The grant comes from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act). CARES is a new law meant to help individuals and businesses cover emergency expenses related to COVID-19.
With the infusion of funds, NorCal SBDC can meet the surge in demand across Northern California by:
— hiring additional part time and full-time staff members to handle the higher volume of calls and new clients, to host remote live and pre-recorded webinars.
— expanding the Finance Center, a program that will continue to focus on the lending needs of clients and to be a major provider of information and assistance for the two Small Business Administration loan offerings, the Paycheck Protection Program and Economic Injury Disaster Loan. The program includes a call center with a toll-free hotline, which provides callers with immediate assistance by a trained specialist.
— launching an outreach campaign for business communities for which English is a second language. While additional in-language consulting and training will be offered to assist the relatively large Vietnamese and Chinese communities located in the region, the largest focus will be on California’s Hispanic population. The Norcal SBDC network will launch a new regional service center to support Spanish-speaking clients as part of its COVID-19 response.
Kristin Johnson, director of the NorCal SBDC, says these efforts were designed to support the unique small business landscape of Northern California.
“The region is incredibly diverse, encompassing large population centers and outlying rural areas, from centers of leading-edge technology innovation, to small town main streets,” says Johnson. “As such, no one-size-fits-all approach will work across the region, so the proposed three-pronged approach will guide each Center to respond and specialize its support to the varying needs of its region.“
Small businesses that need assistance can call the NorCal SBDC at 833-ASK-SBDC or asksbdc.com. For more information, visit norcalsbdc.org or @NorthCoastSBDC on Facebook.
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About NorCal Small Business Development Center
Established in 2006, NorCal SBDC serves 36 Northern California counties, supporting nearly 45,000 small businesses from Aptos near Santa Cruz to Crescent City. In addition to offering one-on-one business consulting, the nonprofit is a resource for accurate and timely information about local, state, and federal programs. The SBDC is fully funded by federal and state grants and does not take any funds from HSU.