The Biden-Harris Administration has revealed its latest measures to support small businesses, including $50 million in funding that will support more than 10,000 small businesses “owned by individuals from traditionally underserved communities,” according to a White House briefing. The U.S. Department of Treasury will disseminate these funds across 20 states to help small businesses secure loans and investments.
The financial awards will be provided through the State Small Business Credit Initiative’s (SSBCI) Technical Assistance Grant Program, which is part of the American Rescue Plan. This announcement is only one portion of the nearly $10 billion SSBCI funds deployed to states, tribes and territories to launch and expand capital access programs for approximately 100,000 small businesses. To date, the Treasury Department has already approved more than $8 billion in funding to all 50 states, and an additional $108 million in technical assistance grants to 32 states through the SSBCI Capital Grant and Technical Assistance Grant programs.
An Ongoing Focus on Small Business Growth
The Biden-Harris Administration has taken several measures to support small businesses over the past few months. This fall, the Small Business Administration (SBA) expanded its lending program focused on underserved communities for the first time in 40 years. New licenses were issued to lenders in the Small Business Lending Company (SBLC) program for the first time in 40 years. The three new licensed lenders – Arkansas Capital Corporation, Alaska Growth Capital, and Funding Circle – have expertise and history lending to traditionally underserved communities.
In October, the U.S. Department of Treasury announced a $75 million competitive grant program with American Rescue Plan funds for states to provide services and technical assistance to help very small and underserved businesses access opportunities created by the President’s Investing in America agenda – which includes the historic investments made by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, Inflation Reduction Act, CHIPS and Science Act, and American Rescue Plan.
This summer, the Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) awarded 43 non-profit community-based organizations funding to help underserved entrepreneurs launch and scale their small businesses. This program, funded through the American Rescue Plan. Additionally, the SBA announced that its 50+ American Rescue Plan-funded Community Navigators grantees helped secure nearly $250 million in approved funding for small businesses, trained over 290,000 business owners, and conducted 145,000 hours of one-on-one counseling. Funding is set to expire by the end of this year, so the Biden-Harris Administration has proposed additional funding for the program in its fiscal 2024 budget proposal.
