Vice President Biden Announces $20 Billion in Additional Small Business Lending

Vice President Joe Biden is joined by Small Business Administrator Karen Mills at Wrap Tite, Inc. in Solon, Ohio to announce $20 Billion in additional small business lending through private/public partnerships with large banks that will help to continue to spur job growth and small business expansion in America. Learn more at http://sba.gov

The Obama Agenda: 'Strong Cities, Strong Communities'

Pilot Initiative Will Focus on Sparking Economic Growth in Local Communities

Washington, D.C. – Today, the Obama Administration launched Strong Cities, Strong Communities (SC2), a new and customized pilot initiative to strengthen local capacity and spark economic growth in local communities while ensuring taxpayer dollars are used wisely and efficiently.

To accomplish this, federal agencies will provide experienced staff to work directly with six cities: Chester, PA; Cleveland, OH; Detroit, MI; Fresno, CA; Memphis, TN; and New Orleans, LA. These teams will work with local governments, the private sector, and other institutions to leverage federal dollars and support the work being done at the local level to encourage economic growth and community development.

Additionally, communities nationwide will be eligible to compete for comprehensive economic planning assistance through a grant competition designed to spark local innovation. By integrating government investments and partnering with local communities, SC2 channels the resources of the federal government to help empower cities as they develop and implement their vision for economic growth.

“Over the past two and a half years, the Obama Administration received feedback from leaders all across the country who described the kind of partnership that would be most useful to them for economic growth,” said Domestic Policy Director Melody Barnes.

“The result is Strong Cities, Strong Communities, an innovative new pilot that will help strengthen local communities while also delivering federal resources and assistance more effectively.”

Added Senior Advisor to the President Valerie Jarrett, “This is exactly the kind of federal initiative that President Obama pledged to create – one that respects the wisdom of local leadership and helps mayors and other local officials utilize federal resources more effectively. President Obama has consistently demonstrated his commitment to a robust partnership with America’s cities and counties– Strong Cities, Strong Communities is yet another example of this important partnership.”

Through this pilot, the Obama Administration will focus on three key goals:

Improving the way federal government does business: Cutting through red tape and rationalizing the federal bureaucracy to help deal with the overlapping maze of agencies, regulations and program requirements that are sometimes confusing to local governments; Providing assistance and support – working with local communities to find ground up, not top down solutions: Providing on the ground technical assistance and planning resources tailored to local governments’ needs and helping them use the federal funds they already receive more efficiently and effectively; and Partnering for growth: Developing critical partnerships with key local and regional stakeholders that encompass not only municipal and state governments, but also new partnerships with the business community, non-profits, anchor institutions, faith-based institutions, and other public, private, and philanthropic leaders.

In addition to building the capacity of local governments, SC2 aims to encourage partnerships among local community organizations, anchor institutions, businesses, foundations and government agencies, helping to leverage federal investments and increase impact. The four components of SC2 include the following:

SC2 Community Solutions Teams will be comprised of federal employees from several different agencies will work directly with cities to support mayors in Chester, PA; Cleveland, OH; Detroit, MI; Fresno, CA; Memphis, TN; and New Orleans, LA. Community Solutions Teams will assist cities with issues mayors have identified as vital to their economic strategies, including efforts to build on local assets, strengthen regional economies, develop transportation infrastructure, improve job-training programs and support community revitalization.

The SC2 Fellowship Program will serves as a complement to the Community Solutions Teams, a new fellowship program will select, train, and place early- to mid-career professionals to serve multi-year terms in local government positions to give cities additional capacity. An intermediary will be selected to run the fellowship program, and Fellows will be selected through a competitive national process. The Program will be funded primarily by philanthropic partners; the Rockefeller Foundation is providing $2.5 million in initial funding.

In addition to the six pilot locations, SC2 includes the SC2 Economic Planning Challenge, which is designed to help additional cities develop economic blueprints. This national grant competition will enable cities to adopt and implement innovative economic development strategies to support comprehensive city and regional planning efforts.

