The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) announced that 11 organizations will be awarded $50 million in grants to provide training and technical assistance to small domestic manufacturers.
The manufacturers are part of the SBA’s Empower to Grow (E2G) program, and the grants will help the organizations “deliver hands-on training that builds technical proficiency” and help small manufacturers in critical industries to “strengthen America’s industrial dominance,” according to an Aug. 5 statement from the agency.
The geographic scope covered by this set of E2G grants includes parts of Louisiana, Iowa, Pennsylvania, Maine, Michigan, Wisconsin, Oregon, Arizona, and Texas, with a majority of the grant recipients being community colleges. The maximum grant amount awarded to an organization is $5 million.
Empower to Grow is a government initiative that offers individualized coaching to disadvantaged and eligible small businesses to grow with government contracts.
“As part of the Trump SBA’s efforts to support the return to Made in America, the agency is empowering 11 technical schools to offer training for small manufacturers to accelerate our nation’s industrial comeback,” SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler said in the statement.
“These new E2G manufacturing grants build on our existing programs for small manufacturers, which make up 98% of all producers in America, creating a powerful network of advisors to rebuild our industrial leadership across critical industries while supporting our national and economic security.”
The 11 organizations are:
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Fletcher Technical Community College in Louisiana ($4.99 million).
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Iowa Valley Community College District ($5 million).
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Lehigh Carbon Community College in Pennsylvania ($1.43 million).
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Maine Community College System ($5 million).
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Mott Community College in Michigan ($3.75 million).
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Mid-State Technical College in Wisconsin ($5 million).
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Nassau County Board of Cooperative Educational Services in New York state ($5 million).
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Oregon State University ($5 million).
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The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley ($5 million).
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Virginia Manufacturers Association, Inc. ($4.8 million).
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Yuma/La Paz Counties Community College District Arizona Western College ($5 million).
Empower to Grow
The E2G initiative, formerly known as 7(j) Management and Technical Assistance program, provides U.S. small businesses with free training and one-on-one consulting to increase their government contracting competitiveness. This applies to federal, state, and local government contracts.
According to the SBA, this helps disadvantaged, or 8(a) businesses, to access approximately $2 trillion in state and local bid opportunities.
In order to qualify for the training, the business must be located in areas of high unemployment or low income, owned by low-income individuals, and eligible for the SBA’s 8(a) program.
A business is categorized as 8(a) when it is at least 51 percent owned and controlled by U.S. citizens who are socially and economically disadvantaged. The owners must demonstrate good character, have a personal net worth of $850,000 or less, adjusted gross income of $400,000 or less, and assets totaling $6.5 million or less.
Administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration, Kelly Loeffler, speaks during an interview with EpochTV’s “American Thought Leaders” at her office in Washington on Jan. 7, 2026. Madalina Kilroy/The Epoch Times
In addition to the $50 million, the SBA is seeking funding proposals from tribal colleges and trade schools for access to grant opportunities worth $10 million in total. This funding opportunity, also part of the E2G initiative, is to ensure that Native American-owned small businesses have full access to SBA’s business development and expansion tools.
The SBA is also cleaning up its roster of fraudulent businesses seeking to benefit from federal programs.
In May, the agency removed 628 companies from its 8(a) program after they refused to produce, for review, three years of financial documents.
In December 2025, the SBA ordered all 8(a) participants, more than 4,300 companies, to hand over financial documents of the previous three years.
“[This was done] as part of the agency’s ongoing effort to root out [diversity, equity, and inclusion] and small business pass-through contracting abuse that proliferated across the federal government,” the SBA said at the time.
In January 2026, the agency suspended 1,091 8(a) participants, with 628 of the removals being part of the suspended companies.
“Collectively, these firms received nearly $850 million in 8(a) contracts during the Biden Administration from Fiscal Year 2021 to 2024,” the agency said.
“We are ending abuse and [diversity, equity, and inclusion] discrimination in federal contracting and removing every fraudulent participant that took opportunity away from legitimate and eligible small business owners at taxpayers’ expense. Our audit continues and will have more results to report, including potential investigations,” Loeffler said at the time.
