Lanterna Rally

Author: United States; Congress; Senate; Committee on Small Business

Publisher: Forgotten Books

Published: 2015-06-12

Total Pages: 104

ISBN-13: 9781330284407

Excerpt from Oversight Hearing of the Small Business Administration's Microloan Demonstration Program: Hearing Before the Committee on Small Business, United States Senate, One Hundred Third Congress, First Session February 25, 1993 The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10 a.m. in room 428A, Russell Senate Office Building, Hon. Dale Bumpers (Chairman of the Committee) presiding. The Chairman. The Committee will come to order. We have convened this morning to examine the implementation of the Microloan Demonstration Program, which was created by this Committee and authorized in late 1991. This is a 5-year pilot program to test the idea of providing Federal direct loans to non-profit or community development intermediaries for the purpose of providing the smallest businesses with very modest loans and intensive management assistance. I might say not just businesses, but also individuals who want to start a business. Microloans are generally in amounts under $10,000 but they can be in amounts up to $25,000. This program creates jobs through new businesses for people who have no access to credit through banks or traditional lenders. It was and remains my goal that the Microloan Program become a very useful tool in every state for combating poverty, unemployment and under-employment by offering people a chance at the dream of successful business ownership. Initially, 35 programs were authorized nationwide with funding of $15 million for loans and $3 million for technical assistance grants. Due to the success and popularity of this program, Congress was able to increase the number of authorized programs to 110 and to increase the program's funding twice in the past year to a total of $73 million for loans and $13 million for technical assistance grants. The Committee's purpose in holding this hearing is to examine the implementation of the program and identify legislative changes which might be necessary to improve its design or operations. Representing the SBA today is Mr. Charles Hertzberg, assistant administrator for Financial Assistance, accompanied by John Cox, director of SBA's Office of Financing. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.