Six cities will be competitively selected to receive a grant of approximately $1 million that they will use to administer an “X-prize style” competition, whereby they will challenge multi-disciplinary teams of experts to develop comprehensive economic and land use proposals for their city. The Challenge will be administered by EDA, and EDA will assist cities in the administration of the competition.

Pending authorization of funding, the National Resource Network (NRN) will aggregate public and private resources to provide a broader set of cities, towns and regions with access to a one-stop portal of national experts to provide holistic policy and implementation support. Once funds are secured, HUD will host a competition to select an intermediary to run the NRN.

Cities, towns and regions will apply to get access to the NRN, and outside experts will apply to be able to provide consulting services through the NRN. A menu of customized and comprehensive technical assistance in a variety of policy areas will be available to communities, delivered through on-site training and staff development. The NRN will also foster peer-to-peer learning to strengthen the network of urban practitioners and thinkers.

SC2 pilot cities were selected on the basis of economic need, strong local leadership and collaboration, potential for economic growth, geographic diversity, and the ability to test the SC2 model across a range of environments. Federal assessment teams spent time on the ground working directly with mayors and other local officials to determine needs, opportunities and gather input for the pilot initiative.

Image courtesy of http://www.openclipart.org.

White House Briefs

President Obama Addresses Council on Jobs and Competitiveness

The President speaks about the importance of creating new jobs and conditions where businesses can thrive at a meeting of the President's Council on Jobs and Competitiveness in Durham, North Carolina.

White House Releases 'The Small Business Agenda'

Report Release Marks Kick-Off of 2011 National Small Business Week

WASHINGTON – Today, the President’s National Economic Council released The Small Business Agenda: Growing America’s Small Businesses to Win the Future, a report highlighting the importance of expanding and supporting the growth of entrepreneurs and small businesses across the nation.

The report, which kicks off National Small Business Week, outlines the critical investments this Administration has made to support small businesses, create jobs and strengthen our economy.

“Small businesses are the backbone of our economy and the cornerstones of our communities. They create two of every three new jobs in America, spur economic growth, and spark new industries across the country,” said President Obama.

“We will continue to create new incentives to help small business owners hire new workers, promote growth and do what America does best – invest in the creativity and imagination of our people.”

View the full report, which includes small business success stories from around the country, here:

FACT SHEET: THE SMALL BUSINESS AGENDA: GROWING AMERICA’S SMALL BUSINESSES TO WIN THE FUTURE

Over the past two years, the Obama Administration has taken decisive action in seven critical areas aimed at empowering America’s entrepreneurs and small business owners to create jobs and strengthen the economy. The Administration will continue to build on these accomplishments.

More tax relief

The President enacted 17 tax cuts for small businesses, including billions of dollars in tax credits, write-offs, and deductions for Americans who: start a new business -- invest or buy stock in startups and small businesses -- hire people who’ve been unemployed to work at their business -- and buy new equipment or machinery for their business, provide health insurance for their employees.

More access to capital

After lending froze in 2008, the new Administration implemented critical tools to increase the flow of capital to small businesses. This included: SBA lending support totaling $53 billion for 113,000 small businesses -- a Small Business Lending Fund to help community banks increase small business lending -- a State Small Business Credit Initiative to support up to $15 billion in small business lending through innovative state small business programs -- billions of dollars in loans and other support to small businesses hit by disasters such as the BP Oil Spill, floods, and tornadoes --and new SBA programs to increase small-dollar lending to spur business growth among women, minorities, veterans and others in under-served communities.

More federal contracting opportunities

Starting in FY2009, an increasing percentage of federal contracting dollars have gone to small business, totaling about $221 billion by April 2011. Efforts to augment contracting opportunities for small businesses included: delivering nearly one-third of Recovery Act contracts to small businesses while also exceeding all goals for under-served small business groups with these contracts -- actions from the President’s Inter-agency Taskforce on Federal Contracting Opportunities for Small Business to strengthen rules, to create a better-trained acquisition workforce, and to strengthen outreach to more small businesses -- implementing the woman-owned-small-business contracting program to help women compete in 83 industries where they are underrepresented in the federal contracting arena, building on the $16 billion women-owned firms won in FY 2009 -- and reducing the time it takes to pay small businesses who do work for the Department of Defense from 30 to 20 days, potentially impacting more than $60 billion of goods and services.

