This bill, known as the Strengthening Place-based Access, Resources, and Knowledge Act (SPARK Act), aims to stimulate economic growth and reduce business failure rates in underserved communities. It seeks to achieve this by creating a pipeline for small business ownership, closing revenue and employment gaps for underserved businesses, and encouraging collaboration between the Small Business Administration (SBA) and community-focused organizations. The Act establishes the SPARK Program , authorizing the SBA to enter into 5-year cooperative agreements with eligible entities such as accelerators, incubators, community development financial institutions, minority depository institutions, and educational institutions. These entities will conduct projects to benefit startup, newly established, or growing small businesses. Projects must provide one-to-one counseling and formal mentorship, continuously upgrade services, and specifically target underserved groups including women, socially and economically disadvantaged individuals, veterans, individuals with disabilities, and businesses in rural or economically distressed areas. Cooperative agreements under the SPARK Program require a minimum of $500,000 in annual financial assistance. The SBA will evaluate applications based on criteria such as location in distressed or rural areas, commitment to partnering with local stakeholders, and the ability to serve underserved groups. The program includes annual examinations and reporting requirements to ensure accountability and measure success, with provisions for training and technical assistance for participating entities. Additionally, the bill creates the SPARK Financing Program , a grant and loan initiative designed to provide financial assistance to covered entities, including those participating in the SPARK Program, to support covered small business concerns . These covered businesses are defined as those owned by members of underserved groups or located in federally recognized areas of economic distress. Financial assistance can be up to $1,000,000 annually for entities with a SPARK Program cooperative agreement, or up to $500,000 annually for others. The financial assistance from this program can be used to make grants of up to $20,000 to covered small businesses or to provide loans with significantly lower interest rates or equity contributions than typical. This loan component is specifically designed to reduce loan denials due to insufficient collateral, decrease financing costs, and increase access to capital for businesses historically excluded from credit markets. Covered entities are prohibited from charging fees to small businesses receiving these grants or loans. The Administrator of the SBA is mandated to establish regulations within one year to implement both programs, including procedures for verifying the proper use of funds and establishing clawback provisions for instances of fraud. Both programs also require annual reporting to Congress on key metrics such as the number of businesses served, capital accessed, and jobs created or sustained, with a breakdown by demographics and location.