Businesses need help. Financial help, emotional help, and technical help. They need guidance on reopening, increasing sales and revenue, cost-cutting, and basic survival in the time of Covid-19. If possible, a crystal ball and a hefty grant would be at the top of the list too.
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Valley Community Development can help (the crystal ball and grant aside) by offering one-on-one assistance with each small business - for free - and guide them to next actionable steps and community resources to help them. There are also two other resources that small businesses should know about, as they are free and very effective:
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Small Business Strong is an organization empowered to help women- and minority-owned small businesses navigate the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. It provides expedited, pro-bono resources to small businesses ranging from access to capital to consulting, business restructuring, business growth, digital marketing and customer engagement plans. You are assigned a business advisor who manages your case as you meet with industry specific experts on subjects like accounting, PPP, legal, HR, and marketing.
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Beyond Six-Feet Apart Accelerator LISC Boston and IXL Center's Six-Feet-Apart Program is a Digital Accelerator to help cohorts of 15-30 small businesses over 5 weeks to get their operations back up-and-running safely. It is also a pro-bono service with high quality facilitators and teams of business students, collaborating with small businesses to accelerate them to innovate and move forward quickly.
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All three programs are very valuable. Valley Community Development offers one to one individual support with local resources and knowledge of the community. Small Business Strong gives you individual support with specific expert advice and the Beyond Six Feet Accelerator offers a valuable team approach with a structured plan.
Whichever program you choose, do something. This situation may not go away soon and it's important that you reach out and ask for help, even you fiercely independent business owners.
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Community Revitalization Fund |
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Applications for Phase II of the Community Revitalization Fund grants will be accepted until August 31, 2020 and the second round of awards will be made by mid-September or sooner. Local businesses are encouraged to apply soon for these recovery funds.
Eligibility criteria for the Community Revitalization Fund have changed. We have broadened the requirements in order to create greater opportunities for businesses to become eligible for these microgrants. So please read the updated criteria carefully to see if your business is eligible to apply for a grant from the Community Revitalization Fund.
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Marketing Your Business in 2020 |
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Mark your calendars, Mondays and Thursdays at 2:00 for the marketing series above. |
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This series was created with you in mind. Digital marketing is here to stay and may just be the most valuable tool to use in these pandemic times. The series starts with the basics, but as the 11 week series progresses, we cover all levels and many topics to get you informed and using your digital tools. Note that with a few Monday holidays, we will be holding the webinars on Tuesdays instead. Keep watching for details. |
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Valley Community Development's Small Business program offers all business services at no cost. Email her at dd@valleycdc.com or call and leave a message 413.586.5855 x230
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Carefully crafted, with valuable information, these recorded webinars can be used as a helpful reference.
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We continue to offer webinars weekly. This list will keep you updated
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The Western Mass Technical
Assistance Collaborative
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MSBDC provides free and confidential one-to-one business advice to prospective and existing small businesses. They provide a wide variety of business training programs.
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Franklin County CDC is a resource to help start or grow your business at any stage. Counsel, Capital and Connections is their motto. They offer a free monthly 1.5 hr workshop on the first Wednesday of each month.ly" or "only 7 remaining!" |
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Common Capital offers small business technical assistance for their borrowers.Their online workshops and Facebook live trainings are open to the public.
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For over 50 years, SCORE has served as America’s premier source of free business mentoring and education.
As a resource partner of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), SCORE has helped more than 11 million entrepreneurs through mentoring, workshops and educational resources since 1964.
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The Center for Women & Enterprise is a nationally known nonprofit organization dedicated to helping people start and grow their businesses. CWE has worked with more than 46,000 Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire and Vermont entrepreneurs since 1995. CWE also operates the Veterans Business Outreach Center of New England (VBOC of NE) that focuses on assisting veterans, active duty service members and their families with starting and growing their business.
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