More exporting support and opportunities

The President’s National Export Initiative places a strong focus on helping small businesses as they begin or expand exporting. In its first year, the U.S. exported $1.83 trillion in goods and services supporting 10.3 million jobs. Efforts to identify, prepare and support small exporters have included: the President’s advocacy with world leaders in India, Korea, Colombia, Panama, and others, including advancing trade agreements that will lower tariffs on U.S. exports -- 35 trade missions totaling $2 billion in anticipated success, with small businesses representing nearly 80% of participants -- increasing training and expert-level counseling to create growth plans for manufacturers through the Department of Commerce’s ExportTech program -- and increasing authorizations from $3.2 billion in 2008 to $5 billion in 2010 from Export-Import Bank.

More counseling and training

Over the past two years, agencies that provide or coordinate free counseling have helped serve more than 2 million entrepreneurs and small business owners. Key efforts have included: launching four new Women’s Business Centers, bringing the total to 110 centers nationwide, building on the momentum in women’s business ownership -- launching the President’s Interagency Task Force on Veterans Small Business Development which expanded opportunities for veterans, reservists, and their families -- strengthening SBA’s efforts to inspire and empower the next generation of young entrepreneurs -- coordinating multi-agency efforts to foster “clustering,” an economic development strategy that maximizes innovation and job creation by building on a region’s existing strengths and assets -- creating the National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Commerce -- streamlining patent services and providing patent fee reductions for small businesses -- and strengthening education in order to promote small business ownership through the America COMPETES Act, Race to the Top, the Post-9/11 G.I. Bill, and more

More support for “high-growth” small businesses

The vast majority of net new jobs created in the U.S. come from startups and small business poised for high-growth and innovation. The Administration has focused intently on this subset of small businesses, with efforts including: creating the President’s Jobs and Competitiveness Council, led by top U.S. executive business leaders -- creating Startup America, a set of initiatives that include: $2 billion in growth capital, a mentoring corps, efforts to reduce regulatory barriers and commercialize federal research, and a new Partnership of top U.S. investors, corporations, universities, and foundations committed to fostering entrepreneurial ecosystems which secured $400 million in commitments in April 2011 -- awarding more than $4.5 billion in research funding through the Small Business Innovation Research program during FY 2009 and FY 2010 -- developing two Recovery Act programs through NIH to help early-stage companies catalyze research in new areas and to help more advanced companies bridge the commercialization gap -- new “challenge” grants from the Commerce that spur commercialization of new technologies -- increasing the percentage of small companies involved in the National Science Foundation’s Engineering Research Centers from 23% to 44% between 2006 and 2010 -- strengthening USDA commercialization, licensing, and patenting efforts for small businesses involved in agricultural technology transfer and innovation through research partnerships -- expanding broadband to small businesses in rural and remote areas through nearly $7 billion in grants through the Recovery Act -- providing women veterans, veterans with disabilities, and reservists with entrepreneurship “boot camps,” in-person training sessions, and online resources through partnerships with universities -- and organizing the White House Women Entrepreneurs Conference and continuing with regional women’s entrepreneurship summits around the country led by SBA and the National Women’s Business Council.

More small business protection

Providing stability and protections for small businesses in the wake of the recession is critical for future economic growth. Administration efforts in this area have included: strengthening financial markets and community banking in order to ensure access to conventional credit through the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Report and Consumer Protection Act -- protecting small businesses from unfair and deceptive credit card practices through the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act -- and saving small businesses $15 billion in foregone regulatory costs in 2010 through the SBA Office of Advocacy’s efforts to ensure flexibility with regulations that disproportionately affect small businesses.