State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI)

About this programme

The State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI) is a nearly $10 billion U.S. Department of the Treasury programme, reauthorized and expanded by the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, that funds small-business capital access through states, the District of Columbia, U.S. territories, and Tribal governments rather than through Treasury directly. Treasury calls these recipients "participating jurisdictions" — each one designs its own mix of credit-support and equity/venture-capital programmes to fit local financing needs, then delivers them through partner banks, CDFIs, other lenders, and venture capital funds.

SSBCI is not a grant to individual small businesses. A business cannot apply to Treasury for SSBCI money. It accesses SSBCI-backed capital by borrowing from, or raising investment through, a lender or investor that participates in its state's, territory's, or Tribal government's SSBCI-supported programme — often through the jurisdiction's economic development agency or Small Business Development Center, or directly through a participating lender or investor.

Treasury structures SSBCI around two programmes: the Capital Program, which funds the credit-support and equity/venture-capital instruments jurisdictions use to back individual loans and investments, and the Technical Assistance (TA) Grant Program, which funds legal, accounting, and financial advisory support to help qualifying small businesses actually apply for and use SSBCI-backed and other capital programmes. Treasury separately transferred $100 million to the Minority Business Development Agency for a related Capital Readiness grant programme aimed at incubators and accelerators serving underserved businesses.

SSBCI is designed to catalyze private capital: Treasury's stated aim is to generate up to $10 of private lending or investment for every $1 of SSBCI Capital Program funding, with a particular focus on historically underserved communities and entrepreneurs who have had difficulty accessing capital through conventional channels.

How it works

The Capital Program supports five types of state-designed instruments. Capital Access Programs (CAPs) provide portfolio insurance in the form of a loan-loss reserve fund that the lender and borrower both contribute to. Collateral Support Programs provide cash collateral that improves a small business's ability to borrow. Loan Guarantee Programs reduce a lender's exposure on a loan that might otherwise be inaccessible or too expensive. Loan Participation Programs have the jurisdiction purchase a portion of a loan made by a private lender, or make a direct loan alongside one. Equity/Venture Capital Programs provide capital as equity investment, typically channelled through venture capital funds, to underserved startups.

Each participating jurisdiction receives its SSBCI Capital Program allocation in up to three tranches, not as a single disbursement. To draw its second and third tranches, a jurisdiction must certify to Treasury that it has expended, obligated, or transferred at least 80 percent of its prior tranche, and Treasury performs compliance testing on supporting documentation before releasing further funds.

A dedicated allocation supports businesses owned by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals (SEDI-owned businesses): $1.5 billion is earmarked for expenditure toward SEDI-owned businesses, plus a further $1.0 billion "SEDI incentive" allocation that a jurisdiction earns in proportion to how much of its own SEDI Objective (a jurisdiction-specific target percentage) it actually achieves when it draws its second and third tranches.

For Other Credit Support Programs (loan guarantee, loan participation, collateral support) and equity/venture-capital programmes, SSBCI rules generally require that public SSBCI investment "cause and result in" at least $1 of new private financing for every $1 of SSBCI support — the 1:1 financing requirement — and that the private lender or investor bear a meaningful share of the transaction's risk (for lenders, at least 20 percent risk of loss at origination, retaining at least 5 percent after any transfer).

Who can apply

Eligibility is set at two levels. First, a jurisdiction (a state, D.C., a territory, or a Tribal government) must have an approved SSBCI Capital Program with Treasury — this is a jurisdiction-to-Treasury relationship, not something an individual business applies for.

Second, within that jurisdiction's approved programme, an individual small business must meet whatever criteria the specific lender, CDFI, or venture capital fund applies for the loan or investment product it offers — SSBCI does not itself set a single small-business eligibility test; that sits with the participating jurisdiction's programme design and the underwriting standards of the participating lender or investor.

Businesses owned and controlled by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals (SEDI-owned businesses) can self-certify for that status using a jurisdiction-provided form, which can affect the terms or priority a specific state programme applies, though SEDI status is not itself a general eligibility gate for SSBCI-backed financing.

Non-profit organizations can, in some cases, receive SSBCI-supported loans, investments, or other credit or equity support where the jurisdiction's programme rules permit it, and can qualify for SEDI-owned classification under the same four-group test used for for-profit businesses.

How to apply

1. Identify which state, territory, or Tribal government the business operates in and review that jurisdiction's SSBCI Capital Program mix — Treasury publishes a List of SSBCI Capital Programs & Contacts and per-jurisdiction State/Territory Capital Program Summaries on the SSBCI website.
2. Contact the jurisdiction's economic development agency, Small Business Development Center, or the specific SSBCI programme contact listed for that state or territory; in many jurisdictions this office directs businesses to the participating lenders or investors delivering the programme rather than taking applications itself.
3. Where the SSBCI programme operates through lenders (loan participation, loan guarantee, collateral support, capital access), apply for the underlying loan with a participating bank, credit union, or CDFI — the SSBCI support is applied to that loan by the lender, not by the business directly.
4. Where the SSBCI programme operates through equity/venture capital, approach the participating venture capital fund the jurisdiction has invested SSBCI funds into; the fund makes its own investment decision, with SSBCI capital forming part of the fund's committed capital.
5. For legal, accounting, or financial advisory help preparing to apply, ask whether the jurisdiction runs an SSBCI Technical Assistance (TA) Grant Program — TA Grant recipients can use SSBCI TA funds to support qualifying small businesses applying for SSBCI capital programmes and, in some cases, other federal or jurisdiction small-business programmes.

Frequently asked

Reviewed 2026-08-16. Programmes change — confirm current eligibility, amounts and deadlines on the official page before you apply. CapEasy is a private consultancy and is not affiliated with any government authority.