 Hello, my name is Valentina Habermann, I am your sit-in for today for Barbara Marisol, and I am with the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Board Member. And today we have a special guest. Her name is Elizabeth Vargas, and she is with the Small Business Administration of the United States. I'm going to hand over the mic to her so she can introduce herself and our topic of discussion today. Ms. Elizabeth? Thank you, Valentina. It's a pleasure to be here to share the SBA Law Interest Program for people that were affected by the wildfires in Maui. Thank you. And just for a little background information, Ms. Elizabeth, can you just kind of give us how long you've been in Hawaii and with SBA, and just a little bit more of how this program was formed? Yes. Well, my name is Elizabeth Vargas, and I am a Public Information Officer. We have been here since, I believe, a couple of days after the wildfires, right the day that the president signed a disaster declaration, a major disaster declaration for Maui. And we are here, along with PIMA and all the federal agencies that open their resources for the Maui residents. Awesome. Thank you. I know that the damages and the death toll, they're still in counting, and we just want to give our energy and our good thoughts to those there and Maui and those who have been affected, not only in Maui, throughout the islands and throughout the nation with family and friends and associates in the area. So our hearts go out to you. And we are very happy, Ms. Elizabeth, for you sharing about this program, about the programs that the SBA has developed and put together to help those in need. So let's get into it. I know just to break down our agenda, we'll go over some programs. And Ms. Elizabeth, if you kindly would, elaborate them also in Spanish for those of our listeners who Spanish is their first language, you could kind of do that, we would greatly appreciate that. So I know that there are different types of programs. Can you kind of give us a basis of who these programs are for? Yes, of course. Well, the program is one, it's a disaster loan program for everyone that had damages. The SBA offers low interest loans. These are assistance in a disaster for every anyone. And these are for homeowners, renters, non-profit organizations and businesses of any site. And I'm going to say now in Spanish a little briefing of what I have said. Good afternoon. My name is Elizabeth Vargas, I'm a lawyer of the Federal Administration of Small Businesses, SBA, for its years in English. We are here this afternoon to give you an introduction about the loan program that the SBA offers for people who were affected by the fires of MAWI that occurred in the 8th of April. So you talked about the different types of programs and you said renters, you said business owners and homeowners. Let's break it down. Can we talk about the program specifically designed for renters? What can you tell me about that? Yes, renters, anyone that was renting a home for an apartment and they suffered losses because of the wildfires, either they know the total of their home or part of it, SBA offers loans for up to $100,000 to replace or repair their personal property. This may include furniture, their clothing, anything that was inside their home and also their car. If they had a vehicle that was parked and it was damaged or destroyed by the wildfires, they can include these and these type of loans that they are eligible for. So it's up to $100,000. The interest rates can be as low as 2.5% and these are for a fixed 30-year term. So it is important that everyone knows that renters are also included in this type of assistance that SBA offers. Anything that was inside their home, their personal property, they can get a loan for this so they can either buy them or repair them. Great. Okay. So this is designed specifically for renters. And just to reiterate, you had mentioned that the interest rate for this 30-year fixed loan, correct? It's a fixed term. It is a fixed term. And it starts at 2.5%, correct? 2.5%, 95% of the people will get this low interest rate. Great. Thank you. In Spanish, please. Sure. Great. Thank you. I do also want to share is that at the end of our show we will have the locations in which each individual can go to seek more assistance, more information, and even apply online. So we'll get that a little later, that information a little later. So moving on, I know that you also had mentioned that the Small Business Administration provides business loans and also loans for non-profits. Can we go into those details as what is covered and also the amounts as well? Yes. Before that, I think I should go over the home owners. Oh, okay. Great. Thank you. Home owners can get up to $500,000 to repair or replace their personal home if they were living in a home and they lost everything. They can get up to $500,000 to repair the home or just to rebuild it and also they can get the other type of loans for personal property as the renters, $100,000. So a total of $600,000 if they are eligible for the total amount of each of these loans. So they probably also lost their furniture, anything, maybe their car, so they can get the $500,000 to repair or rebuild their home and $100,000 for their personal property. And these loans are the same interest rate as low as 2.5% for a fixed term of 30 years. Okay, 30 years. Would you mind translating that in Spanish as well for our audience? Yes. The owners or owners of a house can get up to $500,000 to repair or rebuild their home. If you lost your home, you can get a loan of up to $500,000 to rebuild or rebuild or fix the part that burned or was damaged. Also, you can get up to $100,000 to repair your personal property. This can be the furniture, the clothes, your car, anything that you have lost. The loans for the owners of a house or property owner are 2.5% for a fixed term of 30 years. Great. Thank you. So just to summarize, there are two different programs. All for those affected in Maui for damage. One is for renters for personal property, and the