Urge Your Senators to Co-sponsor and Support Sen. DiZoglio’s SBTA Budget Amendment (#19)!

Urge Your Senators to Co-sponsor and Support Sen. DiZoglio’s SBTA Budget Amendment (#19)!

May 2019
David Bryant

MACDC is grateful to the Baker administration and the Legislature for funding the Small Business Technical Assistance (SBTA) Program at $2 million in FY 2019 (line item 7002- 0040), and we are pleased that the Massachusetts House of Representatives voted to increase SBTA funding to $3 million in its budget approved in April – a proposed 50% Program increase for FY 2020.

We are not done yet, and we’ll need your help next week, as the Senate begins debate on its FY20 budget on May 21st.

Last fall, the Baker administration and the Massachusetts Growth Capital Corporation (MGCC), announced $2 million in grants to 40 organizations. The grants range from $10,000 to $120,000 and will allow CDCs and other community-based organizations to provide customized management and operational assistance, financial training, and lending services to small businesses; these resources are targeted to serving low- to moderate-income communities.

There has been growing demand for these technical assistance and program resources; last year MGCC received requests for almost $4 million, and the demand for the program has almost tripled since it was launched in 2007.
Since then, MACDC has been seeking to increase SBTA Program funding to $4 million, in as much as the January 2018 Massachusetts Gaming Commission report, "Reinvesting the Gaming Economic Development Fund," recommended strategies to fund priorities, one of which was deemed to be support for small business technical assistance and lending.

We need your help to increase funding for the SBTA Program in FY 2020. The Senate Committee on Ways and Means has recommended level funding ($2 million) for SBTA.  However, Sen. Diana DiZoglio will be offering an amendment (#19) to increase funding to $4 million.  Please, take a moment to call your state senator and ask them to co-sponsor and support the DiZoglio amendment (#19) to increase funding SBTA at $4 million.

In a $42.7 billion state budget, $4 million represents less than 1/1000th, and it is not an unreasonable amount to request to ensure that small businesses continue to grow and thrive in every community.