There is a lot of frustration among Grays Harbor small businesses impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, as owners try to navigate the limited and constantly changing federal relief that is available.

“People are concerned about saving employees’ jobs and their businesses in some cases,” said Grant Jones, Greater Grays Harbor Inc. Director of Business Development. “And the lack of certainty with the government funding is not making that any better.”

“And not knowing how long (Gov. Jay Inslee’s stay home) order will stay in place,” said Greater Grays Harbor Inc. CEO Dru Garson. “It’s hard to anticipate the duration of this, when they are going to get back to work.”

The regional chamber of commerce is doing its best to provide up-to-the-moment information to help assist local businesses struggling to stay alive during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We have a COVID-19 response page on our website,” said Jones. “We have tried to be very clear, only posting the most salient information for businesses to cut down on the information overload many business owners are experiencing right now.”

Garson said he and his staff are directing business owners to the website, https://graysharbor.org/business/covid-19-resources/, and providing “one-on-one” input to business owners, “trying to get as much information out as quickly as possible.”

There are several federal programs administered under the Small Business Administration (SBA) available for small businesses, but business owners are frustrated with the constantly changing specifics of what aid is available for businesses, for what purpose and how much money is involved.

“It’s important to note the SBA has been given a monumental task that just fell in their lap that goes way beyond anything this agency has ever been asked to do,” said Jones. For example, the SBA has provided disaster loans previously for hurricanes and other disasters. “That is for one state, maybe two,” said Jones. “Now the entire country is a disaster zone.”

The changing amounts of relief are creating frustration among business owners. Jones said in one case a program said businesses could apply for up to $2 million in funding, then came back and set a limit of $15,000.

“Another big one for example is the economic injury disaster loan. In March they said businesses could get a $10,000 advance to get money in their pockets sooner rather than later, and they said those would be available to all businesses,” said Jones. “That was not the case.” The demand was higher than anticipated and businesses have been waiting weeks for relief.

Another one is the paycheck protection program, launched April 3. The program is a loan designed to provide a direct incentive for small businesses to keep their workers on the payroll. The SBA will forgive loans if all employees are kept on the payroll for eight weeks and the money is used for payroll, rent, mortgage interest or utilities. The program is available through June 30.

“By about April 7, most local banks had to stop doing those because they had done as many as they could,” said Jones. “So if businesses didn’t apply immediately they missed out. Technically, it’s still available, but there is just over-subscription to all these programs.”

U.S. Rep. Derek Kilmer, D-Gig Harbor, is touting a bipartisan proposal to “significantly expand the Small Business Admiinistration’s Paycheck Protection Program to ensure that every qualified small business is able to access the critical assistance they need to retain their workforce and cover basic operating costs for the full duration of the unprecedented coronavirus pandemic.”

“Small businesses across our region are making critical decisions right now about whether to shut down or weather the storm of this pandemic. The Paycheck Protection Program is designed to help our main street employers keep folks on payroll and ensure working families have the support they need,” said Kilmer. “There is tremendous need in our communities to ensure this program is a success — so today we’re introducing a bipartisan plan to provide more help to these small businesses, increase access, and ensure this program is adequately funded for the immediate future.”

As the relief programs scramble to keep up with demand and the uncertainty persists, both Garson and Jones urge local businesses to continue to apply for the relief, the links to which are available on the Greater Grays Harbor website.

“I would say businesses should be applying and looking into programs on that list on our site, and also suggest they contact us to go through the different options,” said Jones. “We’re happy to help with finding the programs that would be best for their business.”

“That’s what we’re here for,” said Garson. “We’re happy to help folks and steer them in the right direction for resources or subject matter.”

Greater Grays Harbor has produced a number of webinars, available on their website and Facebook page, including one on how to best maintain a web and social media presence during the stay-at-home order, to remain visible to customers until the stay at home order is lifted.