Mayor W. Reed Gusciora and Greater Trenton Announce Loan Program to Help Businesses Fund Operations and Retain Jobs

Trenton, N.J. — Mayor W. Reed Gusciora today announced a strategic partnership with Greater Trenton, Inc., a nonprofit organization that supports economic revitalization. The new Businesses Helping Businesses program will provide 2% interest loans of up to $20,000 with generous repayment terms to help businesses in Trenton cover expenses, including payroll, rent, mortgage payments and utility costs.

“The COVID-19 public-health emergency has had a profound economic impact on our city’s business community and our local economy, interrupting employment, devastating balance sheets, and causing deep uncertainty for the future,” said Mayor Gusciora. “This loan program is designed to be an accessible lifeline to city businesses that are in need of inexpensive, quick capital to restore their operations, retain employees, and begin to regain normalcy.”

Trenton city-based businesses eligible for a Businesses Helping Businesses loan can get up to $20,000 from the program at a rate of 2% to be repaid over a five-year period. Participating businesses do not owe a payment or interest for the first year of the five-year term. Loan repayment begins in installments in year two and continues for 48 months.

Business owners can apply for a Businesses Helping Businesses loan and learn more about eligibility requirements online at www.trentonnj.org/businesshelp. Eric Maywar, the city’s business ombudsman, is available to answer questions about the program at (609) 989-3529.

The loan program is funded in part by Greater Trenton, a nonprofit group that uses private funding and a network of collaborative relationships to advance economic revitalization efforts in Trenton. In addition to commitments from Greater Trenton board member organizations including Wells Fargo Foundation, Bristol Myers Squibb Foundation, Investors Bank, NJM Insurance Group, and Princeton University, support also comes from organizations of all sizes throughout the region including Trenton Downtown Association, New Jersey Business & Industry Association (NJBIA), Trenton Corrugated Products, Inc., Princeton Regional Chamber of Commerce, and NJ Realtors.

Greater Trenton CEO George Sowa says that the nonprofit, which was founded in 2015 and uses private funding and a network of relationships to advance economic revitalization efforts in the state’s capital city, welcomes the new alliance with the Gusciora administration to help businesses operating within the city’s 7.5 square miles.

“We are thrilled to partner with the city and support this important effort to help small businesses recover and retain jobs during these exceptionally difficult times,” said Mr. Sowa. “We quickly pivoted to create the loan program, bringing together organizations of all sizes to help Trenton businesses and residents. This initiative is part of Greater Trenton’s core mission to build on the city’s strengths, create equitable opportunities, build and sustain economic revitalization and create a bright economic future for the people of Trenton.”

“We already created a loan program to help businesses located within the city’s Urban Enterprise Zone,” noted Mayor Gusciora. “Businesses Helping Businesses casts a wider net and is available to all businesses operating in the city that meet the program’s eligibility requirements.”

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