Help Our Small Businesses Survive COVID-19

New York is hurting and the health and economic impacts of COVID-19 are hitting our low-income and immigrant communities especially hard. In times of crisis, including during 9/11 and Hurricane Sandy, AAFE has responded swiftly to meet the needs of our most vulnerable community members. We’re doing it again through the coronavirus pandemic, helping people file for unemployment benefits, aiding our tenants and seniors and stepping in with emergency funding for small businesses on the brink. 

While AAFE has always been a “first responder” when disaster strikes, our vital work on behalf of marginalized and neglected communities takes place across New York City every single day. We hope you will take a few moments to watch our new video, featuring a small business owner in Brooklyn, participants in our digital literacy lab and a resident of One Flushing, our new 100% affordable building in Queens. These members of AAFE’s extended family speak powerfully about the impact of our programs, but just as important, about what people can accomplish when they’re armed with the tools to succeed. 

For more than 20 years, AAFE has been dedicated to empowering immigrant entrepreneurs. But today our essential small businesses are engaged in a desperate fight to overcome an unprecedented economic disaster. We urge you to join our campaign to help them survive.

About AAFE’s Emergency Small Business Relief Loan Fund: AAFE’s affiliate, Renaissance Economic Development Corporation, created a special loan fund to help small businesses come back from COVID-19. There has been overwhelming demand from businesses, who cannot wait for government assistance to arrive. Renaissance closed the first loan just days after the fund was established in mid-March and has been delivering emergency funding to small business owners every day since that time. Your support will increase our capacity to help more endangered businesses, giving them a fighting chance to survive this  crisis.