Assemblyman Ryan Peters and Assemblywoman Jean Stanfield seeking assistance from residents through email campaign to Governor Murphy’s office

Help demand remaining CARES Act money goes to grants and loans to save small businesses

Dear Residents,

We are reaching out to you to request your support in helping us fight for our small-business community. Perhaps no one has been affected financially more from the coronavirus pandemic than our men and women who own and operate small businesses and the people they employ. Government mandates have forced them to shut down for months or operate at limited capacity, which has made reaching necessary profit margins to operate all but impossible.

Our business community has been responsible in doing everything they can to keep the virus from spreading in their establishments and should be lauded as heroes for putting their all behind this fight, but they can’t continue to do it on their own. If our state is going to mandate that they close or operate at a certain capacity, then the leader in charge of those mandates should be doing everything he or she can to see to it that these small businesses are provided with the tools to pay their employees and have the funds to remain stable. Help us send a message to Governor Phil Murphy to achieve this.

There is still about $200 million left in federal CARES Act funding. That money has to be spent before the New Year and should be allocated to the very people being affected most by mandates.

We’ve provided a sample message that you can send to the Governor’s office by following the instructions below. Your voices can make a difference. Please make your voices heard for the good of all small businesses in New Jersey. If we don’t act now, people will continue to lose the businesses they poured their blood, sweat and tears into establishing.

Thank you for your time and advocacy for our business community.

Sincerely,

Assemblyman Ryan Peters & Assemblywoman Jean Stanfield

To send a message of support, follow the directions below:

1). Click on https://www.nj.gov/governor/contact/

2). Select Business on E-mail Topic Drop Down Menu

3). Insert Personal Contact Info on Online Form

4). In Email Subject Line Write: Please Release the Remaining CARES Act money to fund small business grants and loans

5). Cut and Paste Message Below in Text Box (personalize if you wish)

Dear Governor Phil Murphy,

I am reaching out to you on behalf of the thousands of small business owners and employees in New Jersey to request any remaining CARES Act funding goes to grants and loans to help keep our Main Street community alive. There is still about $200 million in funding left with less than one month to go before the December 30 deadline to allocate CARES Act funding. However, small businesses should not have to wait another day for relief.

The women and men who run our local eateries, shops and markets put their whole lives behind building businesses that provide jobs for our communities and form the backbones of our towns. They are now facing extreme financial hardship with many being forced to close for good, through no fault of their own.

Nearly all of our small businesses have been responsible and done what society and our government has asked of them in order to protect people and keep the virus from spreading, but they can’t shoulder this burden on their own. Since they are being mandated to close or operate at certain capacities, their government should have their backs and provide the funding to help them get through this.

I know your office has introduced various grant and loan programs to aid small businesses, and I thank you for that. However, the time to empty the tank is now. Everyday that passes is another potential business closure. We must release the rest of the CARES Act money to our mom and pop businesses and fast.

Please see to it that the remaining federal government funding is allocated to the New Jersey Economic Development Authority in the form of grant and loan programs to small businesses. New Jersey will never be the same if we lose the restaurants, shops and businesses that make our towns unique. We must do everything we can to save them.

Thank you for your time.