NYC giving $1M in post-Sandy grants to small biz

[January 24, 2013]  NEW YORK (AP) -- Small businesses in New York City may be eligible for another $1 million in grants now available to help recover from Superstorm Sandy.

The city announced Wednesday that businesses could get grants of up to $5,000 each to make repairs or replace equipment damaged in the Oct. 29 storm. Three banks are contributing the money: Barclays is giving $500,000. Citibank and UBS are each donating $250,000.

The money is in addition to $5.5 million in grants from two nonprofit organizations, the Downtown Alliance and the Partnership for New York City, that were announced Nov. 24.

So far, most of the money available for businesses trying to recover from the storm has come in the form of low-interest loans from the government and money contributed by banks and other private companies. However, many business owners have said they do not want to take on additional debt.

Grant money has also come from local and regional fundraising efforts. In New York City, the natural gas utility National Grid is also giving small business grants of up to $250,000, or a total of $30 million.

Sandy caused an estimated $19 billion in damage to homes and businesses in the city. All told, the storm caused an estimated $62 billion in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states. It's not known how much damage was suffered by small businesses.

For more information, call 311 in New York City or go to www.nyc.gov/nycbusiness.

[Associated Press]

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