CA Gets $10 Million For Small Businesses From Federal Authorities

CALIFORNIA — The U.S. Department of the Treasury has awarded California $10 million to invest in small businesses.

The money is for the State Small Business Credit Initiative Investing in America Small Business Opportunity Program, a $75 million nationwide effort to fund technical support such as accounting and legal services for small businesses, and to help connect certain businesses to private sector investment, according to a news release from the California Office of the Small Business Advocate.

“This funding will help us continue to diversify California’s innovation economy and increase small business participation in state contracting,” office Director Tara Lynn Gray said in the news release Monday.

California is one of 14 awardees nationwide and proposed a plan for a new Procurement & Innovation Capital Leadership for Entrepreneurs program addressing:

• The requirement for all state agencies to have at least 25 percent small business participation in procurement pipelines;
• California’s announcement of $180 billion in infrastructure spending over the next 10 years;
• The Accelerate California network of 13 Inclusive Innovation Hubs, which provided matching funds for the proposal and will be partners in the delivery of program services.

With the new funding, the state plans to provide 5,000 additional business owners with one-on-one counseling and training, develop at least 200 training events, and support eligible beneficiaries to obtain a capital infusion of $250 million.