August 1, 2008  

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

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NEWS

A DEFINITION--IF YOU ARE PUZZLED

DISASTER ASSISTANCE NEWS:

THE CEDAR RAPIDS BUSINESS RECOVERY FUND

CLICK ON THE BUTTON BELOW FOR DETAILS AND APPLICATION

As first announced in the Cedar Rapids Gazette on FRIDAY, June 27, 2008, a local fund has begun to assist “for-profit” enterprises in recovering from the great flood of 2008. “Chamber President Lee Clancey said the ... fund [is 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...’ Clancey added.”

SCORE® is pleased to be participating in a small way in the execution of this program. The Cedar Rapids Chamber President puts it this way, "...SCORE has been an absolutely invaluable partner in the evaluation process for the Job & Small Business Recovery Fund, [allowing] us to move quickly."

To date, nearly 400 applications from all sorts of businesses have been received. Even better, the Fund has grown. (You DON'T need to be a member of the Cedar Rapids Chamber of Commerce to be eligible--indeed many awardees are not members.)

We strongly recommend this as the first action by any business affected physically by the flood and wishing to re-establish itself in the area. It makes good business sense. You must have made the decision to "come back" and gone through the process of submitting an SBA Disaster Loan Application to the SBA. (This is for official purposes; accepting an SBA Loan offer is not required.)

COME AND SEE US at the Westdale SBA Business Recovery Center to chat about how this wonderful GRANT program can help you. We also help you understand how and if you qualify. It is not that difficult and we will walk you through it.

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.

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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

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