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 Recovery Capital Loans Program provides financial assistance to small business with less than 500 employees to obtain a deferred payment loan from the agency, in order to meet existing debt payments, thereby giving the business the opportunity to refocus their business strategy.
A Community Development Credit Union, more commonly known as a CDCU, is a credit financial institution which owned and controlled by its members in an effort to sustain the ability of being able to provide a wide array of financial services.
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.