Calling Alabama a leader in deploying funds to local lenders and small businesses, the U.S. Treasury Department’s State Small Business Credit Initiative revealed Tuesday the state has distributed nearly $29 million to spur small businesses growth since 2011.
“Small businesses are at the forefront of the nation’s economic recovery, and the State Small Business Credit Initiative provides entrepreneurs and small business owners with access to the resources they need to grow and create jobs,” Sarah Bloom Raskin, the U.S. Treasury Department’s deputy secretary, said in a prepared statement that highlighted the initiative’s most recent quarterly report.
According to the latest figures, Alabama has deployed 92 percent of its total $31.3 million SSBCI funds through the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs. Since joining the program in 2011, the statewide agency has used the funds to support 112 loans to a variety of businesses as of Dec. 31, 2013.
ADECA Director Jim Byard Jr. called small businesses a “vital part of Alabama’s economy.”
“Through a public-private partnership, our credit initiative is providing business owners with the capital they need to grow and prosper. Loans, averaging about $594,000, are helping small businesses with start-up costs, equipment, working capital and other investments that generate jobs and economic security for Alabama families,” Byard said in the press release.
To date, more than two-thirds of the $1.5 billion the U.S. Treasury Department has allotted for the initiative has been deployed nationwide to fund programs that support small businesses.
Moreover, SSBCI funds are not repaid to the federal government. States retain them for local redeployment, and to date, have reported recycling more than $14.7 million.
In addition, the program is expected to help generate as much as $15 billion in new private-sector lending or investment in small companies by leveraging $10 in private capital for every dollar of federal support by the program’s end.
Click here for more information on SSBCI and here for more information on the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs.
July 02, 2014
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