{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://stanton.house.gov/2021/12/stanton-s-team-delivered-small-businesses-more-than-5-million-in-pandemic-assistance", "Stanton\u2019s Team Delivered Small Businesses More Than $5 Million in Pandemic Assistance", "2021-12-15", "2021", "2021-12", "Democrat", "House", "AZ", "Greg Stanton", "S001211", "stanton.house.gov", "stanton", "https://stanton.house.gov/press-releases", "scraper", "Rep. Greg Stanton\u2019s Constituent Services Team has delivered constituents in Arizona\u2019s 9th District more than $6 million this year, a majority of which came from their diligent work in connecting small businesses with more than $5 million in pandemic assistance.\n\nAt a critical time when businesses across Arizona struggled to stay open during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Stanton\u2019s casework team worked with dozens of small business owners to shepherd them through the Small Business Administration (SBA) application process. Providing unmatched constituent service, Stanton said, is essential to helping local businesses recover.\n\n\u201cWhen our local small businesses took the biggest hit from the pandemic, giving them the support they needed became our team\u2019s top priority\u2013\u2013and we delivered,\u201d said Stanton. \u201cIn several instances, the help our team provided made the difference between a local company staying open instead of shutting its doors for good.\u201d\n\nStanton\u2019s team helped small business owners secure loans offered by the SBA, including through its Economic Injury Disaster Loan program, Paycheck Protection Program and Shuttered Venue Operators Grant program.\n\nBob Sommer and his business partners Cindy Dach and Gayle Shanks of Changing Hands Bookstore were struggling to get their first round of funds from the Paycheck Protection Program delivered. After their application was rejected twice by the SBA, Sommer said they almost didn\u2019t bother submitting a third application until they reached out to Stanton\u2019s office.\n\n\u201cWe asked for help from Greg Stanton\u2019s office and were immediately put in touch with one of his Constituent Services representatives who took on our case,\u201d said Sommer. \u201cHe contacted our financial institution and put us into direct contact with one of their agents who supplied the information we required. We subsequently were successful in obtaining the loan and are very grateful for the assistance we received from Representative Stanton\u2019s office.\u201d\n\nAfter working with Stanton\u2019s office, Changing Hands received a loan through the Paycheck Protection Program that kept the bookstore afloat.\n\nIn another case, Heather Brown, the owner of Cultural Sponge, a local marketing agency that primarily serves non-profits and Arizona\u2019s LGBTQ+ community, couldn\u2019t get an approved SBA Disaster Assistance Loan. She had applied for a loan as soon as it was available in March 2020, but was denied a month later and despite doing everything asked of her by the agency, her situation hadn\u2019t changed\u2013\u2013five months later the SBA still hadn\u2019t helped her.\n\nThen she turned to Stanton\u2019s team.\n\n\u201cI contacted Greg Stanton\u2019s office, they took all of my information and contacted the SBA,\u201d said Brown. \u201cWithin days the SBA personally contacted me. Greg\u2019s staff were very attentive and frequently checked in via phone or email. They genuinely cared and wanted to help. I don\u2019t know what I would have done without Greg and his team!\u201d\n\nThen, in May 2021, Brown needed help again\u2013\u2013this time to modify her loan. Within days of reaching out to Stanton\u2019s office, she was put in contact with the SBA and her loan modification was approved, allowing her business to keep running.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T20:37:48Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://stanton.house.gov/2021/12/stanton-s-team-delivered-small-businesses-more-than-5-million-in-pandemic-assistance"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.004544086754322, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}