Treasury awards $125M to 43 organizations, distributes $57M in first SSBCI TA grants

U.S. Department of the Treasury recently awarded $125 million to 43 nonprofits and community-based organizations, including SSTI member University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. The money came via the American Rescue Plan Act- (ARPA-) funded (CRP) Capital Readiness Program. The CRP enables small businesses to access technical assistance through organizations that provide services to underserved businesses.

The current award distribution builds upon the $300 million already announced or deployed through the Small Business Administration's (SBA) Community Navigator Program and the Treasury Department's State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI). Administered by the Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA), the CRP is also the most significant initiative in the over 50-year history of that agency, according to a fact sheet from the White House.

The 43 winning organizations – a mix of nonprofit and community-based organizations, private sector entities, and institutions of higher education – are forming partnerships to assist and train underserved entrepreneurs seeking resources, tools, and support to start or scale their businesses in high-growth, high-wage industries such as healthcare, climate resilient technology, asset management, infrastructure, and more.

A complete list of CRP award-winners is available here.

In addition, Treasury approved its first awards under the SSBCI Technical Assistance Grant Program to 12 states, totaling over $57 million. These awards will provide legal, accounting, and financial advisory services to very small and underserved businesses applying for the SSBCI capital program and other government small business programs.

A press release from Treasury provides these examples of how this funding is being used:

California: The California Office of the Small Business Advocate (CalOSBA), approved for up to $25.3 million, will oversee regionally based legal, accounting, and financial advisory services to help small businesses apply for support from state or federal small business programs, and will also help connect companies directly with its SSBCI-supported capital programs. The CalOSBA anticipates reaching 113,000 small businesses with these financial services and supporting 40,000 small business loans for underserved and very small businesses using the technical assistance award. 

Ohio: The Ohio Department of Development (ODD), approved for up to $5.2 million, will connect underserved businesses to regional financial advisory, accounting, and legal services, as well as non-traditional financing sources like the state's SSBCI-funded capital programs. By the fourth year of the program, ODD's Minority Business Development Division (MBDD) anticipates reaching up to 360 businesses annually to provide these services for the remainder of the program.

Nevada: The Nevada Governor’s Office of Economic Development, approved for up to $2 million, will work with the Nevada Small Business Development Center (Nevada SBDC) to provide training – including a 10-week bootcamp – and networking opportunities as well as one-on-one counseling to connect underserved and very small businesses directly with support for legal, accounting, and financial advisory services. Nevada SBDC anticipates assisting more than a thousand companies through the technical assistance grant program and estimates that this will create more than a thousand jobs.