SBA, Cicero to open Business Recovery Center at Community Center

Town President Larry Dominick is donating space at the Cicero Community Center to serve as a hosting site for a U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Business Recovery Center (BRC) to service small businesses damaged by the floods.

The purpose of the BRC is to provide loans to small businesses to help them recover from damage caused by the flood and to review other assistance that is available, SBA officials said.

The BRC will begin operating at the Community Center, 2250 S 49th Ave, on Wednesday (August 30) at 1 PM and will continue Monday through Friday from 9 AM until 7 PM, and on Saturdays from 9 AM until 3 PM.

The BRC will operate through October 30, Cicero officials said.

“Many small businesses were impacted by the floods and we have been working to assist them. Partnering with the SBA to host a Business Recovery Center at the Community Center will help provide support to these businesses in need,” President Dominick said.

“The US Small Business Administration is able to provide this assistance as a direct result of our being able to secure the Disaster Declaration from FEMA and the Federal Government. We have many businesses that need help.”

The SBA provides low-interest disaster loans to help businesses and homeowners recover from declared disasters.

Businesses of all sizes located in declared disaster areas, like the Town of Cicero, private nonprofit organizations, homeowners, and renters affected by declared disasters, including civil unrest and natural disasters such as hurricanes, flooding, and wildfires.

A US SBA Disaster assistance loans come in many forms including loans to cover physical damage, mitigation assistance, economic injury disaster loans and military reservist loans. The loans would cover:

• Losses not covered by insurance or funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency for both personal and business
• Business operating expenses that could have been met had the disaster not occurred

Bilingual assistance will be available to assist business applicants.