SBA leader taking care of business throughout region
The 12- and 14-hour workdays have ended, but there isn’t much leisure time for Dr. Kelly Hunt and her staff.
“It’s been a busy few months,” said Hunt, district director for U.S. Small Business Administration, U.S. Air Force veteran, grandmother, Centerville native. Her Pittsburgh district, based downtown, oversees small businesses in 27 Western Pennsylvania counties, including Washington, Greene, Fayette and Westmoreland.
“We have a very large footprint,” she said of an area.
In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, her mission and that of her staff is to provide relief to regional businesses, financially and otherwise.
“We help people get PPP (Payment Protection Program) loans, get their applications together,” she said. “We have counseling and training.”
And town halls. A lot of town halls, many with members of Congress.
Her office, to which she commutes in better times, said on its website it also “is committed to forming a closer partnership with lenders and with the community at large.”
Like many, Hunt and her staff are working remotely. She resides in Scenery Hill with her husband, Terry, who was temporarily out of work during the pandemic. He owns a construction company, Titan Property Development, a single-member LLC specializing in kitchens and baths. It was shuttered for a while, but has reopened.
“Loan programs were there to help during (the closure),” Kelly said.
Terry wasn’t the only family member whose operation was disrupted. Kelly’s father, Mel Lacey, a mechanic, owns Lacey’s Auto and Truck Repair in Centerville, which likewise had to shut down, affecting him and his three employees. The shop later reopened and is operating.
Realizing businesses have been reeling and closing, Kelly freely admits, “has been heartbreaking. Every time the phone would ring, it was an owner saying the business has been in the family for two generations but had to let his best people go. It was heartbreaking. You know what they’re go through.
“This situation has been really hard. One of our objectives is to get businesses open, get them running. Some of them will have to come up with different ways to stay in the game.”
She advises small businesses that federal loan money is still available. The SBA’s PPP program, which has disbursed more than $500 billion to businesses nationwide, has about $100 billion remaining, but will be closed soon – June 30.
“People say it’s too late to get a PPP loan, but this is the best time to get one,” Hunt said. “You can get two and a half times your average payroll costs (and use the money) to pay employees and for utilities. And it can be 100% forgiven.”
Then Monday, the federal SBA reopened the portal for its Economic Injury Disaster Loan and EIDL Advance program to eligible applicants. This came about a month after SBA closed it to new applicants – except agriculture-related firms.
The program offers long-term, low-interest assistance for small businesses and nonprofits, with a cap of $150,000.
Being a district director has kept Hunt busy in the six years she has been in charge. She took a somewhat circuitous route to this position, a route that was enlightening, interesting and instilled leadership qualities. She was in the military for nine years, as a security officer. While on duty in England, she met her future spouse. They had three children, now all adults, who have four children of their own.
Kelly also was a professor at California University of Pennsylvania, where she helped to create the Entrepreneurial Leadership Center and Student Incubator, and was a development specialist with Southwestern Pennsylvania Commission. Along the way, she earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees and, most recently, a doctorate in organizational leadership.
Now small business is her business, and with Southwestern Pennsylvania having moved into the green phase, there is hope in a region that, pandemic-wise, has fared much better than many. Yet she is wary. This is not over.
“People talk about a second wave, and that’s the last thing businesses want to hear,” she said. “We don’t know what’s going to happen. We’ve been through three months of this and seen some recovery.
“This is a time that our businesses need our support,” Hunt said, referring in this instance to support from the community, other businesses and the SBA.
As for her office, “We’re here to help small businesses – with anything they need.”