Dear Tribal Leader,

As the Department of the Treasury’s Point of Contact for Tribal Consultation, I invite you to attend a Tribal consultation on State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI) technical assistance (TA) funding. The consultation will be held Tuesday, May 5, 2022, at 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time.

By way of background, the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) provided funding to allow eligible jurisdictions to carry out TA plans to support very small businesses and businesses owned and controlled by socially and economically disadvantaged individuals (SEDI-owned businesses) as such businesses apply for an SSBCI program or other federal or jurisdiction program that support small businesses. Of the amounts for TA funding, approximately $15,000,000 is reserved for Tribal governments and may be used to “provide legal, accounting, and financial advisory services” to very small businesses and SEDI-owned businesses participating in SSBCI loan and investment programs (12 U.S.C. § 5708(e)). Tribal SSBCI programs must use these funds for TA to very small businesses and SEDI-owned businesses that are currently applying for, preparing to apply for, or have previously applied for SSBCI loans or investments (or other federal, state, or tribal small business programs) rather than TA for program administration.

Treasury is hosting a consultation to hear from Tribal governments about how TA funding can be equitably distributed among Tribal governments participating in SSBCI and how the SSBCI TA program can be effectively implemented for Tribal governments.

We respectfully request that each Tribal government register one primary leader or designee to provide comments. All others are welcome to register as listen-only participants. Please note that each consultation can host 500 participants. The deadline to submit written comments is May 15, 2022 at 11:59 p.m. Alaska Time. Written comments should be sent to tribal.consult@treasury.gov.

Consultations are off the record and not for press purposes.
Register here for the Tuesday, May 5, 2022, at 3:00 p.m. session.

During the consultation, Treasury welcomes Tribal leader feedback on the following questions:

1. How should SSBCI TA funding for Tribal governments be allocated among participating Tribal governments?
a. Should Treasury set minimum or maximum allocation amounts?
b. Have Tribal governments considered joint applications for TA funding? That is, two or more Tribal governments coming together to provide SSBCI TA.
i. If so, what issues Treasury should consider with respect to joint applications?
ii. How could Treasury streamline the processes for Tribal governments to consider or propose joint applications?

2. What eligible legal, accounting, and financial advisory services should Treasury consider for Tribal government SSBCI TA programs?
a. What do you anticipate will be the unique TA needs of Tribally government-owned enterprises that are applying for or have received SSBCI loans or investments?
b. What do you anticipate will be the unique TA needs of individual businesses that are applying for or have received Tribal SSBCI loans or investments?

3. What additional factors should Treasury consider, if any, in developing the allocation distribution methodology and uses?

We will send an agenda to registrants by April 29, 2022. We hope that you will be able to join us for this important discussion and we value your participation.

Sincerely,
Fatima Abbas, Interim Treasury Point of Contact for Tribal Consultation
U.S. Department of the Treasury