States and Cities Efforts to Help Small Businesses

Posted by: Mark Marich on March 10, 2010 Source: Policy Dialogue on Entrepreneurship

Elizabeth Olson’s New York Times article “What States and Cities are Doing to Help Small Businesses” highlights several initiatives at the state and municipality levels to save small businesses and jobs.

The local approaches are as varied as subsidizing wages for new hires, running a $100,000 regional business-plan competition and giving out grants to help small manufacturers reposition themselves. Some states and cities are using federal stimulus dollars, and others are mixing federal, state and private dollars.

Some examples include:
 
-    San Francisco’s Job Now: this $25 million program reimburses owners for 100 percent of the wages for certain new hires. So far, businesses hired nearly 1,800 people through the program.

-    Michigan’s Training for Laid-Off Workers: last June, the Michigan Small Business and Technology Center began to train laid-off workers to start new ventures through the Kauffman Foundation’s FastTrac program.

-    Florida’ GrowFL: this state-financed program helps businesses with at least $1 million in annual sales and 10 or more workers keep their employees by expanding their customer base through strategies for new markets, research industry developments and their use of social media.

For more on these and other programs, access the article here.

Category:  General