WASHINGTON, DC – March 19, 2015 – (RealEstateRama) — The U.S. Treasury Department’s State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI) today released a new Quarterly Report detailing how the program continues to help small businesses grow and create jobs. More than $1.1 billion is now at work across the country to spur small business lending and investments.
“Small businesses and entrepreneurs need capital to build their businesses, and the State Small Business Credit Initiative is responding to that need in every state,” said Jeffrey Stout, Director of the SSBCI program at the Treasury Department. “This report shows that participants continue to make progress in deploying these funds, and the program has been a vital tool in supporting states and local governments’ efforts to drive economic growth.”
Today’s report shows that in 2014 participants reached even more businesses by increasing their deployment of funds by more than 40 percent over the previous year. The states that have deployed the most SSBCI funds by percentage of allocation include: Vermont, Idaho, North Dakota (Mandan Consortium), South Carolina, Arkansas, New Hampshire, Montana, Missouri, South Dakota, and Michigan. The states that have deployed the most SSBCI funds by dollar amount include: California, Michigan, Florida, Illinois, Alabama, North Carolina, New York, Texas, Ohio, and Georgia.
SSBCI is designed to help draw new private sector lending or investment in small companies by leveraging private capital along with the federal support offered by the program. SSBCI funding is not repaid to the federal government. Instead, to help even more small businesses, the funds from repaid loans and investments remain with the states to be redeployed locally. The report shows that, as of December 2014, participants have recycled $65,222,615 to support additional investments.
SSBCI was created when President Obama signed into law the Small Business Jobs Act on September 27, 2010. Through SSBCI, the Treasury Department will award nearly $1.5 billion to state programs across the country that support small businesses, including small manufacturers. Each state designs its own small business programs, and five types of programs are eligible for SSBCI funds: capital access programs, loan guarantee programs, loan participation programs, collateral support programs, and venture capital programs.
To build on the momentum of the program’s success and capitalize on new working relationships among states and small business lenders and investors, President Obama recently proposed an extension of SSBCI in his 2016 Budget with an additional $1.5 billion in funding. A new authorization of the SSBCI program will keep local economic development efforts strong and allow states to continue supporting small businesses, job creation, and to leverage greater levels of private lending and investments.
To view the SSBCI Quarterly Report, please click here. For more information on SSBCI and the Treasury Department’s other small business programs, please visit www.treasury.gov/smallbusiness.
