Dawn Levian is the owner of Break Room Therapy in West Michigan. It’s a rage room; a place where people can come in releasing pent-up emotions by breaking stuff. With thousands of dollars owed in rent and no customers since Michigan’s March 23rd stay at home order, Levian can’t pay the bills.
“The order has been extended and now I don’t know when we are going to open and I understand the closure and I am behind it but at the same time as a small business owner its very scary.”
Levian reached out to her bank applying for a small business loan through the Paycheck Protection Program but her operation didn’t meet requirements.
“In an email which basically said that I am too small and they weren’t even going to bother looking at my business.”
Following the rejection from United Bank, she applied for a PPP loan through Paypal receiving $7,000 dollars.
“I mean, it wasn’t a lot but at the same time. It’s better than nothing considering the fact that I wasn’t going to get from other lenders.”
Last Thursday, the applications for the PPP program were halted because funds had ran out. While there are nearly 900,000 small businesses in the state, only 43,000 loans were approved according to Rob Scott. He’s the Great Lakes Regional Administrator for the U.S. Small Business Administration.
“For a grand total of $10,381,310,070 dollars. It’s a huge, huge, huge accomplishment.”
But for Michigan lawmakers, these numbers aren’t enough. On Sunday, nine Michigan lawmakers wrote a letter to the Small Business Administration expressing concerns over the low approval rate. Currently, Michigan ranks 2nd in the nation when it comes to the most unemployment claims filed during the pandemic, but ranks in 35th in SBA loans according to the letter from U.S. Representative Dan Kildee and Michigan Senators Debbie Stabenow and Gary Petters.