July 1, 2008  

A BUSINESS NEWSLETTER from SBA's resource partner. Also at e-news.

A MESSAGE FROM THOSE WHO'VE BEEN THERE

THE GRAND FORKS (ND) HERALD

"... Cedar Rapids’ physical infrastructure may be in tough shape, but its social infrastructure likely is intact. And rebuilding the former is a lot more realistic and “doable” than is overhauling the latter..." (post 1997 flood image of Grand Forks, ND; from Wikipedia)

Editor's note: You may recall that this city was devastated by the flooding of the Red River in 1997. They have come back and are helping Cedar Rapids by sharing their recovery experience. (Side note: This city's flood level was 28 feet. Their flood crest was 54 feet.)

Grand Forks, ND, Flood Recovery Briefing Book - includes business lessons learned

LINK to Grand Forks, ND, Flood Recovery Site

JULY 7 NOTE: Grand Forks advises that their site is being modified and currently not available. If the second link above does not work, please try again in a day. (The site is not available to the North Dakota folks either.)

SPECIAL REPORT

FLOOD DISASTER RECOVERY HELP

AFFECTED BY THE FLOOD? SCORE® OFFERS ASSIST.

• Where do I start?
• Then what?
• How can I get financial assistance? From where?
• How much do I need? What will it take?
• How do I manage my business's damages?
• How do I come back...and all the rest?

SCORE®, the Small Business Administration's (SBA's) business resource partner, stands ready to tackle these items with you. We can also help you understand and/or complete the SBA Disaster Recovery Loan and other recovery grant applications—a sometimes daunting task.  (Active "SBA" image above will take you to the location of all of the Iowa Flood Disaster Recovery sites.)

Complete help package ... CLICK ON BUTTON TO RIGHT

ASK 'CEDAR RAPIDS AREA' SCORE®

GRANTS: TO START, GROW, OR RECOVER.

As many businesses know, there are thousands of no-cost grants available for the businesses which seek them out. Funds ranging from thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars are available if you develop the knack.

Your Cedar Rapids area chapter of SCORE® will begin making you aware of grant sources if you wish to take advantage of them. We also hope to help you learn how to succeed in securing such grants.

At this time of recovery from our horrific floods, SCORE® felt it appropriate to alert you to this source of funds. You might begin considering it in your forward business and/or disaster recovery planning.

One of the best ways to begin your exploration of this topic is with a visit to the grand-daddy government grant site: www.grants.gov or click image:

WE ARE THERE...

SCORE is committed to helping small businesses.  Usually our role is to help someone start a new business or assist an existing business in preparing a business plan, a new marketing endeavor, or any other activity for which the business requests our assistance.

The 2008 flood has devastated many small businesses and we want to assist you in any way we can.  On June 24, we began offering our assistance to you at Westdale Mall, on the lower level near Penney's. We are there to assist you for the foreseeable future Monday through Saturday, 9AM to 6PM.

Find out more about our commitment to helping you and our other flood recovery activities for business throughout the Newsletter and by READING ON...

Jean Kruse
SCORE Chairperson and CPA (retired)

NEWS

A DEFINITION--IF YOU ARE PUZZLED

DISASTER ASSISTANCE NEWS:

THE CEDAR RAPIDS BUSINESS RECOVERY FUND

(COMING SOON. WE WILL ADVISE YOU.)

As first announced in the Cedar Rapids Gazette on FRIDAY, June 27, 2008, a local fund is in the process of being created to assist “for-profit” enterprises to recover from the great flood of 2008. “Chamber President Lee Clancey said the organization . . . expects to announce a $750,000 disaster recovery fund [to] be used for either zero percent forgivable loans or grants to help businesses consolidate loans . . . The zero percent loans probably will be for a maximum of $20,000 . . . ‘This is a community team effort,’ Clancey added..”

SCORE® is pleased to be participating in a small way in the development of this program, and we will immediately advise all businesses on our distribution list of its forward progress, how to's, and details. Let us know if you want more information by sending an email to: score@scorecr.org

ONLINE LESSONS AVAILABLE AT ANY TIME

In the comfort of your home you can now access online lessons at your convenience. The button below will take you to one such lesson. Others are available to you at SCORE-ONLINE LESSONS.

PRESS BUTTON FOR "QUICK START BUSINESS PLAN" Lesson

FREE OFFICE SOFTWARE

Small businesses often start with minimal resources. Many cannot afford the commercial and proprietary office software suites distributed by the major software companies. There is good news:

or OPEN OFFICE. ORG

One of the world's most powerful and current Office suites is free. More importantly it is "open" (meaning no restrictive licenses) and can be downloaded by anyone. It includes a powerful word processor, spreadsheet, presentation program, "pdf" export and data base. It is also compatible with the leading commercial equivalent. If you need an Office suite and cannot afford hundreds of dollars for one, check it out.

Brought to you by the Cedar Rapids chapter of SCORE "Counselors to America's Small Business," a nonprofit association and resource partner with the U.S. Small Business Administration. SCORE is dedicated to entrepreneurship and the formation, growth and success of small businesses nationwide. Since 1964, SCORE has helped more than 7.5 million entrepreneurs.

Copyright 2007. SCORE Chapter 227. All rights reserved.

SCORE® Ch. 227 c/o SBA, 2750 First Avenue NE, Ste. 350,
 Cedar Rapids IA 52402-4831
(319) 362-6405 Ext. 2005

Office hours:  10-12 and 1-3  --NO APPOINTMENT NEEDED