May 26, 2020 – As the State is beginning its reopening process, late last week the Governor announced a new state loan program, “New York Forward Loan Fund (NYFLF)”.  Per the Governor, the NYFLF is a new economic recovery loan program aimed at supporting New York State small businesses, nonprofits and small landlords as they reopen after the COVID-19 outbreak and NYS on PAUSE.  The NYFLF targets the state’s small businesses with 20 or fewer
full-time equivalent (FTE) employees (90% of all businesses), nonprofits and small landlords that have seen a loss of rental income.  The NYFLF is specifically timed to support businesses and organizations as they proceed to reopen and have upfront expenses to comply with guidelines (e.g., inventory, marketing, refitting for new social distancing guidelines) under the New York Forward Plan.

It is important to note the following as provided by the Governor’s website:

• Pre-applications for the New York Forward Loan Fund are now open.
  • Priority will be given to industries and regions that have been reopened.
• This is not a first-come, first-served loan program.
  • Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis as regions and industries reopen. The geographic proportionality goals for the New York Forward Loan Fund for small businesses are:
    • Capital Region 4%
    • Central NY Region 4%
    • Finger Lakes Region 4%
    • Hudson Valley Region 12%
    • Long Island Region 18%
    • Mohawk Valley Region 4%
    • NYC Region 30%
    • North Country Region 4%
    • Southern Tier Region 4%
    • Western NY Region 8%
• Small businesses and nonprofits must employ 20 or fewer full-time equivalent (FTE) employees;
• Small businesses must have gross revenues of less than $3 million per year;
• Nonprofits must provide direct services and have an annual operating budget of less than $3 million per year;
• Have not received a loan from either SBA Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) or SBA Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) for COVID-19 in 2020.
• The loans are not forgivable in part or whole.  The loans will need to be paid back over a 5-year term with interest.
• Small landlords will be targeted to owners with residential buildings of 50 units or less, and will prioritize loans for landlords whose properties are in low and moderate income census tracts or who serve low to moderate income tenants.

Five Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) will be processing pre-applications on June 1, 2020: Accion East, Community Preservation Corporation, National Development Council, Pursuit and TruFund Financial Services.

Click here for more information on how to apply.  To fill out a pre-application and match with a participating lender, please click here.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact our offices.