- 2020-10-21
- ROI-NJ Op-Ed
Last week, Gov. Phil Murphy announced to a room full of New Jersey’s political elite that he was releasing $112 million in CARES Act funding.
The governor said a significant portion of these grants would be targeted to help small businesses survive the ongoing COVID-19-related slowdown of the state’s economy.
- 2020-10-19
The New Jersey Chamber of Commerce opposes legislation (S-2902/A-4402) which would impose a new tax on financial transactions, such as electronic stock trades, that flow through major data centers in New Jersey.
Simply put, the tax could backfire on New Jersey. The mere discussion of this tax has caused several stock exchanges to begin exploring moving their data centers out of New Jersey – to states that don’t impose such a tax. Last month, the New York Stock Exchange, which has a data center in Mahwah, N.J., said it ran one of its exchanges from a back-up data center in Chicago to demonstrate its readiness to move out of New Jersey. Two other exchange operators, Nasdaq Inc. and Cboe Global Markets Inc., also indicated that they would leave New Jersey over the tax. If New Jersey loses data centers, the state would actually be looking at less revenue and less jobs.
- 2020-10-12
- ROI-NJ
The rules and regulations for applying for forgiveness of Paycheck Protection Program loans continue to befuddle small business owners in New Jersey — and the banks that processed them.
Late Friday, the U.S. Small Business Administration released what it is calling a simpler application process for those who got loans of less than $50,000.
- Click here to view the simpler loan forgiveness application.
- Click here to view the instructions for completing the simpler loan forgiveness application.
- Click here to view the Interim Final Rule on the simpler forgiveness process for loans of $50,000 or less.
- 2020-10-09
- ROI-NJ
The New Jersey Economic Development Authority announced on Friday that more than 20,000 businesses in the state have been approved for COVID-19 relief since the start of the pandemic in mid-March.
In total, the EDA approved 20,073 businesses for more than $74.2 million worth of grants, low-cost grants, partnerships with investors and Community Development Financial Institutions, and technical assistance programs.
The EDA also has lists of which companies and nonprofits got grants — and for how much.
Be warned: The list is 492 pages long. And that’s just for phase 2 of the program.
The good news: The list is broken down by county – and then by municipality in each county. So, it’s easy to see who benefited in your town and/or county
Click here to see which companies got grants during Phase 2 of the program.
Click here to see which companies got grants during Phase 1 of the program.
“(Gov. Phil) Murphy has made supporting small businesses a central focus of our state’s response to the COVID-19 crisis, and the NJEDA team has worked tirelessly to support these 20,000 businesses at a time when that help is so badly needed,” NJEDA CEO Tim Sullivan said. “The economic impact of this pandemic is extraordinary and ongoing – and our efforts to do all we can to support small businesses must continue as well.”
A breakdown of the distribution to date:
- Small Business Emergency Assistance Grant Program, which provides grants to small businesses impacted by the pandemic. So far, 19,166 small businesses have been approved for grants $56.8 million with an average grant size of $3,000;
- Small Business Emergency Assistance Loan Program, which provides working capital loans of up to $100,000 to businesses with less than $5 million in revenues. So far, 133 businesses were approved for grants worth a total of $9.12 million.
- CDFI Initiative, a partnership between the EDA and six New Jersey-based CDFIs to provide low-cost financing to small and microbusinesses. So far, 258 loans worth a total of $6.07 million have been approved.
- NJ Entrepreneur Support Program, which encourages continued capital flows to new companies by providing 80% loan guarantees for working capital loans to entrepreneurs. So far, this program has supported investments into 12 companies with $1.84 million in guarantees.
- Technical assistance: The department has partnered with the African American Chamber of Commerce of New Jersey, the Statewide Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of New Jersey, the New Jersey State Veterans Chamber of Commerce and Rising Tide to provide assistance to 447 businesses that that are applying to federal Small Business Administration support.
- Free business consulting on Opportunity Zones for microbusinesses and training on e-commerce solutions for retail and restaurants. So far, 57 businesses are participating.
- 2020-10-08
- ROI-NJ
‘The issue is, we get people of color and ethnicity and gender in, but we don't have a culture that's welcoming’
Ralph Thomas still remembers walking into meetings when he was at Citbank. He was greeted warmly – but usually with a look.
- 2020-09-30
Congratulations to our Board member John Harmon who placed No. 1 on “ROI-NJ’s Top Influencer: People of Color” list, which ROI-NJ newspaper published this week.
- 2020-09-25
The New Jersey Chamber of Commerce congratulates Marjorie Perry, president and CEO of MZM Construction & Management, on receiving the 2020 Women Business Enterprise Award of Excellence today.
Marjorie is an inspiration. Raised in Newark, she rose – through hard work, talent and persistence – to become the top executive at Newark-based MZM, and she has grown the company into a thriving multimillion dollar enterprise.
- 2020-09-24
When Gov. Murphy originally proposed his so-called 'millionaires tax,' he said it was designed to close a revenue gap in the budget.
However, last week, the governor announced that the revenue generated by this new tax would be spent in the form of rebates which families would receive just before the governor and members of the Legislature stand for reelection in 2021. The New Jersey Chamber of Commerce said at the time that politics had eclipsed good fiscal management.
- 2020-09-23
- nj1015.com
New Jersey business leaders say they were not consulted by Gov. Phil Murphy or the legislature prior to announcing details of a budget deal they say will cost New Jersey jobs and result in more businesses closing.
Tom Bracken, president of the New Jersey State Chamber of Commerce, calls the budget “shameful” and “out of touch with reality.”
- 2020-09-17
Just what the most overtaxed state in the country needs. More taxes during an economic downturn.
Today’s fiscal 2021 budget announcement by Gov. Murphy and state legislative leaders clearly shows that again politics wins out over sound fiscal planning and management in Trenton.