BOSTON – On Monday, July 22, Administrator Isabel Casillas Guzman, head of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) and the voice in President Biden’s Cabinet for America’s more than 33 million small businesses, traveled to Boston alongside U.S. Senator Ed Markey, member of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, to highlight the impact of Inflation Reduction Act investments in community energy projects and to introduce a new SBA initiative to attract additional private capital to support small business investments in the clean energy transition.
In the morning, Administrator Guzman toured Team Sunshine, a local solar, roofing, and HVAC installation company that has received SBA support. The Administrator met with the company’s four owners and heard firsthand about the revenue growth opportunities created for their business by the Biden-Harris Administration’s Inflation Reduction Act.
Administrator Guzman then traveled to Indigo Block, a mixed-income housing development in Dorchester, Massachusetts where she was joined by U.S. Senator Ed Markey, Boston’s Chief Climate Officer Brian Swett, Resonant Energy CEO Isaac Baker, and Dorchester Bay Economic Development Corporation CEO Kimberly Lyle. At Indigo Block, the leaders viewed Resonant Energy’s rooftop solar installation, which saves the residential rental portion of Indigo Block approximately $700-$1,300 per month on electricity costs.
Following the tour, Administrator Guzman hosted a press conference to formally announce the SBA’s new Green Lending Initiative to enroll additional climate lenders in the SBA’s loan programs. The initiative will employ SBA loan guarantees to attract additional private capital in support of clean energy investments spurred by President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act.
To conclude the day, Administrator Guzman and Senator Markey hosted a Climate Finance and Innovation Roundtable at MIT’s Engine Accelerator where they discussed federal investments in climate innovation that will power America’s clean energy future.
For follow-up interviews with Administrator Guzman, please reach out to Teddy Lake at theodora.lake@sba.gov.