Small businesses in the Granite State will receive $13 million from the State Small Business Credit Initiative, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen announced.

SSBCI, a program through the U.S. Treasury Department’s Small Business Jobs Act, will bring $13 million in federal funds to New Hampshire to help small businesses access credit and create jobs.

The SSBCI is a new $1.5 billion initiative included in President Barack Obama’s Small Business Jobs Act, which was signed into law in October. The funds strengthen state programs that leverage private lending to small businesses and manufacturers that are creditworthy but can’t get the loans they need to expand and create jobs.

To qualify for the grant, states must show that each dollar in federal funding would leverage at least 10 dollars in lending to small businesses. The SSBCI’s $1.5 billion funding commitment by the federal government is expected to support $15 billion in new small business lending nationwide.

Shaheen was an advocate of the SSBCI in the Small Business Jobs Act and wrote a letter to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner in May in support of New Hampshire’s application.

“As a member of the Senate Small Business Committee and co-sponsor of the Small Business Jobs Act, I am confident these critical funds will help small businesses in the Granite State access the credit they need to grow and spur job creation,” Shaheen said in a statement. “Individual states understand the unique needs of their small businesses, and these funds will be used effectively to get the people of New Hampshire back to work.”

The SSBCI funding in New Hampshire will support small business lending programs that will leverage more than $130 million in new loans to small businesses, Sen. Shaheen’s office said.

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