Downtown Alliance pledges $6m for WTC impacted firms.

The Alliance for Downtown New York and Seedco joined by Asian Americans for Equality/Henry Street Settlement (AAFE) have launched a $6 million program to assist small retail businesses and manufacturers in Lower Manhattan that were affected by the World Trade Center attack.

The program provides wage supplements, technical assistance, area-wide enhancements, grants, and low interest loans to employers with fewer than 50 workers located below Canal Street.

The Lower Manhattan Small Business and Workforce Retention. Project is being implemented by a newly formed partnership comprising two downtown business support organizations -- Alliance for Downtown New York and Asian Americans for Equality/Henry Street Settlement -- and Seedco, a national financial and technical assistance intermediary. The Alliance and AAFE will identify needy businesses in their communities, direct appropriate resources to them, and advocate on their behalf. Seedco will oversee distribution of the loan and grant funds, manage the wage subsidy component, and provide technical assistance.

"This comprehensive program will stem the decline that was set in motion by the disaster, so that businesses can remain viable until the local economy stabilizes and improves," said Carl Weisbrod, president of the Alliance for Downtown.

"We want to reach out to the over 1,500 retail and manufacturing businesses below Canal Street that employ low-wage workers and have been directly affected by the WTC atrocity," said William Grinker, president of Seedco. "These small businesses employ thousands of workers, and many of them cannot sustain themselves for more than a month or two without substantial help."

"Businesses in Chinatown are suffering due to a lack of commerce and tourism. With funding from this program, our local businesses will remain stable during these hard economic times," said Chris Kui, executive director of the AAFE.

Three kinds of services are available:

* Financial Assistance: Low-interest loans of up to $100,000 with terms between six months and three years are being offered.

Loans can be used for working capital or to bridge the gap before receipt of funding from other sources. Grants of up to $25,000 will be available for onetime costs not covered by insurance policies.

* Employment Retention /Wage Subsidies: Wage subsidies will be used to enable small businesses to continue to meet payroll and retain workers who otherwise would have to be laid off.

* Business Support Services: Small businesses will be eligible for free technical assistance support provided by Seedco and other pro-bono consultants.

Businesses will also be eligible for no cost area-wide services that include public relations and marketing and assistance negotiating the reduction of rent and utilities. Other area-wide services will be provided by temporary work crews comprised of recently displaced low-wage workers who will provide basic services (sanitation, maintenance, landscaping). This job creation effort will benefit both the workers, who will have continued employment, and the businesses that will need these services.

The terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 have had a severe impact on the more than 14,000 businesses and its 370,000 employees in Lower Manhattan. The area's aproximately 1,500 retailers and other s all businesses -- many of whom employ large numbers of low-wage worker -- felt the greatest impact. According to a recent Fiscal Policy Institute report, the World Trade Center attacks could ca se the loss of 108,500 jobs, a quarter of which are in the retail and manufacturing industries.

Approximately 80 percent of program funds will be targeted. to the businesses south of Chambers Street, Tribeca, and Battery Park City while 20 percent will focus on Chinatown and the Lower East Side.

The Project was established with support from The Ford Foundation, the September 11 Fund, the New York Times 9/11 Neediest Fund, the Department of Labor and from Seedco's existing loan fund.