other one is for homeowners to repair or replace their residents. And homeowners can also avail the renter program for personal property in addition to their home loan, correct? That is correct. And something very important, all the loans have a one-year deferment. No interest accrues and no payments are due until 12 months after their first disbursement. So they have about a year for no payments and no interest so they can recover from the disaster. Oh, that's great. Thank you. Okay. So those again, that's for renters and homeowners on Maui. Okay. Moving on now, we'll move on to businesses and nonprofits and what the programs that the SBA has developed specifically for them. Yes. SBA offers low interest loans, business loans, or for nonprofits also for physical damage. So if anyone had a business and it was destroyed, they can get up to $2 million to rebuild, to repair or replace their machinery, anything that was in their business inventory, anything that they had that they lost. So they can get up to $2 million businesses and nonprofit organizations. The interest rate for businesses can be as low as 4% and for nonprofit organizations 2.375% the term is up to 30 years and again, they have a one year deferment. No interest, no payments for 12 months after their first disbursement. Awesome. Would you translate that in Spanish as well? Yes, for para los negocios, los dueños de negocio o los propietarios de una organización businesses, GroupA and P candles. That is what makes these businesses so interesting, so ser finables de الص Gefخت tightly put, or at a cost of precious to do what other businesses spare their history in general you always look but turn to that tiene que comenzar a parar su presto. Great, thank you. You know, we had a couple of questions in regards to reading over these programs and we're hoping that you can maybe provide some clarity or at least provide us guidance as to who to ask our questions to. So those in Maui, as we know, things were just taken from them in an instant. So when you say renters, homeowners and even these nonprofits and businesses, when everything has been destroyed, how are they to fabricate their list maybe of itemized lists? Is there, do they, are they required documentation and then what is the process to apply for such loan? Well, the first thing I will recommend everyone to go to one of our centers. We are at a disaster recovery center that FEMA and the state passed in Maui and then we have business recovery centers in Maui, Honolulu, Kauai and the big island in Kona. So if they go there, we have customer service representatives that will help them and we'll see what they need. And we also have our resource partners that is the Small Business Development Center, SBDC, that there is one locally in each of the islands. They can go to them if they need to create some documents that they lost or if they need to maybe make some projections, they will help them, projections of their business to make sure or if SBA request some documents that they don't have, they can go to the SBDC and they will help them. There is no cost for these services and they will also help them to assess their damages to make a plan for the future because we know some of them are going to be, well, they are probably overwhelmed and they don't know what the next step will be for them so they can guide them. And it is important for them to either go to one of our centers or call their local SBDC, Small Business Development Centers. They are our resource partners and they will work with any business owner that needs them. Okay, so yeah, that was something that we wanted to put out there which was that there is support to help them understand what list of items they will need to supply to apply for the loan and furthermore, the SBDC now will be able to help them fabricate these documents and come up with their list. So they're not on their own. And you said each island has a location, one on Maui as well. Okay, and we'll also provide the county information at the end of the show. Great, thank you. Okay, and you had told our organization that now there are extended programs for those who are not just in Maui but who have suffered economic injury as well throughout the island. So can we talk about that a little bit more? What is this new program? When was this started? And maybe just kind of go over the parameters for that as well. Yes, while the economic injury disaster laws have been available from the beginning of the disaster for the Maui business owners and non-profit organizations but it was extended, I believe a couple of weeks later it was extended to the other islands because we know that not only the businesses in Maui suffer also the other islands they might have since dropped or they might have clients in Maui that are not working right now or suppliers, anything like that they can get a loan for economic injury. And the businesses and non-profits in Maui can get up to $2 million for physical damage and also for economic injury. It can be a combination of both. So whatever they have for physical damage and another part can be for economic injury. Any income that they are losing right now because either they're closed or their business was destroyed they can get also a loan. The interest rates again are the same as physical damage for businesses as low as 4% for non-profit 2.375% and for a term up to 30 years. Now, as you said at the extended aid for the other islands is only for economic injury. So if any other any business in the big island in Kauai, Honolulu have losses due to the wildfires they can request or they can apply for a loan for up to $2 million for any expenses. These are working capital loans that they can use to either pay their lease, their mortgage, utilities, vendor payments, credit cards from the business, anything that are their usual expenses for the business. Working capital loans, that's what these are, the economic injury loans. The interest rate again are as low as 4% for businesses, 2.375% for non-profit organizations and the term is up to 