Grace Harper started her real estate business with her husband 27 years ago in Jackson, Mississippi. Now a widow, she’s been pouring her earnings back into her business. But since the coronavirus hit, some of her renters lost their jobs and can’t pay her. Meanwhile, air conditioning units still need fixing. Hot water heaters need replacing. And she can’t afford to pay the contractors she would normally hire.
“What I have coming in is just really limited right now,” she said.
Meanwhile, the process of applying for the financial relief opportunities designed for small businesses has been, as Harper put it, “flat-out ridiculous.” She finds herself navigating a maze of paperwork with little help from banks and potential lenders.
“It’s very difficult when you don’t know all the proper stuff that needs to be done for the money to be allocated to you,” she said. “I’m just so frustrated right now.”
Searching for step-by-step guidance, she’s found some relief in working with Jackson State University’s Small Business Development Center, which is helping her develop low-budget marketing strategies.
The center, based at the local historically Black college, is counseling owners like Harper who have been impacted by COVID-19.
Affiliated with the U.S. Small Business Administration, the university’s Small Business Development Center is one of a network of centers like it across the country, established in 1981.
