Growing our Small Businesses
As many of you know, 60 to 80 percent of new jobs come from small businesses. Most Americans get their first job through a small business. This job creating potential is most important when times are tough. We will know that our country is truly on its way to economic recovery when we start seeing job growth. And, that’s what small businesses do well – they create new jobs. Small businesses are the ones that will lead our economic comeback, here on Main Street, not the major companies on Wall Street.
Access to Credit is One of Small Businesses’ Biggest Challenges
For small firms to play their job-creation role, they need the right tools. And, without access to capital, small businesses have a tough time staying afloat. According to the SBA, without access to affordable credit, small enterprises are twice as likely to fail, compared to businesses that can find credit.
They must be able to access capital to either get their new venture off the ground or expand their operations. Given how tight the credit market has been, that’s a challenge that every business in every community is encountering. The May 2009 Federal Reserve’s Senior Loan Officer Survey found that 40 percent of domestic banks are tightening their credit standards to business borrowers. That’s why it was so important that we included provisions to help small businesses access capital in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
The ARRA and Tools for Small Business Growth
Congress has taken steps to address these problems. Legislation that Congress passed in February strengthened the SBA’s lending programs and made them even more usable for small businesses.
This important new law does a number of things to help small businesses:
• It provides interest-free loans of $35,000, giving small firms an immediate cash injection to cover existing business obligations;
• It makes it easier for small business owners to get Small Business Administration (SBA)-backed loans;
• It reduces the costs of these loans;
• It helps small firms raise equity capital;
• In total, this new law will generate $21 billion in new lending and investment for small businesses.
These programs contained in the ARRA, when paired with existing programs at the Small Business Administration, will help America’s small businesses weather this storm, and lead us back to prosperity. This page is designed to help you tap into these new programs and better leverage the existing programs at SBA. Most of all, we want the advice to be practical. We want you to be able to identify the right lender for you, walk into a room, sit down with them and find the capital that meets your business needs, whether that’s starting a new business, keeping an existing one afloat, or expanding your operations. The resources here can help you meet those objectives.
Check out my pamphlet on ARRA Capital Lending Programs.
The SBA also has a Recovery Act Website, which details all of the funding available through the Act. The Recovery Act also made additional funding available through USDA’s Rural Development in their Business & Industry Loan Guarantee Program.
Small Business Administration (SBA)
The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) was created in 1953 as an independent agency of the federal government to aid, counsel, assist and protect the interests of small business concerns, to preserve free competitive enterprise and to maintain and strengthen the overall economy of our nation. The SBA recognizes that small business is critical to our economic recovery and strength, to building America's future, and to helping the United States compete in today's global marketplace. Although SBA has grown and evolved in the years since it was established in 1953, the bottom line mission remains the same. The SBA helps Americans start, build and grow businesses. Through an extensive network of field offices and partnerships with public and private organizations, SBA delivers its services to people throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, the U. S. Virgin Islands and Guam.
The mission of the SBA is "to maintain and strengthen the nation's economy by enabling the establishment and viability of small businesses and by assisting in the economic recovery of communities after disasters."
Please go to the Small Business Administration Website to find a wide array of information on SBA Programs. The SBA also offers Online Training Courses for Small Business Owners. For an overview of all SBA Loan Programs, click here.
Small Business Development Center
The Small Business Development Center (SBDC) program is the cornerstone of the SBA’s entrepreneurial programs. Congress established it in 1980 to foster economic development by providing management, technical, and research assistance to current and prospective small businesses. SBDCs offer one-stop assistance to individuals and small businesses by providing a wide variety of information and guidance in central and easily accessible branch locations. The SBDC program has provided assistance to millions of entrepreneurs across the United States. With nearly a thousand service centers and numerous additional outreach offices in the network, SBDC’s operate in a partnership between SBA, educational institutions, and state and local governments and is an integral component of Entrepreneurial Development's network of training and counseling services.
Please go to the New York State SBDC Website to find a location nearest you. Do not hesitate to contact your location for a variety of difference services – use them as your first stop on the way to building your business.
SCORE – Counselors to America’s Small Businesses
The SCORE Association, headquartered in Washington, D.C., is a nonprofit association dedicated to entrepreneurial education and the formation, growth and success of small businesses nationwide. Our public service mission is to help more entrepreneurs become successful small business owners through face-to-face and email business counseling.
SCORE is composed of 10,500 volunteer business mentors, both working and retired, who counsel businesses from 389 chapter offices throughout the country. SCORE volunteers hail from every facet of the business community. Some have worked at large corporations such as Kodak, Xerox, Boeing and General Electric. Some have served in our military or worked for the local or federal government. Others have spent years cultivating their own small business. Last year, SCORE helped expand small business opportunities through assistance to more than 400,000 Americans.
To contact the local chapter of SCORE, please visit their website.
Veteran Owned Small Businesses
The brave men and women who have given so much to their country have more than earned the right to have their country give back to them during these tough economic times. There are many resources out there to assist Veteran Owned Small Businesses. I recently authored an amendment to a small business bill that would increase the grant sizes for “initial grants” and “growth funding grants” for Veterans Business Center, like the Veterans Business Outreach Program which is already operating in the Capital Region. These Centers provide entrepreneurial training and counseling to veterans. Centers are required to focus on veterans’ entrepreneurial development, counseling of veteran-owned business through one-on-one instruction and classes, and government procurement assistance to veterans. My amendment would raise the cap on grant aid to help our veterans become successful entrepreneurs as they return home. By giving our veterans the opportunity to excel as small business owners, we help them to continue being not only the backbone of our communities, but of our economy as well.
Check out the Department of Veterans Affairs VETBIZ page here and the Small Business Administration’s Veterans Business Development Page here.
What You Should Do
Please use the resources above as a first step to finding assistance for your Small Business. I recognize that what you see here will not solve every problem, and in times like these, there are no silver bullets. But what you will find here is some practical advice that will help you overcome many of the barriers that small businesses face. The most important thing to remember is that there is help available, and hopefully this site will be a resource to help you find it. If you come across additional hurdles, please do not hesitate to contact my office nearest you.
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