Head Of Small Business Administration Announces Expansion Of Micro Loan Program In Chicago
(CBS) -- The head of the federal Small Business Administration is observing Martin Luther King Day is Chicago. She's here to participate in service activities, meet with local small business leaders and help expand a loan program, reports WBBM Political Editor Craig Dellimore.
SBA Administrator Maria Contreras-Sweet says she came to Chicago in part to announce a $750,000 partnership with the Emanuel Administration to make many more small--or micro--loans available to local businesses.
How does assistance to smaller entrepreneurs further the dream of Dr. Martin Luther King?
"One of the things that Dr. Martin Luther King said is 'What good is it to be able to sit at an integrated counter if you can't afford to buy the hamburger?'" Contreras-Sweet said. "He understood that Civil Rights needed to come right along market rights and that is what is so powerful here that we are saying we don't want to help you go buy the hamburger, we want you to go back and buy the restaurant.
The city's existing micro-loan program has given more than a million and a half dollars in loans to 179 businesses. The latest announcement expands that effort.