The city of Anchorage has received a $13.2 million allocation from the Department of Treasury. Officials are calling it, 'The 49th State Angel Fund'. The money is meant to help people start small businesses.
Lucinda Mahoney, Chief Financial Officer for the Municipality of Anchorage, announced the award at Tuesday's Assembly meeting and explained how the program will work.
“It will provide seed capital for startup businesses and for angel investments in the city of Anchorage. It's really exciting because it’s probably one of the first times that we've received a grant of this magnitude that will really help us spur economic development for our community and create jobs,” Mahoney said.
The money comes to anchorage via the “Small Business Jobs Act of 2010” which president Obama signed into law in September 2010. Anchorage is the first and only city to be awarded the Department funding, which is typically awarded to states. About $450,000 of the grant will go toward overhead and the rest will be distributed to start-ups and existing small businesses with under 500 employees over the next two years. The first deadline for grant applications will be this summer.