COVID Loans are Closing Your Favorite Restaurant
Help Stop It.
We're gathering 10,000 signatures to demand loan relief. Add your name now before it's too late.
Sign The PetitionSo much feels broken. This is something you can do right now to make a positive change. Today let's make one thing right.
Small Businesses Are Drowning in Debt
Thousands of businesses are still paying off pandemic loans—and many won't survive the year without help.
"This is happening in communities everywhere – but together we can stop it."
The Reality of Pandemic Loan Repayment
These COVID disaster loans (EIDL) are now coming due. For businesses that survived the pandemic, this debt is the final blow.
These aren't businesses looking for handouts. They followed the rules and did everything right. But now they're facing impossible choices:
- Their savings are depleted after years of losses
- Operating costs keep rising across the board
- Revenue is still below pre-pandemic levels
The Human Cost
Making loan payments has become impossible. We need to act now. These businesses are more than just stores—they're the beating heart of our communities. They make the places we live feel like home.
What Default Means
The government's own numbers say 37% will default — that's 1.3 million small businesses.
Each default means:
- A family losing everything they built
- 10-20 employees suddenly without jobs
- Your neighborhood losing another gathering place
- Another empty storefront where life used to be
There's a Simple Fix: Forgive These Loans
We're calling on leaders to forgive EIDL loans issued during COVID and give small businesses a fighting chance.
Why Forgive These Loans?
Unlike the PPP relief program, these EIDL loans were never forgiven. We're simply asking leaders to provide the relief these businesses were promised — by forgiving the debt and letting our small businesses recover.
What we're demanding:
- Full forgiveness of COVID pandemic loans (EIDL) for small businesses
- Immediate halt to default proceedings
- Protection of credit scores for struggling borrowers
Don't Let Your Favorite Spot Be Next
In a time when it feels like nothing goes right, this is something we can fix together. Small businesses are the dreamers who bet everything on creating something meaningful. Let's not let debt from their own government be what finally breaks them.
Sign The PetitionThese campaigns work. In 2014, I gathered 10,000 signatures and successfully overturned California's "Glove Law" that was hurting small food businesses. Your voice matters and can drive real change.
About This Campaign
Why I Started Save Your Local
I've spent 20 years working with food entrepreneurs across California – from underground markets in San Francisco to founding Forage Kitchen, an incubator that gives food businesses an affordable place to start and grow.
Throughout this journey, I've watched thousands of small business owners build something meaningful. These entrepreneurs:
- Create the places where communities gather and culture thrives
- Provide local jobs and bring new flavors to our neighborhoods
- Take risks that transform empty spaces into the heart of our communities
Now I'm watching these same passionate people close their doors one by one – not because their businesses failed, but because they're being crushed by COVID loans they took on to survive the pandemic. They followed every guideline, adapted through impossible circumstances, and held on against all odds, only to face insurmountable debt while still trying to recover.
It's not right, and I can't stand by and just let it happen without trying to change it.