The Utah Governor’s Office of Economic Opportunity (Go Utah) recently announced the launch of its Utah Small Business Credit Initiative. This federally funded lending program makes it easier for Utah small businesses and entrepreneurs to qualify for loans, Go Utah said.
The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 reauthorizes and expands this federally funded program and provides a combined $10 billion to states, the District of Columbia, territories and tribal governments to expand access to capital for small businesses emerging from the pandemic.
The U.S. Treasury recently signed a formal allocation agreement that authorizes Utah to operate three lending programs with a total of $69 million in funding, including a loan participation program with $27.6 million, a loan guarantee program with $31.1 million and a capital access program with $10.3 million.
“Over the past several months, Go Utah held community partner meetings, met with small businesses and connected with lenders and trusted business resource providers. Now that the U.S. Treasury has approved our application, we have $69 million in funding to provide low-interest loans to Utah entrepreneurs,” said Pete Codella, managing director of business services at Go Utah.
The program anticipates opening the application process to financial institutions on Nov. 30. Interested financial institutions should contact Alecia Hart at aleciahart@utah.gov to discuss collaboration on the Utah Small Business Credit Initiative.
Approved lenders will begin running the program for Utah’s small businesses by mid-December, according to Codella. Small businesses are invited to contact Hart, participate in the initiative’s virtual meetings and sign up for the Utah Small Business Credit Initiative newsletter.