Congressman Faleomavaega announced today that he was recently informed by the U.S. Treasury that a total of $10.5 million has been approved for American Samoa under the State Small Business Community Initiative (SSBCI).

  “As I mentioned in a past press release, the SSBCI program was one of two programs that Congress created through the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010 to help small business gain access to new credit line and critical capital that will spur job creation,” Faleomavaega said. “The other was the Small Business Lending Fund.”

 “I am very pleased that the American Samoa Government (ASG) was able to go after the SSBCI funding to help small businesses in the Territory. As a major source of employment, small businesses in American Samoa would receive much needed capital to help them expand and hire more workers,” Faleomavaega added.

 “It is my understanding based on my conversation with U.S. Treasury officials that while the application has been approved, ASG would still need to sign a finalized agreement however, for the funding/allocation process to be completed,” Faleomavaega added.

 The administering agency will be the American Samoa Office of Federal Programs, which will use these funds to support a new collateral support program called the American Samoa Credit Support Program that will provide cash collateral to lenders to support new small business lending.

   “For more information on how to apply for the SSBCI program, I encourage small business owners and everyone interested to contact the American Samoa Office of Federal Program in the Governor’s Office,” Faleomavaega noted.
 
 “I want to thank Secretary Tim Geithner and the officials at the U.S. Treasury for their willingness to work with our local government to ensure that American Samoa receives its fair share of the program,” Faleomavaega said.

 “I also want to thank Governor Togiola and the American Samoa Government for their hard work to make sure that American Samoa put in a complete application to get approval under the SSBCI program,” Faleomavaega concluded.