Business Resource Information, Development, and Guidance Ecosystem (BRIDGE) Program

About

TEDCO’s BRIDGE Program was created to provide legal, accounting and financial advisory services to Socially and Economically Disadvantaged Individuals (SEDI)-owned businesses and Very Small Businesses (VSBs) with fewer than 10 employees.

With this additional support, SEDI-owned businesses and VSBs will receive better access to capital, including funds from the State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI) Capital Program and other federal funding opportunities resulting from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, CHIPS and Science Act, Inflation Reduction Act, and SBIR/STTR funding.

The three-year project will be led by TEDCO in collaboration with SBDCs (MD-UMCP, VA-George Mason University, DC-Howard University), University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law and supported by SBDC (Delaware), Delaware Division of Small Business and the Virginia Small Business Financing Authority.

This project is being supported, in whole or in part, by federal award number SSBCI-21034-0009 awarded to Maryland Technology Development Corporation (TEDCO) by the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

In addition to the program described below, BRIDGE Advisors will work with companies to understand where they are today and help them move to where they want to be through a BRIDGE Assessment. The BRIDGE program includes:

BRIDGE Programs

BRIDGE Advising (Lead: TEDCO) – TEDCO’s BRIDGE Advisors work with each individual business, providing mentoring and advising support. Once a business applies to BRIDGE, they then complete an Assessment to help Advisors understand their business status and guide them to the best resources available.
Financial Literacy, Credit Repair, and Building (Lead: SBDC) – This is a new program that provides consulting services to help business owners improve credit to better position them for loans and other debt capital.
CDFI Technical Assistance (Lead: TEDCO) – This is a new competitive program that will engage CDFI partners across the region by awarding 8 grants of up to $100K each year to support technical assistance programs managed by the CDFIs.
Back-Office-In-A-Box (Lead: TEDCO) – This is a new competitive program that will provide 3-5 grants of up to $100K to partner organizations that can provide accounting, bookkeeping and other support to companies.
Women’s Access to Capital & Entrepreneurship (ACE) Program (Lead: TEDCO/IWEE) – This funding expands the current IWEE entrepreneurial leadership program to reach more SEDI women and women leading VSBs to better position them for funding.
Rural & Urban Business Innovation Initiatives (R/UBII) (Lead: TEDCO) – This funding will support the expansion of TEDCO’s R/UBII program by adding two additional venture advisors for the duration of the program.
BRIDGE Proposal Lab (Lead: TEDCO) – The Proposal Lab is an intensive business development accelerator program designed to equip SEDI entrepreneurs and VSBs with the skills, resources, assistance, and mentorship necessary to compete and win proposals in today’s increasingly consolidated federal funding environment. It is open for applications to government contractors registered to do business in Maryland, DC, Virginia, and Delaware. This cohort-based initiative blends U.S. Department of Labor–certified Apprenticeship instruction with hands-on pipeline, capture, and proposal development.
Carey Business Law Clinic + Intellectual Property & Entrepreneurship Clinic (IPEC) (Lead: UMB Carey School) – This funding will support an expansion of the Carey School’s legal clinic, which provides pro bono legal services to entrepreneurs – especially for corporate formation and related business matters.
Loaned Executive Program (Lead: TEDCO) – These funds will expand TEDCO’s Loaned Executive program by allowing for 30 more loaned executive engagements each year.

This project is being supported, in whole or in part, by federal award number SSBCI-21034-0009 awarded to Maryland Technology Development Corporation (TEDCO) by the U.S. Department of the Treasury.