U.S. Small Business Administration: Program for Investment in Microentrepreneurs Act (PRIME)

The Program for Investment in Microentrepreneurs (PRIME) Act authorizes the Small Business Administration (SBA) Administrator to establish a program for the purposes of:

• Providing training and technical assistance to disadvantaged entrepreneurs
• Providing training and capacity building assistance to microenterprise development organizations (MDOs) and programs
• Aiding in research and development of best practices for microenterprise and technical assistance programs for disadvantaged entrepreneurs
• For other activities as the SBA Administrator determines

This year, SBA will give additional consideration to those applicants that (1) provide training and technical assistance to economically disadvantaged entrepreneurs in rural areas; and (2) training and technical assistance to support entrepreneurship in Hub Zones and Opportunity Zones.

Eligible organizations may apply to SBA for awards of financial assistance to conduct activities under one, but not more than one, of the following Funding Tracks:

• Track I (Technical Assistance) – Seeks applications for funding to provide training and technical assistance programs to disadvantaged entrepreneurs
• Track II (Capacity Building) – Seeks applications for funding to provide training and capacity building services to MDOs, microenterprise development programs, and groups of such organizations to assist them in developing microenterprise training and services

Amount: Up to $5,000,000 is available to make approximately 25 awards as follows:

• A minimum of 75 percent for Technical Assistance Grants, Track I
• A minimum of 15 percent for Capacity Building Grants and not to exceed 25%, Track II
• The remaining 10 percent or less may be allocated by SBA, in its sole discretion to be used for: Research and Development Grants or Discretionary Grants

SBA anticipates awards for Tracks I and II will be in the range of $75,000-$250,000. A 50 percent matching contribution is required, but SBA may reduce or eliminate this requirement in certain circumstances.

Eligibility: Private, non-profit microenterprise development organizations; microenterprise development programs run by State/Local/Tribal Governments; or Indian tribes interested in providing assistance and guidance to disadvantaged microentrepreneurs and/or microenterprise development organizations for the purposes stated above.

Link: https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=315817

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