Small Business Administration: Targeted Outreach about Disaster Assistance Could Benefit Rural Communities.

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) report titled "Small Business Administration: Targeted Outreach about Disaster Assistance Could Benefit Rural Communities" examines the challenges rural communities face when seeking disaster assistance from the Small Business Administration (SBA) and suggests recommendations for improvement. The report finds that rural and urban areas have similar approval and decline rates for disaster loan applications. Rural areas face unique challenges in disaster recovery due to infrastructure vulnerabilities, limited local capacity and resources, and rural demographics or social norms. The report recommends that the SBA differentiate between rural and urban communities in its outreach and marketing efforts, and the SBA agrees with this recommendation. The SBA is implementing new outreach approaches and working on enhancing relationships with stakeholders to better serve rural communities. [Extracted from the article]

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