NCN hosted an information session on Monday, June 27th for Native CDFIs to help answer any questions about the U.S. Small Business Administration’s (SBA) updated Community Advantage program, Jackson Brossy, SBA Assistant Administrator for Native American Affairs, and Veronica Pugin, SBA Senior Advisor Office of Capital Access shared information about the programs and process to become a 7a lender.
The Biden-Harris Administration recently unveiled new guidelines for becoming a member that will allow for increased community lender participation. The Community Advantage (CA) Pilot Loan Program was introduced by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) to meet the credit, management, and technical assistance needs of small businesses in underserved markets. CA provides mission-oriented lenders, primarily nonprofit financial intermediaries focused on economic development, access to 7(a) loan guaranties for loans of $350,000 or less. CA’s goals are to: increase access to credit for small businesses located in underserved markets; expand points of access to the SBA 7(a) loan program by allowing non- traditional, mission-oriented lenders to participate; provide Management and Technical Assistance (M&TA) to small businesses as needed; and manage portfolio risk.
You can review a copy of the SBA’s presentation with details about the program here.
Guidelines CA Participation can be found here.
A recording of the session in its entirety is below: