SBA Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program

The Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) and Baker-Polito Administration are working closely with the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) to activate the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program which would provide assistance to eligible businesses and non-profits impacted by COVID-19.

The first step in this process is to meet a minimum threshold of affected businesses within Massachusetts and provide this information to the SBA with a formal request for activation of the EIDL within the Commonwealth. To do this, MEMA posted an online survey tool to collect economic loss data from small businesses across the state. Small businesses were asked to complete the survey and return it to MEMA . The response through Monday March 16, 2020 has been overwhelming and thanks to all the small businesses who participated. At this time, MEMA has collected enough small business loss data to prepare a request for EIDL to be submitted by Governor Baker to the SBA. They are no longer collecting Small Business economic loss surveys and are now in the process of assisting the Governor with requesting the SBA EIDL program.

EIDL offers Massachusetts businesses who are experiencing hardships resulting from the COVID-19 outbreak access up to $2M in emergency loan capital with rates capped at 3.75%. They are currently working with the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) to activate the EIDL program. They will update the page when the program formally opens. You can learn more about the SBA’s response to COVID-19 here.

Once activated, all small businesses within affected counties will become eligible to apply directly through the SBA. Businesses who did not fill out the initial survey remain eligible to apply once the program is activated. In addition, businesses who did fill out the initial survey will still need to apply for the EIDL program through SBA..