and communities serviced that small business owners can connect with for guidance on the application process.
“When MGCC recognized the opportunity gap for minorities, immigrants and other small business owners with limited English proficiency to access the Paycheck Protection Program, we immediately knew we needed to tap into this strong small business support team of TA Providers,” said
Larry Andrews, President of MGCC
. “With their participation, access to PPP suddenly becomes inclusive and encourages diverse businesses to explore relief possibilities in this difficult time.”
“Every day we see examples of how long standing racial and economic disparities are disproportionately impacting communities of color. That is why our economic relief and recovery efforts must reach our entire small business community, including communities of color, immigrant, and lower income communities,” said
Joseph Kriesberg President of MACDC
. “Thankfully, Massachusetts has a network of dozens of community-based organizations with trained staff who can deliver culturally competent and multi-lingual assistance to help these business owners access public and private resources to help them survive and recover from this crisis.”
More Information:
Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) Multilingual Translation and Technical Assistance for Massachusetts Small Businesses
Please visit MGCC’s website,
empoweringsmallbusiness.org
,
to obtain translated PPP information and a list of the 49 participating organizations.
Languages include:
Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin, Cantonese, French, French Creole, Italian, Russian, Vietnamese, Greek, Arabic, Cambodian, Somali, Amharic (Ethiopian), Filipino, Nepalese, Korean, Japanese and Thai
Please note:
The SBA will not accept PPP applications in languages other than English. Utilize the TA Providers participating in this initiative to complete the PPP application.
About Massachusetts Growth Capital Corporation
MGCC is a quasi-public corporation of the Commonwealth working to create and preserve jobs at small businesses, women and minority owned businesses, and to promote economic development in Gateway Cities and low and moderate income communities. MGCC is a central state resource that offers working capital, loan guarantees, and targeted technical assistance to solve specific financial and operational problems for local businesses. MGCC works with traditional financial institutions to make challenging loans bankable, working with community development corporations and other non-profits to provide financing for job-producing projects, and assisting a wide range of small businesses find the growth capital they require. Since inception, MGCC has served over 8,850 small businesses, positively impacted more than 22,100 jobs with customized working capital financing commitments totaling over $122,000,000.
About Massachusetts Association of Community Development Corporation
MACDC is a statewide private nonprofit organization the represents 86 community development corporations and other nonprofit organizations and serves as the policy and capacity building arm of the community development movement in Massachusetts. MACDC’s mission is to build and sustain a high performing and adaptive community development sector that is supported by private and public investment and sound public policies. We advance racial and economic equity by creating healthy communities where everyone lives in housing they can afford, benefits from economic opportunities and can fully participate in the civic life of their community.
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