As of July 1 (the most recent data available), 256 Craig businesses received PPP — Paycheck Protection Program — loans to keep their businesses afloat during the last year and a half. In total, the Craig community received $17,874,409 in assistance from the federal government.

A lot of that is getting forgiven.

Across the state of Colorado, around 55% of PPP loans are being forgiven. PPP loans are federal funds given to businesses to cover worker salaries for at least two months, and that program timed out earlier this summer on May 31. Loans issued before June 5, 2020, have a maturity of two years while loans issued after that date have a maturity of five years. The state received over $15 billion dollars to cover business costs, and $8.4 billion has been forgiven. 200,000 PPP loans were made to Colorado small businesses, as well.

According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, over 11 million loans were given out nationally, and over half have been forgiven — totalling a whopping $500 billion of forgiveness.

So far in Craig, $8,838,908 of that $17.8 million has been forgiven, and others are in the process to be wiped out, as well. Of the 256 loans given to Craig businesses, 133 have an “exemption 4” status, meaning that the loan is not forgiven but is in the process or charged off as a loss (if the business went under during the pandemic), and 114 were marked as “paid in full” and had a 1% interest rate. The rest are considered “active disbursement,” which means that their loan application is SBA Approved but the lender hasn’t disbursed the loan.

In the latest data dump, it’s evident which businesses received higher-dollar loans, as well as business categories, amounts they received and how much was forgiven. In Craig, various business types across all categories received federal money, including six barber shop/beauty salon businesses, 13 labeled “​​Beef Cattle Ranching and Farming,” and 14 full-service restaurants.

The largest loan given to a Craig business was a $3 million PPP loan to Memorial Regional Hospital. Loans maxed out at $10 million. According to reporting from the Colorado Sun, Moffat County received 0.2% of the state’s loaned dollars, and in rural communities like Craig, residents relied on local banks to handle these loans. The Sun’s reporting says Alpine Bank handled the most, followed by Bank of Colorado. Yampa Valley Bank also rounded out the top 10, handling 775 loans.