Emergency loan program created.

The Regional Economic Development Assistance Corporation has created a new emergency loan program for businesses that have not received World Trade Center disaster relief loans from other sources, said Joan Bartolomeo, president of the Brooklyn Economic Development Corporation, which manages the loan program.

Emergency loans of up to $20,000 are available at 5% interest rate to businesses that employ fewer than 10 people, and are located below 14th Street or had at least 50% of their business activity from clients located below 14th Street as of Sept. 11, 2001.

Although businesses that have already obtained disaster loans are ineligible, businesses that have received disaster grant money are eligible for the emergency loans. In addition, loan recipients will receive an $800 grant if they attend one of BEDC's technical assistance workshops.

To date, the Regional Economic Development Assistance Corporation has closed on two of the new emergency loans, including Olga's Salon & Spa and Megamorphosis, Inc.

"We are working in partnership with the Manhattan Borough Development Corporation to identify businesses hurt by the World Trade Center disaster that have not received loan assistance," Bartolomeo said. "The new emergency loan program is funded by grants from the Deutsche Bank Americas Foundation and J.P. Morgan Chase Foundation, and was created after area banks asked nonprofits how they could help businesses that didn't fit the criteria for traditional loans."

The new loan program is being offered in addition to the, disaster relief loans of $5,000 to $25,000 that the Regional Economic Development Assistance Corporation began offering immediately following the attacks. By August 2002, the agency had made 22 disaster loans totaling $215,000 to 21 small businesses.