St. Pete officials will announce a federal grant program aimed at expanding training and capital services for low-income entrepreneurs. Mayor Rick Kriseman and Deputy Mayor Kanika Tomalin will join U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor and the Tampa Bay Black Business Investment Corp. Tuesday to announce further details of the PRIME Project at 10 a.m. at 1123 22nd. Street South in St. Pete.
PRIME stands for Program for Investment in Microentrepreneurs. The program is expected to help as many as 220 low-income small business hopefuls in any of eight technical assistance programs. Once those entrepreneurs are ready, they will have access to one of six capital sources to help build their business.
The announcement comes hot on the heels of Kriseman’s participation in an entrepreneurship conference in Albuquerque, N.M., and news that next year’s conference would be held in St. Pete
The TBBIC spearheaded efforts to identify federal funding with support from the City Urban Affairs division, the cityโs Greenhouse small business group, the Florida Small Business Development Center at Pinellas County Economic Development, the Pinellas Opportunity Council and the 202 Plan Taskforce.
Support also came from the offices of U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson and Castor.
Also expected to attend the official announcement are St. Pete City Council member Karl Nurse and leaders from the 2020 plan as well as the Pinellas Opportunity Council.
