SBA reopens Paycheck Protection Program offering forgivable loans to small businesses In the first days, smaller, community financial institutions will have access, prioritizing first-time borrowers who may have missed the previous round. Author: Kayland Hagwood Updated: 7:59 PM EST January 12, 2021 SUMTER, S.C. — Another round of forgivable coronavirus relief loans are now available to small businesses. The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), in consultation with the U.S. Treasury Department, reopened the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) Monday starting with smaller, community financial institutions (CFIs) and, in the days ahead, will extend to larger banks. "The first round, a lot of your larger banks were first to get out the chute, so to speak, and a lot of the money went to some of the larger loans, larger businesses, and some of your smaller, rural areas and smaller borrowers were not able to get access to the funds as quick as they needed to," Gregg White, District Director at SBA of South Carolina, said. “So, this second round is going to allow CFI’s, Minority Depository Institutions, Certified Development Companies, and Microloan Intermediaries to focus in on the rural areas, minority areas that actually had a hard time getting access to the funds the first round.”