First Presbyterian Church Houston in the heart of one of the the oil patches conducted a webinar on April 21 for advice how to get help for small businesses through the Small Business Association during the COVID crisis. We had a financial planner, attorney, CPA and small business owner discuss what options are out there for a small business owner, self-employed person, etc. Who is eligible, where to get forms, how to prepare if a second round of money is made available (which will hopefully be signed soon!). Our COVID-Cares team has been working on it for a while.
Folks that are royalty owners exclusively are not eligible as that is considered investment income, but it may be useful for folks that are members of the forum that have their own small businesses or are independent contractor or self-employed and are just befuddled by whole process of applying for PPP or the other SBA options. It was presented in the format of our church members who have been given God’s talents sharing with the community what their experience has been and giving encouragement in this time of stress. Round two money is pending, so get your paperwork in quickly. One of my takeaways was that having a personal relationship with a bank is helpful and some of the smaller banks and credit unions were easier to work with than some of the big banks-at least for the first round.
I am attaching the link to the webinar. If the link does not work, then look up First Presbyterian Church Houston and look for it on their website. Hope this is timely and encouraging for many of you. Houston, like other oil patch areas, is getting hit by the double whammy of the health crisis and oil price drops.
Link to the forms available as of April 21.