U.S. Department of the Treasury

State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI) Program

Fact Sheet

November 2021

What is SSBCI?

The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 reauthorizes and expands the State Small Business 

Credit Initiative (SSBCI) Program, which was originally established in 2010. SSBCI will provide 

a combined $10 billion to states, the District of Columbia, territories, and Tribal governments to 

expand access to capital for small businesses emerging from the pandemic, build ecosystems of 

opportunity and entrepreneurship, and create high-quality jobs.

SSBCI provides recipient jurisdictions funding for: (1) credit and investment programs for

existing small businesses and start-ups, and (2) technical assistance to small businesses applying 

for SSBCI funding and other government small business programs. Today, Treasury is issuing

guidance to implement the SSBCI credit and investment programs. 

Types of Programs

The programs available under SSBCI to promote capital access to all recipient jurisdictions, 

including in underserved areas, include: 

• Venture Capital Programs: Jurisdictions may set up public-private partnerships for equity

investing or invest in venture capital funds. These investments are focused on providing 

capital to underserved startups and democratizing venture capital across geography and to

diverse founders.

• Loan Participation Programs: In these programs, states, the District of Columbia, 

territories, and Tribal governments buy an interest in the loans made by lenders or lend 

directly alongside private lenders, providing direct lending to finance small businesses.

• Loan Guarantee Programs: States, the District of Columbia, territories, and Tribal 

governments use SSBCI funds to provide an assurance to lenders that they will be 

partially repaid in the event of default, after the lender makes every reasonable effort to 

collect, helping small businesses secure loans that may have otherwise been inaccessible

or prohibitively expensive.

• Collateral Support Programs: The programs in this model set aside funds as collateral for 

new loans, enabling start-ups to borrow funds to help their businesses grow with the 

assistance of SSBCI capital. 

• Capital Access Programs (CAPs): These programs provide portfolio insurance in the 

form of a loan loss reserve fund into which the lender and borrower contribute, 

supplemented with SSBCI funds.
Program Implementation and Guidance Design

Treasury’s implementation of the SSBCI program will expand access to capital, promote 

economic resiliency, create new jobs, and increase economic opportunity. Treasury is focused on 

expanding opportunities in underserved communities lacking capital and building financing

ecosystems that support entrepreneurs and small businesses. This focus is reflected in several 

important features of these programs, including:

Promoting Equity. 

• The program has a new allocation of $1.5 billion for business enterprises owned and 

controlled by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals (SEDI-owned 

businesses), along with $1 billion of incentive funds for jurisdictions that demonstrate

robust support for SEDI-owned businesses. These allocations combine to be more than 

the entire funding for the 2010 SSBCI program.

o The $1.5 billion allocation targets (1) small businesses owned by individuals that 

have faced barriers to access to the capital, markets, and networks they need to 

grow their businesses because of certain statuses or membership in certain groups, 

including membership in a group that has been subjected to racial or ethnic 

prejudice or cultural bias within American society, and (2) small businesses in 

Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) Investment Areas, which 

are generally low-income, high-poverty geographies that receive insufficient 

support for the needs of small businesses, including minority-owned businesses. 

o Treasury will allocate the $1 billion of incentive funds to jurisdictions that 

effectively deliver robust support to these groups, helping to promote lending and 

venture capital investment for small businesses run by diverse founders or that 

operate in geographic regions that have traditionally lacked access to capital.

• The program will provide over $600 million in allocated funds to Tribal governments, 

which have been consulted during the process of policy design.

Catalyzing Private Investment. 

• SSBCI is designed to catalyze $10 of small business lending and investment for every $1 

of SSBCI capital program funding, magnifying the effects of the federal funds allocated 

through the program. 

• States, the District of Columbia, territories, and Tribal governments must describe in their 

application how the SSBCI funding causes and results in new lending and investment, 

ensuring that the funds are used for small businesses and start-ups that would otherwise 

lack opportunities for growth-supporting capital.

• The program mobilizes local sources of capital, such as community banks, CDFIs, 

Minority Depository Institutions, and investors, to support local small businesses. The 

program also rewards investments outside of traditional high-access areas and to start-ups

that have struggled to receive funding.
Fueling Economic Growth and Good Jobs. 

• SSBCI will build on the Administration’s work to support small businesses while 

combating longstanding structural inequities in access to credit and unequal opportunities 

for growth revealed and exacerbated by the pandemic.

• In their SSBCI applications, states, the District of Columbia, territories, and Tribal 

governments must explain the economic benefits of their programs, such as how they will

create well-paying jobs and how they might support American manufacturing, supply 

chain industries, communities facing transitions to net zero economies or 

deindustrialization, or how they might further other policy objectives. 

• The scale of capital funding, over 6.5 times greater than the initial SSBCI program, can 

be transformative for communities impacted by large-scale job losses, within emerging 

industries, and for the many centers of entrepreneurship currently underserved by capital 

markets.