Press Release

U.S. Department of Commerce Invests $750,000 in CARES Act Recovery Assistance to Provide Technical Assistance and Enhance Lending to Small Businesses in the Metro Atlanta Area, Georgia

WASHINGTON – Today, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration (EDA) is awarding a $750,000 CARES Act Recovery Assistance grant to Trufund Financial Services, Inc., New York, New York, to provide training and affordable capital to small businesses impacted by the coronavirus pandemic in the Metro Atlanta area, Georgia. This EDA grant will be matched with $187,500 in local investment.

“The Economic Development Administration is committed to helping communities across the nation implement strategies to mitigate the economic hardships of the coronavirus pandemic,” said Dennis Alvord, Acting Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development. “This EDA investment will address the need to provide small businesses in Fulton, Dekalb, Clayton, Cobb, Gwinnett, Henry, and Douglas counties with the technical assistance and capital they need to survive the economic stress of the pandemic and to position them to become more resilient in the face of future economic interruptions.”

This project was made possible by the regional planning efforts led by the Atlanta Regional Commission, which EDA funds to bring together the public and private sectors to create an economic development roadmap to strengthen the regional economy, support private capital investment and create jobs.

This project is funded under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act (Public Law 116-136 PDF), which provided EDA with $1.5 billion for economic assistance programs to help communities prevent, prepare for, and respond to coronavirus. EDA CARES Act Recovery Assistance, which is being administered under the authority of the bureau’s flexible Economic Adjustment Assistance (EAA) (PDF) program, provides a wide-range of financial assistance to eligible communities and regions as they respond to and recover from the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic.

About the U.S. Economic Development Administration (www.eda.gov)
The mission of the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) is to lead the federal economic development agenda by promoting competitiveness and preparing the nation's regions for growth and success in the worldwide economy. An agency within the U.S. Department of Commerce, EDA invests in communities and supports regional collaboration in order to create jobs for U.S. workers, promote American innovation, and accelerate long-term sustainable economic growth.