The delivery infrastructure
America’s small business
AI mandate is missing.
Congress passed it. The White House endorsed it. 36 million small businesses need it. AI for Main Street is building the national training layer — through SBDCs and Chambers — before anyone else does.
Built for the organizations
that power Main Street.
Your hub proposal needs a proven training partner. Here’s what that looks like.
The NSF AI-Ready America program is funding state hubs to deliver AI training through SBDC networks. AI for Main Street provides the curriculum, the delivery model, and the outcome tracking your application requires — written into your grant budget as an allowable cost.
- Field-tested curriculum mapped to H.R. 5764 and S. 3888 mandate areas
- 2,500+ professionals trained through Greenheck Foundation, Ascendium, Harvard Alumni Entrepreneurs
- Your institution remains lead applicant — we are the sub-awardee
- No upfront cost — our fee is an allowable budget line item
- NSF LOI deadline: June 16, 2026
One company will define how 36 million small businesses first experience AI.
Google has committed $15 million to small business AI training through SBDCs and Chambers. The SBDC and Chamber networks reach every congressional district. No company owns the coordinating infrastructure yet. The Founding Partner position is exclusive — and it will not stay available.
- Exclusive national co-brand across SBDC, Chamber, and SBA delivery networks
- Named implementation partner in federal grant applications
- First-mover lock before a competitor claims the position
- Access to real deployment data from a diverse small business population
- Legislative credibility: association with a 395–14 House vote and White House backing
Four bills. Two chambers.
One mandate.
Congress is building the federal framework for small business AI readiness. The March 2026 White House National AI Legislative Framework explicitly calls on Congress to expand AI workforce development for small businesses — aligning executive and legislative branches behind the same priority. AI for Main Street is built to deliver on it.
AI for Main Street Act
The foundational bill. Amends the Small Business Act to direct SBDCs to provide AI guidance, training, and outreach to small businesses — covering best practices, cybersecurity, data protection, compliance, and operational integration. No additional appropriations. Now before the Senate.
AI for Mainstreet Act (Senate)
Senate companion to H.R. 5764, introduced January 2026. Identical provisions. Pending before the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee. Two vehicles increase probability of floor action.
Small Business AI Advancement Act
Directs NIST to develop technology-neutral AI standards, best practices, benchmarks, and case studies for small businesses. Coordinates with SBA for distribution. The federal content pipeline complementing the SBDC training directive.
Small Business AI Training Act
The funding bill. Authorizes Commerce Department training resources, a grant program for AI training providers, and private-sector gift authority. Prioritizes rural, Tribal, and underserved communities. Distributed through SBDCs, SCORE, Women’s Business Centers, and Apex Accelerator.
“The gap between enterprise AI and Main Street isn’t technical. It’s translational.”
Marcus NelsonFounder, AI for Main StreetEnterprise credentials.
Main Street roots.
Marcus Nelson co-founded UserVoice, served as Salesforce’s SMB Director, raised $22M+ in venture capital, and advises Box and Meta. He also co-owned a coffee shop with his twin brother in Wausau, Wisconsin.
That range is the point. He’s operated at enterprise scale and knows what it takes to make payroll, manage inventory, and serve customers face to face. The curriculum he built isn’t enterprise AI theory adapted for small audiences — it’s practical training designed by someone who has lived on both sides.
Over the past three years, Marcus has delivered this curriculum to 2,500+ professionals across organizations including the Greenheck Foundation, Ascendium Education Group, the Community Foundation of North Central Wisconsin, Harvard Alumni Entrepreneurs, and MarketingProfs. The curriculum exists. The delivery infrastructure is what AI for Main Street is building.
Common questions.
H.R. 5764 passed the U.S. House 395–14 in January 2026. It amends the Small Business Act to direct Small Business Development Centers (SBDCs) to assist small businesses in evaluating and adopting AI — covering best practices, cybersecurity, data protection, regulatory compliance, and operational integration. The Senate companion, S. 3586, was introduced by Senators Young (R-Ind.) and Cantwell (D-Wash.) and is pending before the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee.
Reintroduced February 2026 by Senators Cantwell (D-Wash.) and Moran (R-Kan.), S. 3888 directs the Department of Commerce to develop AI training resources distributed through SBA partners including SBDCs, Women’s Business Centers, SCORE, and the Apex Accelerator. It authorizes a grant program for organizations providing AI training to small businesses, allows private-sector gift authority to support those grants, and prioritizes rural, Tribal, and underserved communities.
AI for Main Street serves as a sub-awardee partner to SBDC networks applying for federal grants like the NSF AI-Ready America program. The SBDC remains the lead applicant and maintains hub designation and overhead. AI for Main Street provides the curriculum, delivers the training, and tracks outcomes — with costs written into the grant budget as an allowable line item. No upfront cost to the SBDC.
No. The curriculum is technology-neutral, consistent with the legislative requirement in H.R. 3679 that NIST resources be “technology-neutral and relevant to technologies that are accessible and suitable for small businesses.” Training covers the business application of AI across all major platforms — not the tools of any single company.
The Founding Partner is the exclusive lead corporate sponsor of AI for Main Street. That means national co-branding across SBDC and Chamber delivery networks, named participation in federal grant applications, first-mover positioning before competitors, and access to the only independently validated national dataset on small business AI adoption outcomes. One company holds this position.
Marcus Nelson co-founded UserVoice, served as Salesforce’s SMB Director, raised $22M+ in venture capital, and advises Box and Meta. He also co-owned a coffee shop with his twin brother. Over the past three years, he has trained 2,500+ professionals in AI adoption through the Greenheck Foundation, Ascendium Education Group, the Community Foundation of North Central Wisconsin, Harvard Alumni Entrepreneurs, and MarketingProfs. He built AI for Main Street to close the gap between enterprise AI capabilities and the practical training small businesses need.
The mandate exists. The funding is coming.
The delivery infrastructure is being built now.
Whether you run an SBDC preparing for the NSF AI-Ready America program, or you represent a company that wants to define how small businesses experience AI — the conversation starts here.