Goldman Sachs Group has introduced greater Los Angeles 10,000 Small Businesses initiative, to help small businesses grow and create jobs, throughout the Los Angeles metropolitan area.
The program will offer a combination of three resources which include business and management education; access to capital; business support services, to help small business grow and create jobs.
Goldman Sachs said that it will commit $20m of lending capital, in addition to philanthropic support to Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) in Los Angeles County.
The investment is aimed to increase the amount of growth capital available to small businesses in underserved communities and expand the capacity of the CDFIs to deliver enhanced technical assistance to small businesses. The first CDFI that will be receiving financing from Goldman Sachs will be the Valley Economic Development Center. Additional CDFI partners will enter the program in the future.
The 10,000 Small Businesses program will begin operations in Los Angeles in August, 2010.
Lloyd Blankfein, chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs, said: “Working with local community development financial institutions and community colleges, we aim to give selected local businesses the resources they need to grow and create jobs.”