The U.S. Department of the Treasury has announced the approval of plans for an additional $10 million in technical assistance (TA) funding allocated to four states, two territories, the District of Columbia, and one Tribal government under the American Rescue Plan Act’s State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI) TA Grant Program. This includes the first SSBCI TA grant for a Tribal government.
Part of President Biden’s economic agenda, the SSBCI TA Grant Program supports programs that provide legal, accounting, and financial advisory services to qualifying small businesses. Treasury allocated $200 million by formula to states, the District of Columbia, territories, and Tribal governments for the TA Grant Program and has announced awards totaling over $145 million.
“Today’s announcement reinforces President Biden’s commitment to invest in small businesses and entrepreneurs,” said U.S. Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Wally Adeyemo. “Providing help to entrepreneurs like accounting services and legal advice is critical to unlocking their potential for growth and to continuing the nation’s historic small business boom.”
Reauthorized and expanded by the American Rescue Plan Act, SSBCI is a nearly $10 billion program supporting small businesses and entrepreneurship across communities in the United States. In addition to the TA Grant Program, Treasury also administers the SSBCI Capital Program where participating jurisdictions implement credit and equity/venture capital programs to provide capital to small businesses.
The first Tribal government to receive a TA grant is Levelock Village. Approved for $65,327 in TA grant funding, Levelock Village will use contractors to provide legal and financial advisory services to underserved and very small businesses participating in its SSBCI-supported direct investment program or seeking other small business support. Levelock Village—a remote Alaska community accessible only by air or water travel with an economy reliant on local fishing and hunting—will support access to capital and small business support services in Indian Country.
The $10 million TA investment also included four states, two territories, and the District of Columbia. This includes Minnesota which was approved for $1,972,321 in TA grant funding. Minnesota will use its Small Business Development Center (SBDC) statewide network within its Department of Employment & Economic Development to implement its TA program. The SBDC lead center will coordinate with nine regional SBDC offices around the state as well as other business service organizations to identify eligible beneficiaries.
With this announcement, Treasury has approved SSBCI TA grants totaling over $145 million representing 48 states, the District of Columbia, territories, and Tribal governments. Additional approvals of applications from Tribal governments are anticipated.
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