The U.S. Treasury Department has announced that Nebraska has received $4,477,239 in State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI) funds to help small businesses access the capital they need to grow and create jobs. To date, $13,168,350 in SSBCI funds have been disbursed to the Nebraska Department of Economic Development to support businesses and the local economy.
Small businesses and entrepreneurs need access to capital to build their businesses, and SSBCI is designed to help spur new private sector lending or investment in small companies by leveraging private capital along with the federal support offered by the program. In the first three years of the program, SSBCI helped 8,500 businesses nationwide secure $4.1 billion in loans or investments, nearly $7 in private capital for every $1 of federal support. Each state designs its own small business programs, and Nebraska has implemented a Loan Participation Program and a Venture Capital Program.
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. For more information on SSBCI and Treasury’s other small business programs, please visit www.treasury.gov/smallbusiness. For more information on Nebraska’s SSBCI program, please visit http://www.neded.org/business/progress-loan-fund.