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 Small Business Administration has established the Historically Underutilized Business Zones (HUBZone) Empowerment Contracting Program wherein they aim to provide federal contracting assistance to eligible small business corporations which are located in underutilized business zones so as to improve their employment opportunities, investments, and their area's economic development.
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.
In partnership with the Unreasonable Group, the Nike Foundation is set to launch the Girl Effect Accelerator this November to help social entrepreneurs whose business startups focus on helping economically disadvantaged adolescent girls.