Open for (remote) business

By AACC 21st Century Center Staff

Community colleges are offering remote assistance to small businesses impacted by COVID-19.

Small businesses have been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic. Community colleges are offering help.

Delgado Community College in Louisiana is providing online business continuity and emergency management education to small businesses. Delgado is hosting a series of webinars with the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Louisiana District Office on applying for an SBA economic injury disaster loan (EIDL).

The first webinar was streamed last week.

The Pima Community College Small Business Development Center also is helping small businesses apply for SBA loans. Consultants at the center are offering help over the phone.

The 58 small business centers that comprise the Small Business Center Network of the North Carolina Community College System are offering special webinars providing helpful strategies and ideas for businesses. In a recent webinar, a panel of experts in business continuity, supply chain and healthcare offered businesses advice for responding to the ongoing COVID-19 crises.

“We know that small businesses are in crisis, locally, statewide and nationally,” Rowan-Cabarrus Community College Presidnet Carol S. Spalding said in a release. “The Small Business Center Network of the North Carolina Community College System is a trusted and vital resource for small businesses. Our centers are available to help in any way we can during this unprecedented crisis.”

And in New York, staff at Rockland Community College’s Small Business Development Center (SBDC) have spent the last weeks learning how COVID-19 is impacting small businesses and their employees. The center is providing remote assistance to business owners and helping to facilitate the loan application process.

“RCC’s SBDC is making a real difference and offering people a chance to be in a better position after this is over,” Tom Morley, regional director of the NY SBDC at RCC, said in a Rockland County Times article.

AACC 21st Century Center Staff

is a contributor to the 21st-Century Center.