SBA official to talk about small business relief today

A regional administrator with the U.S. Small Business Administration is expected to stop in El Dorado today as part of a tour to help small businesses navigate difficulties that have been caused by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

The meeting with Justin Crossie was originally set for Aug. 3 at the El Dorado-Union County Chamber of Commerce office but Crossie asked to reschedule the meeting due to a family emergency.

Crossie is expected to meet with a small group of chamber and city officials at 9 a.m. today.

The stop is part of a tour in the SBA’s South Central Region to advise communities about SBA tools and resources that are available to small businesses, many of which are facing financial hardships because of the public health crisis, and to solicit feedback from small business owners about their needs and how the SBA can better serve them.

The South Central Region covers more than 3.8 million small businesses in Arkansas, Louisiana, Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico.

Greg Modica, president of the chamber board of directors and a small business owner himself, said the Arkansas District

Office of the SBA reached out to him in late July about stopping in El Dorado.

Crossie initially requested a private meeting with Modica in the office of his business, Government Supply Services, an Internet-based company that specializes in office, technology, janitorial, industrial supplies and equipment.

With the community in mind and a firsthand awareness of economic challenges that have been posed by COVID19, Modica said he wanted to make sure the information would reach as many local business owners as possible and he thought the chamber of commerce would be the perfect conduit through which to raise awareness about the guidance and direction that is being offered by the SBA.

Modica worked with Bill Luther, chamber president and chief executive officer, to move the meeting with Crossie to the Chamber and to invite a handful of other civic and community leaders.

Modica also noted that while the group will be small, the Charles H. Murphy boardroom will provide enough space to practice social distancing.

“When they reached out to me, they told me that his (Crossie’s) route would come through El Dorado and they asked about a local small business owner that he could talk to about the SBA and about how we feel, as small business owners, about the current business environment with COVID going on, what we’ve experienced, how the SBA has done in terms of offering assistance and what they can do better right now,” Modica previously explained.

Modica is intimately familiar with available SBA resources.

Since launching GSS in 2009, he has taken advantage of a number of SBA programs that are designed to help small businesses, including financial assistance and business loans that have recently been made available because of COVID-19.

Modica has a longstanding relationship with the SBA and is a member of the inaugural class of the SBA’s Emerging Leadership Initiative (ELI) in Arkansas.

ELI is a training program that helps small-business startups launch and sustain operations.

Modica and LaQuita Rainey — owner and director of Elder House Adult Day Care Center and Complete Home Care, an in-home care business — are the only two business owners from south Arkansas to participate in the ELI program.

Several local businesses have applied for and received assistance from a federal, COVID relief stimulus package that was approved in the spring.

Assistance included the Payroll Protection Program, a loan that helped small businesses cover expenses, such as rent/mortgages, payroll, supplies and more, to help them remain in business.

Research has shown that many businesses around the country who applied for the assistance were denied due to errors in filling out forms and Modica said that is one of the issues he is hoping to discuss during today’s meeting with Crossie.

Modica also said billions of dollars remain in SBA coffers for another round economic stimulus help and he wants to make sure local businesses tap into those funds receive their fair share.