US Treasury Awards California $10 Million to Help Small Businesses Grow, Hire

On Monday, the U.S. Department of the Treasury announced that the California Office of the Small Business Advocate (CalOSBA) is being awarded $10 million to support small business growth through the federal State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI) Investing in America Small Business Opportunity Program (SBOP).

SBOP, a part of the SSBCI program reauthorized and expanded by the American Rescue Plan Act, is a $75 million nationwide program that provides funding for small business technical assistance support like accounting and legal services, and helps connect underserved and very small businesses in key sectors to private sector investment.

“Small businesses are critical to the California economy and I applaud efforts like this that will spur small business growth in our state,” said Sandra Floyd, president and CEO of OUTSOURCE Consulting Services Inc. (OCSI.co) and inaugural chair of CalChamber’s Small Business Policy Council.

California Lieutenant Governor Eleni Kounalakis called the funding a “huge win for California’s businesses.”

“By supporting California’s efforts to provide essential resources, technical support, and access to capital, this investment will ensure our state remains at the forefront of economic growth and innovation, especially for businesses owned by women and people of color,” Kounalakis said.

Award Details

California is one of 14 SBOP awardees selected nationwide through a competitive process. The U.S. Treasury selected awardees based on their plans to create innovative, high-impact models of small business technical assistance delivery that demonstrate a vision to improve access to capital for historically overlooked businesses across the nation.

CalOSBA, within the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz), proposed a plan to create the new Procurement & Innovation Capital Leadership for Entrepreneurs (PINNACLE) program. According to the agency, California’s initiative will be supported by $16.25 million in matching funds.

PINNACLE will build upon the $25.3 million in SSBCI funding already invested in developing CalOSBA’s technical assistance network, branded for the public as SCALE (Success, Capital Access and Leadership for Entrepreneurs).

The PINNACLE proposal addresses three key opportunities:

• The requirement for all California state agencies to meet or exceed 25% small business participation in their procurement pipelines;
• California’s announcement of a historically unprecedented $180 billion in infrastructure spending over the next 10 years; and
• The Accelerate California network of 13 Inclusive Innovation Hubs, which provided matching funds for this proposal and will be direct partners in the delivery of program services.

With this new funding provided through SBOP, CalOSBA plans to provide 5,000 additional business-owners with 1:1 counseling and training. The office also anticipates developing at least 200 training events, and supporting eligible beneficiaries to obtain a capital infusion of $250M in total capital through a combination of non-dilutive capital, bonding capital, debt capital, as well as angel and venture capital.

CalOSBA stated it will announce additional details about the PINNACLE program rollout by mid-November 2024.