While the federal government does not provide grants for starting or growing small businesses, it does provide a myriad of services to assist entrepreneurs in pursuit of their dreams. One of the mechanisms in place to promote small business growth and economic development are Community Development Financial Institutions.
The U.S Small Business Administration supports both the Small Business Development Center Program and SCORE to provide management assistance to current and prospective small business owners. These programs offer one-stop assistance to individuals and small businesses by providing a wide variety of information and guidance in central and easily accessible branch locations.
The government has launched innumerable programs that are all geared towards the achievement of this goal. Some of these programs involve the provision of technical assistance, training sessions, and strategies that would potentially help business owners in marketing their products and in expanding their businesses.
The Program for Investment in Micro-Entrepreneurs Technical Assistance Program is designed to decrease the number of disadvantaged micro-entrepreneurs by helping them enhance their management capabilities, by way of providing them with technical assistance and training in the areas concerning activities that are associated with starting, expanding and growing their businesses.
Teach for America is a social venture that hires graduating seniors from some of the most selective colleges and offers them with five-week training courses before unleashing them for a minimum of two years in some of the country’s worst classrooms.