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May 01, 2020

U.S. Congressman David Trone, Senator Ben Cardin Host COVID-19 Small Business and Nonprofits Resource Webinar with Thousands of Viewers

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Hannah Muldavin, Hannah.Muldavin@mail.house.gov

 

U.S. Congressman David Trone, Senator Ben Cardin Host COVID-19 Small Business and Nonprofits Resource Webinar with Thousands of Viewers

 

GAITHERSBURG, MD – U.S. Congressman David Trone (MD-06) hosted a business and nonprofits resource webinar yesterday with U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship. The duo was joined by a panel of experts from the U.S. Small Business Administration, the Maryland Department of Labor, the Maryland Department of Commerce, the Montgomery County Executive’s Office, and Maryland Nonprofits. 

The webinar comes after the passage of an interim emergency funding package last week to provide increased support for small businesses and nonprofits. The bill strengthened the Paycheck Protection Program with $310 billion in additional funding, $60 billion of which was reserved for community-based lenders. It also included $50 billion for SBA disaster lending, translating into more than $350 billion in loans and $10 billion in SBA disaster grants. The legislation also included provisions to help the nation’s farmers with grant and loan eligibility.

“I share the frustrations of our small business and nonprofit community, who are feeling the financial burden of this crisis and have run into roadblocks with state and federal programs,” said Congressman Trone. “I want to thank Senator Cardin and our state and federal partners for answering questions directly from our community today and helping to get answers and solutions to our business and nonprofit community. We need to make sure that those who need the funding most in our community are actually getting it.”

“Helping our small businesses and nonprofits survive COVID-19 will require coordination and cooperation among all levels of government,” said Senator Cardin. “I am grateful that Congressman Trone convened federal, state and local officials to help more Maryland small businesses and nonprofits navigate the resources available to them, including the Paycheck Protection Program and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan and Emergency Grants Program. We are facing unprecedented public health and economic crises, and it will take the full effort of government and the private sector working together to defeat COVID-19 and begin our economic recovery.”

Trone previously held a webinar on small business resources after the passage of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, at which time he also released his Small Business Owner’s Guide to the CARES Act.

 

Before becoming a member of Congress, Congressman Trone had experience running both a small business and a large organization with over 7,000 employees. 

The webinar featured presentations from:

U.S. Small Business Administration

  • Antonio Doss, District Director
  • Stephen Umberger, District Director

Maryland Department of Commerce

  • Kelly Schulz, Secretary

Maryland Department of Labor

  • Michael Harrison, Policy Director
  • Andrew Fulginiti, Policy Officer

Montgomery County County Executive’s Office

  • Jerome Fletcher, Assistant Chief Officer for Economic Development

Maryland Nonprofits

  • Heather Iliff, President and CEO

You can download the presentation deck and watch a replay of the webinar here.

 

Congressman David Trone was elected to the House of Representatives in November 2018 to serve the 6th District of Maryland, which includes all or part of Montgomery, Frederick, Washington, Allegany, and Garrett Counties. Trone serves on the Education and Labor, Foreign Affairs, and Joint Economic Committees, where he is fighting to make progress on issues that matter to Marylanders, including the opioid epidemic, criminal justice reform, and funding for medical research. 

 

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