Stimulus funds are making their way down to local small businesses, according to the Placer County Office of Economic Development.

“Most government agencies have received their funds and are being prodded by the Obama administration to spend dollars quickly,” David Snyder, county director of economic development, said in a press release. “It’s a great time for small business to explore how they might benefit.”

Businesses can bid on area infrastructure projects, mainly in the area of energy and transportation, through the www.recovery.gov Web site.

The newest program unfolding is the Small Business Administration’s American Recovery Capital loans to provide relief for businesses suffering at a result of the economic crisis.

The $35,000 five-year emergency bridge loans are available to viable businesses, with no payments for the first year, Snyder said in a press release.

“They’re in the process this week of getting out the guidelines to the preferred lenders,” Snyder said.

He estimates that applications will be available June 15.

“The best advice is it will be first-come-first served as long as the business is qualified,” he said.

Funds also have been allocated to the Golden Sierra Workforce Investment Board, which covers Placer, El Dorado and Alpine counties.

Golden Sierra has received $3.93 million for 2009/2010, director Jason Buckingham said.

Rather than creating specialized training programs, the agency is taking an individualized approach.

“One of the options is on-the-job training and paying the employer up to 50 percent of loss in wages while the employee is being trained,” Buckingham said. “The stipulation is that the employee would stay on after the training is completed.”

The infusion of funds also is going toward increasing personnel, hours of operation and services at Placer County’s two One-Stop Career Centers — in Auburn and Roseville. From that total, $400,000 is earmarked for layoff aversion and business retention through the Vital Assets program.

“We pulled a report from Dunn & Bradstreet to identify at-risk businesses,” Buckingham said. “So we can go out and meet individually with those businesses in the most danger of layoffs and closing, to make sure they get the help they need.”

Another $1.2 million is paying for a summer employment program for youth ages 14-24.

“The purpose of the summer youth program is to provide work readiness, academic enrichment and work experience,” Buckingham said. “Most of the money is going out to kids in wages.”

Locally, the Placer County Office of Education has secured funding for an ROP engineering design program to train students in drafting at Truckee High School, a video production course at Lincoln High School and landscaping training at Chana High School.

In addition, Whole Person Learning in Auburn is getting $73,329 for four summer projects — a Transition Age Youth Advocacy video, Youth Rights packet and training video, Placer County Children’s System of care evaluation and improvement video and youth conservation project.

The economic outlook seems to a little less bleak, according to Snyder.

“If you look at a lot of various indicators out there — nationally and statewide — there’s much more consumer optimism than there was (six months ago), and much more business optimism,” Snyder said. “A lot of economists are pointing to the third quarter as experiencing a slight rebound. “We’re in the second quarter now, so perhaps in mid-to-late summer or early fall, we’ll begin to see some evidence that the economy is on the way back. But for now, we’re still seeing a lot of mixed signals.”

Gloria Young can be reached at gloriay@goldcountrymedia.com.