Resources for businesses, nonprofits and agriculture affected by the recent hurricanes
Small Business Assistance and Disaster Loans
The Business Resource and Assessment Center (BRAC), which was located at the Hillsborough County Entrepreneur Collaborative Center, closed to the public on May 15, 2025. Business owners can continue to apply for disaster assistance loans through the U.S. Small Business Administration.
The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) will accept disaster loan applications up to 60 days after the filing deadline (which was April 27, 2025 for physical damage; the economic injury deadline is July 11, 2025). Apply online using the MySBA Portal at lending.sba.gov.
The SBA may accept applications received more than 60 days after the deadline when the SBA determines the late filing resulted from causes essentially beyond your control. You can request assistance with a late application by contacting the SBA Customer Service Center at disastercustomerservice@sba.gov or 1-800-659-2955.
Business Damage Assessment
The State of Florida has opened the Business Damage Assessment Survey for Hurricane Milton. Please take a moment to complete the survey. Completing the survey helps to ensure the appropriate services are available during recovery.
Business Damage Assessment Survey
U.S. Department of Agriculture Disaster Assistance for Farmers, Ranchers and Forest Landowners
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm Service Agency (FSA), Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and Risk Management Agency (RMA) offer recovery programs and insurance products to help farmers, ranchers and communities that have been hard-hit by hurricanes, flooding, tornadoes, and other related natural disaster events.
- Emergency Assistance for Hurricane, Flooding and Related Natural Disaster Events
- Comparison of USDA’s Conservation Programs to Aid Recovery after Hurricanes Debby, Helene and Milton
Additional Help for Agriculture Businesses
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) offers a suite of disaster assistance, farm loan and conservation programs to help farmers, ranchers and forest landowners to recover. In September 2024, USDA made changes to its emergency loan program so that producers can access emergency loans for any amount of damage (previously farmers had to show a 30% production loss), and to increase access to flexible repayment terms, including interest-only payments, if necessary to recover from the disaster. Below you will find links to direct you to a variety of recovery assistance.
Livestock and Poultry Assistance
- Livestock Indemnity Program
- Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honeybees and Farm Raised Fish Program (ELAP)
- Conservation Reserve Program (CRP)
- Environmental Quality Incentives Programs (EQIP)
Crop Assistance
Farm Loans
Farm and Forest Land Damage
- Emergency Conservation Program
- Emergency Forest Restoration Program
- Environmental Quality Incentives Program
Assistance to Help Your Employees
Tips and programs to help your employees.
Share Assistance Information with Your Employees
- Encourage employees to apply online at Disasterassistance.gov
- Offer internet connectivity, if you have it available, to help them register
- Pass along the information on this page that may be relevant to your employees
Disaster Recovery Dislocated Worker Grant Program
- The U.S. Department of Labor approved up to $5 million in initial emergency grant funding to Florida to support disaster-relief jobs and training services in 31 counties to help respond to Hurricane Helene
- The National Dislocated Worker Grant – supported by the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act of 2014 – allows the Florida Department of Commerce to provide people with temporary disaster-relief jobs and the delivery of humanitarian assistance to address immediate, basic needs for those displaced by Hurricane Milton
- Eligible participants include individuals temporarily or permanently laid off because of the disaster and self-employed individuals who became unemployed or significantly underemployed because of the disaster