Feds award Maryland $10 million for small business program

Maryland is the first state to receive a $10 million federal grant to help support small and underserved businesses in the region. File photo.

Maryland will be the first state to receive funding under the federal Small Business Opportunity Program, a $10 million grant the state and federal officials said will help grow underserved small businesses in the Maryland region.

The $10 million grant to the state is part of $75 million set aside for small businesses as part of the American Rescue Plan Act. Gov Wes Moore (D) said Monday that the program could have far reaching benefits.

“This is going to help more Marylanders turn ideas into jobs and businesses, and turn individuals into job creators,” Moore said. “It’s going to benefit people who just simply want to participate in our state’s economic growth.”

The money will be used to establish the Business Resource Information, Development, and Guidance Ecosystem (BRIDGE). The program will help provide legal, accounting and financial advice to small businesses including those owned by veterans, women and minorities.

TEDCO and the University of Maryland College Park will help oversee the program and will contribute $2.2 million to the effort. The grant to Maryland will be used regionally in Delaware, Virginia and the District of Columbia.

“This BRIDGE program does what bridges do. Bridges connect things. They help you get over obstacles,” said Troy LeMaile-Stovall, CEO of TEDCO, a quasi-public agency charged with helping grow technology companies in Maryland. “They help you get to the other side in an expeditious manner. And so, this bridge program will help our entrepreneurs across the DMV.

“They’ll give them access to talent that they need to grow and scale their enterprises, and they’re helping find X marks the spot — not just in terms of capital, but also in terms of the other types of resources they need that help them grow their business,” he said.

LeMaile-Stovall said the other states and partner universities “will eventually” contribute funding to the effort.

“One of the things we looked for as we were thinking about grantees for the Small Business Opportunity Program was we’re looking for states that were going to be willing to work across state lines and to build regional programs,” said U.S. Treasury Deputy Secretary Wally Adeyemo, who was on the call announcing the grant. “Because what we know is that for many of these small businesses, they are selling products to people, not only in their city often, but because of the ability to advertise online, throughout the country.

“One of the things we appreciated about Maryland’s application was the fact that in so many ways, Maryland is a regional leader, a major regional hub for not only the DMV, but for the broader region and that came across in their application,” Adeyemo said.