PDC sponsored classes will help minority small-business owners ...

Starting and running a small business never has been easy. It's especially difficult for minority business owners in neighborhoods that face high levels of unemployment, poverty and crime.

The Portland Development Commission is trying to make that challenge a little more manageable for entrepreneurs. Last year, PDC created the Neighborhood Economic Development Strategy, a 5-year plan focusing on small businesses. This includes its Small Business Development Program, which funds projects that aid businesses in Portland neighborhoods that are "are more economically stressed than other parts of town," said Kate Dean, the PDC's neighborhood manager.

Already, the initiative has led PDC to grant $400,000 for a partnership between the small-business development centers operated by Mt. Hood Community College and Portland Community College. The schools are starting an eight-month program that will offer business owners monthly classes and one-on-one counseling.

Antonio Paez, the director of Mt. Hood's small-business development center, says the need for the program is unmistakable in the targeted business corridors, such as East Division Street past Southeast 76th Avenue.

"We can still feel the impact of the recession on small businesses," Paez said. "Staying in business is a challenge."

The first class will be held on February 13 at Mt. Hood Community College's Maywood Park campus in east Portland. Spaces remain open for the program. Paez says the goal is to provide training and counseling to 54 businesses.

To participate in the program, businesses must be less than 1 year old and owned by a minority whose income is less than 120 percent of the median family income, or $86,400 for a family of four. They must also employ fewer than 50 people. Dean says the PDC expects the "great preponderance" of businesses to employ fewer than 10 people.

The monthly two-hour-long classes will teach owners how to market their businesses, find new customers and manage their employees, among other skills.

Additionally, business owners in the program can take advantage of up to 20 hours of one-on-one counseling with an adviser who has experience running a successful business in the same or a similar field.

"The main goal of the program is to make sure these businesses have the resources and the tools to grow their businesses," Paez said. The ultimate goal, he added, is for the businesses to "contribute to the economic development of the areas they are in."

For more information on the program and how to apply, contact Gina Bell at 503-823-3340, bellg@pdc.edu.The final product of the program will be the completion of a business plan for each business detailing how it can grow.

The PDC and the business development centers will track the businesses for three years and chart revenue and staff growth, among other targets for success.

The partnership with Mt. Hood Community College and Portland Community College is just one phase of PDC's efforts to assist small businesses. The Small Business Development Program also is partnering with the Hispanic Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, the Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization, the Native American Youth and Family Center, and the Small Business Legal Clinic.

-- Amanda Waldroupe, Special to The Oregonian

Source: http://www.oregonlive.com/gresham/index.ssf/2012/02/pdc_sponsored_classes_will_hel.html

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