Highlights include:
Santa Rosa, County Due Millions in Stimulus Aid – $7.4MM
Forest Service Gets $185 Million to Expand Payroll in Region – $185MM
Workforce Investment Board Offers Free Employment Advice – $220K
Fiber Dominates Latest US Rural Broadband Stimulus Funds Release – $300MM
NIH Funding of Biomedical Innovation Is Creating Jobs, Fueling Industry – $10.5BN
Continue reading “Stimulus News Digest | Office of the Small Business Advocate”
This reports highlights:
Agency plans to restart Recovery loan approvals by Dec. 28
WASHINGTON – President Obama signed the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) appropriations bill on Saturday, which included $125 million to continue through Feb. 28, 2010, the enhancements made possible through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) to SBA’s two largest loan programs. The SBA estimates the additional funding will support $4.5 billion in small business lending.
New approvals of loans with the higher guarantee and reduced fees made possible by ARRA are expected to begin by Dec. 28. Loan applications from borrowers who chose to be placed in the SBA’s Recovery Loan Queue will be funded first, followed by new loan approvals beginning on or before Dec. 28.
Continue reading “Additional Funding for SBA Recovery Lending Programs will Support $4.5 Billion in Small Business Lending | SBA”
Too bad they hit the jackpot on the nickel slots.
The entire Goldman bonus pool should be donated to small businesses, but that’s just me.
Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) have been a rare small business lending success story this year — and next year, they’ll have more cash.
Continue reading “Community lenders hit the funding jackpot | CNN – CA Hispanic Chambers of Commerce”
Somehow the president has managed to turn a base of new and progressive voters he himself energized like no one else could in 2008 into the likely stay-at-home voters of 2010, souring an entire generation of young people to the political process.
Meet the new boss…same as the old boss…
The opening remarks of this report contains the following brilliant observation:
With financial institutions tightening lending standards in this recent economic crisis, the small businesses that depend on them for credit have been hit particularly hard.
Ya think? Without the ability to sell stock or bonds to raise capital, small businesses have to turn to banks. Banks are required to meet tough new standards and for the most part, keep the loans they write on their balance sheets. To maintain their required ratios, most banks have withdrawn credit from those least able to survive it, small business. A perfect storm.
Continue reading “Report to the President – SBA Small Business Financing Forum”
For those of us treading water, this is a hopeful sign.
the “Small Business Job Creation and Access to Capital Act of 2009” would increase the small business loan limit to as high as $5.5 million and extend for a year the fee eliminations and increased guarantee set to expire under the Recovery Act.
Specifically, the “Small Business Job Creation and Access to Capital Act of 2009” would:
- Increase the loan limit on 7(a) loans from $2 million to $5 million;
- Increase the loan limit on 504 loans from $1.5 million to $5.5 million;
- Increase the loan limit on microloans from $35,000 to $50,000 and increase the maximum loan made to a microloan intermediary from $3.5 million to $5 million;
- Allow the 504 loan program to refinance short-term commercial real estate debt into, long-term, fixed rate loans;
- Extend the authorization to provide 90 percent guarantees on 7(a) loans and fee elimination for borrowers on 7(a) and 504 loans through December 31, 2010; and
- Direct the SBA to create a website where small businesses can identify lenders in their communities.
The Office of the Small Business Advocate has this news:
Continue reading “Stimulus News Digest #10 – November 2009 | California Office of the Small Business Advocate”
For now the weak dollar is helping America’s exports. But it is also spooking holders of U.S. debt, whose continued purchases of U.S. Treasury bills allow Washington to fund its deficit spending. Last week, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced that the Reserve Bank of India had bought 200 tons of IMF gold reserves, the biggest single purchase by a central bank in 30 years. That pushed the price of gold past $1,100 an ounce, the latest record breaker in a string of new highs, as the market anticipated gold buying by other central banks to hedge against a falling dollar.
Dispatches From The Front 