30 years. So it is very important to emphasize that the whole state is eligible for economic injury disaster law. Okay, and that's a good one. Yes, the whole state. And so again, you said that these are for business obligations to include payroll, right? All right. Operating expenses, their lease, mortgage, a utilities overhead. Okay, and accounts payables as well, debts out, okay? Yeah, yeah, these are working capital loans to help them pay for their obligations until the normal operations resume, you know, that through the disaster period because we know it will take months if not longer for the economy to get back to normal. And is there a one year deferment on these economic injury program as well? It is correct. We have the same 12 months from your first disbursement. That's when you need to start paying back your loan. Great. Could you go ahead and translate that tidbit for us in Spanish, please? Yes, of course. Bueno, los negocios y las organizaciones y fines de lucro también pueden ser elegibles para préstamos por pérdidas económicas. Estos préstamos son de capital circulante. Si su negocio está en Maui, usted puede solicitar un préstamo por daños físicos y también por pérdidas económicas. Porque si usted está cerró su negocio o se destruyó su negocio, entonces no está teniendo ingresos. Usted puede solicitar un préstamo hasta de dos millones de dólares para recuperarse del desastre para parar sus obligaciones financieras de su negocio o de su organización y fines de lucro o una combinación de los dos en el caso de Maui. En las otras islas, que sería Kauai, Big Island, la isla grande de Kauai y Honolulu, puede usted solicitar un préstamo por pérdidas económicas. Si usted tenía clientes en Maui o algún suplidor o algún tipo de negocio y está teniendo pérdidas o simplemente sus ventas bajaron, usted puede solicitar un préstamo de hasta dos millones de dólares. Los intereses pueden ser tan bajos como 4% por un periodo de un término del préstamo de hasta 30 años y además va a tener 12 meses que no se acumula los intereses del préstamo y no tiene que hacer ningún pago hasta 12 meses después de su primer dinero que recibe del primer desembolso de la ESB. Great, thank you. And really to reiterate this economic injury, the business can be based out of Honolulu. Can be based out of Kauai, correct? That maybe clientele or employees or some type of relation to Maui, correct? It is correct. Okay, awesome, great. Okay, great, thank you. And can you provide us the deadlines which is when did it open and then when is the last day to apply? Yes, for the presidential declaration we have 60 days from the date of the declarations. So in this case it was declared, I believe August 10th and it is the deadline for apply for physical damage only physical damage that will be the Maui residence if the deadline is October 10th. Oh, so I will invite everyone to fill out the application. That is something important for everyone to know. If you are approved for the loan, you are not obligated to take the loan. You can either take less money, if you need more money, we can work with you and see if you consider you need more money, we can work with you too. But it is very important in the case of homeowners and renters, the way it works, they register in Maui, they register with FEMA and then if they get referred to SBA they must fill out their application because if we cannot approve them alone we might send them back in most cases we send them back to FEMA for the other type of help or the type of assistance that FEMA may have for them. So it is very important for everyone that is referred to SBA in the case of renters and homeowners to fill out the SBA application. And if we can approve them alone they are not obligated to take the loan. They have six months from the date of their approval to decide if they need or take the loan. And the deadline for economic injury is until next year that will be May 10th of 2024. And why is this? Because we know some businesses at the beginning they will try to use their resources to keep in business or to reopen but in the long run they might find themselves struggling for capital and working capital and that's when they will go to SBA. So they have all to May 10th of next year. So can you translate that in Spanish as well? The deadlines are and the fact that they don't have to accept the loan as well would be very helpful. La pecha limita para solicitar un préstamo por daños físicos si usted es un dueño de una propiedad de una casa o un inquilino que renta una propiedad usted debe de registrarse con FEMA la Agencia Federal de Emergencias y si FEMA lo refiere a SBA por favor llene su solicitud porque si nosotros no podemos aprobarle un préstamo podemos referirlo de nuevo en la mayoría de los casos a FEMA y ellos tienen o pudieran tener otro tipo de beneficios para usted. Entonces es muy importante que llene su solicitud de préstamo con la SBA. La fecha límite para estos préstamos es el 10 de octubre. Entonces no espere, no tenga miedo a llenar su solicitud porque si usted es aprobado no está obligado a tomar el préstamo. Para los negocios y las organizaciones y fines de lucro para préstamos por perdidas económicas o daños económicos usted tiene hasta mayo 10 del 2024. Todavía tienes el año que entrar porque sabemos que algunas veces los negocios pues tratan de usar su propio dinero pero tal vez en un par de meses o un poco más puedan tener problema no tener suficiente capital y entonces pueden acudir a la SBA también. Thank you. Thank you so much. Well thank you for joining us and sharing this information. We are here to help disseminate and help those in our sphere as well as those connected to us, our family friends and our business associates. So we're very thankful for your time Ms. Elizabeth and the support of the SBA. Thank you again. Please stay tuned after this interview. We'll also have the information as to where you can go to reach out for resources for more information about this program. Thank you Elizabeth it was such a pleasure. It is a pleasure. Thank you.