South Carolina Awards $17.6 Million To Grow Small Businesses With Funds From The U.S. Treasury’s State Small Business Credit Initiative
July 2, 2014
New report shows more than $835 million SSBCI funds are supporting small businesses nationwide
WASHINGTON, SC – The U.S. Treasury Department’s State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI) released a new quarterly report showing that South Carolina has deployed $17,636,872 to grow small businesses. South Carolina is a leading state in deploying these funds to local lenders and small businesses. Today’s report also notes that states have expended, obligated, or transferred $835 million through the Treasury Department’s SSBCI program to support small business lending and investments across the country.
“The U.S. Treasury Department, states, and private sector lenders are investing in local communities to help drive economic growth, and these efforts are supporting small businesses in South Carolina,” said the U.S. Treasury Department’s Deputy Secretary Sarah Bloom Raskin. “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.”
South Carolina has deployed 95 percent of its total $17,990,415 in SSBCI funds through the South Carolina Jobs and Economic Development Agency (JEDA), and it has recycled $532,106 of the funds it has deployed. The state has participated in the SSBCI program since 2011, and the JEDA, in partnership with the Business Development Corporation of South Carolina (BDC) is using these resources to leverage greater levels of private lending to small businesses. South Carolina has made 101 SSBCI investments as of December 31, 2013, supporting loans to a variety of businesses.
“BDC has been excited to be the design and delivery mechanism for the U.S. Treasury, for South Carolina, for JEDA, for local financial institutions, and most importantly for the small business community,” said Edwin Lesley, President and CEO of BDC. “This has truly been one of the most successful public-private partnerships for funding South Carolina’s small businesses during difficult economic times.”
Through SSBCI, the U.S. Treasury Department will award up to $1.5 billion to fund programs that support small businesses including small manufacturers. To date, more than $1 billion has been deployed to states and municipalities. SSBCI funds are not repaid to the federal government; they remain with the state to be redeployed to support even more small business development locally. To date, states have reported recycling more than $14.7 million, and this number is expected to grow as the program continues. Additionally, the program is expected to help spur up to $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.
SSBCI was created when President Obama signed into law the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010 on September 27, 2010. 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 proposed an extension of SSBCI in his 2015 Budget with an additional $1.5 billion in funding.
For more information on SSBCI and Treasury’s other small business programs, please visitwww.treasury.gov/smallbusiness
