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Q&A
Federal funding for SBS and expiration of COVID funds
1:17:42
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174 sec
Commissioner Gross addresses concerns about potential federal funding cuts and the expiration of COVID-related funds for SBS programs.
- SBS has not seen or heard of any federal plans that would jeopardize their funding sources
- Workforce and small business services generally enjoy broad bipartisan support
- SBS is monitoring policy announcements from Washington D.C. but has no deep concerns about funding impacts
- The agency is prepared to adapt to potential changes in the small business ecosystem
- All federal COVID funds for SBS have expired and are not being used in current programming
- Previous COVID-related allocations for workforce and business programming have not been carried forward in the budget
Oswald Feliz
1:17:42
Got it.
1:17:43
Okay.
1:17:43
Moving on to federal and COVID funding.
1:17:47
As we know, in January, the Trump administration passed federal loan and grant spending, then they rescinded the order two days later.
1:17:56
But an executive order issued by the administration to review the funding remains in effect.
1:18:01
The preliminary plan includes $43,600,000 in federal funding for SBS in FY 2026 with 32,800,000 for the city's workforce development efforts.
1:18:13
How would decreases in federal funding affect the services that you provide?
Dynishal Gross
1:18:19
Thank you, Chair Felice.
1:18:20
So at this point we have not seen or heard of any federal plans that would jeopardize the sources of federal funding that SBS relies on and those include funding for our workforce services and workforce and small business services have generally enjoyed broad bipartisan support and so of course we're monitoring policy announcements out of Washington DC but at this point we have no cause for deep concern that the sources of funding that we rely on will be impacted by those shifts.
1:18:58
However, know we want to be sure that we're paying attention to the larger impact on the small business ecosystem as that could affect the capacity of our partners or demand for SBS services so that we can adapt as needed.
Oswald Feliz
1:19:14
Okay.
1:19:16
As we know almost every day we continue to hear threats coming from Washington, threats related to budget cuts to different city and state agencies.
1:19:25
I think the last one I heard was a threat to the MTA.
1:19:29
Does SBS have a contingency plan in place of the federal funds are cut?
Dynishal Gross
1:19:35
Thank you member chair Fuly.
1:19:36
So as I said, you know we're monitoring these conversations closely and I know that OMB is monitoring that on a citywide basis as well and, you know, we have, you know, healthy discussions with OMB.
1:19:50
But at this time, we have no reason to expect that the sources of federal funding that we rely on are in jeopardy.
Oswald Feliz
1:20:02
Has all of the COVID funding from the federal government expired?
1:20:06
If yes, how has the expiration federal COVID funds affected SBS's programming?
Dynishal Gross
1:20:12
Thank you chair Felice.
1:20:14
We are not currently using or any federal funds, COVID funds.
1:20:23
We did receive some enhancements that we used for workforce programming and business programming, but those allocations have not been carried forward in our budget.
1:20:35
They have expired.