New SBA programs in place under administrator Mills

8/9/2011

Despite the economic turmoil of 2011, the U.S. Small Business Administration is still backing commercial loans. Since the beginning of the recession in the late 2000s, the organization has created two new programs to help businesses in underserved communitites in addition to implementing new processes to facilitate more lending.

The Community Advantage program is designed to help businesses and entrepreneurs in areas facing economic and employment hardships, such as inner cities. The initiative was introduced in February of 2011, and the SBA touts the program's administrative streamlining (with only two pages for the initial application).

SBA lending has assisted all kinds of businesses in the past few years. Karen G. Mills, the 23rd administrator of the organization, took office in early 2009 and has seen the results first-hand.

"In two years," she said in an interview with Entrepreneur magazine, "the SBA has helped deliver $42 billion into the hands of small business owners in credit guarantees during the worst small business credit crisis in recent history."

In addition to the Community Advantage program, the SBA under Mills created the Small Loan Advantage initiative to help businesses procure lending amounts under a quarter million dollars. The SBA's new programs aim to keep small businesses thriving through the shaky economic situation.