The Administration is committed to ensuring that the nation’s small businesses receive the support they need to access federal relief programs that can help them weather the economic downturn caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The focus of this program is to reach, and support underserved small businesses, including micro and rural businesses, with emphasis and those owned by women, veterans and socially and economically disadvantaged individuals.
To better reach these small businesses, SBA is launching the Community Navigator Pilot Program that will strengthen outreach to underserved businesses by partnering with organizations with established relationships and experience within their communities.
The Community Navigator Pilot Program is designed to provide high quality technical assistance with pandemic relief programs and recovery services to small businesses and entrepreneurs. Recovery services can include financial assistance, access to capital, contracting and procurement assistance, marketing, operations, and business development, export and industry specific training, among other areas of technical assistance to aid businesses in stabilization and expansion. Programming that focuses on supporting communities where English is a second language and that offers technical assistance in languages other than English is encouraged.
The American Rescue Plan Act, 2021 (Pub. L. No. 117-2, § 5004) authorizes SBA to establish the Community Navigator Pilot Program to make grants to, or enter into contracts or cooperative agreements with, private nonprofit organizations, SBA Resource Partners, States, Tribes, and units of entities. OED will support the Community Navigator Pilot Program. OED’s mission is to help small businesses start, grow, and compete in global markets by providing quality training, counseling, and access to resources.
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