By Mike Dunn

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — The investment firm Goldman Sachs is bringing to Philadelphia a program that fuels the growth of small businesses with training and new capital.

Today, at City Hall, Mayor Nutter welcomed the effort.

The Goldman Sachs program, called “10,000 Small Businesses,” is already in eight other cities and two other states, and the firm’s executive vice president, John Rogers (third from left in photo), said he is glad to bring it to Philadelphia as well.

“Philadelphia has all the attributes that we look for in a partner for ’10,000 Small Businesses’: a scalable business sector, strong local partners, and the potential for economic growth.”

Locally, the Community College of Philadelphia will oversee the training portion of the program.

“The program doesn’t just talk about the challenges facing small business owners.  It helps provide solutions and resources so that the small business owner can indeed achieve his or her goals,” said CCP president Stephen Curtis (far right in photo).

One former participant, Jessica Johnson of the New York-based Johnson Security Bureau, said the program was invaluable to her.

“The program helped to equip me with skills to understand how to operate my business, how to plan for growth, what was the right way to grow so we don’t grow too fast, ways that we can improve our HR operations, and a number of different areas within our business,” she said today.  “And we’ve seen the results.”

Firms in Philadelphia or the suburbs can apply for the program at ccp.edu/10KSB.  The first participants are to be enrolled this spring.

Goldman Sachs puts its total investment locally at $20 million.