The Biden administration on Monday unveiled a $1.7 billion grant program to bolster access by small businesses to capital and financing services.

In Colorado, grant organizations will receive a total of nearly $31 million, the administration said. 

The $1.73 billion – from the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institutions Fund – is the largest CDFI grant program in history. It will be distributed to more than to 600 grant organizations across the county, including nine in Colorado.

In a news conference, Vice President Kamala Harris outlined the challenges that small businesses, which she calls the backbone of America’s economy, face in accessing financing to, among other endeavors, expand their operations.

Entrepreneurs in rural areas often lack access to any traditional financing services, Harris specifically noted.  

“These grants – representing the largest CDFI grant program in history – will enable hundreds of community lenders to invest in small businesses and entrepreneurs, and also provide home loans for families, financial services for local nonprofits, and capital for community organizations,” Harris said.

The funding is channeled through CDFI’s Equitable Recovery Program, a competitive grant mechanism aimed at providing funding to organizations to expand their lending, grant making, and investment activities in low- or moderate-income communities.

In Colorado, the roughly $31 million will go to the following groups: