Colorado SBDC Veterans Program and Veterans Grant Announcement

In the past three years, Colorado’s Small Business Development Center Network has served thousands of veteran entrepreneurs and small business owners. This service includes the free one-on-one counseling, attendance at training events in small business education, and participation in conferences specially designed for the needs of veteran small business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs.

The SBDC Network aims to increase its reach to veteran entrepreneurs by providing additional resources and support for this community.

In 2010, the SBDC received a Veterans Grant of to increase outreach within Colorado and to serve as a regional hub for veterans’ small business programming for Arizona, Montana and Kansas. This grant will enable the SBDC to further engage the veteran business owner community in the following dynamic ways:

• Create a database of veteran and service-disabled veteran-owned businesses in Colorado, Arizona, Montana and Kansas. The database is up and running at www.vetbizassist.org
• Build a Web Portal around this database to serve as a comprehensive resource list of government agencies, non-profits and other programs to assist veterans interested in business opportunities
• Expand Veteran Small Business Conference offerings to Colorado’s Western slope as well as to partnering states of Arizona, Montana and Kansas
• Create a Veterans Small Business Resource Guide to supplement Colorado’s own Business Resource Guide
• Provide over 50 online workshops in both English and Spanish

The Database is an innovative approach to connecting veteran and service-disabled veteran business owners with prime contractors in both the public and private sectors. Individuals will enter their information, including keywords describing the capabilities of their business and the corresponding North American Industry Classification code. Prime contractors may then search the database to find businesses to fulfill their needs and to satisfy veteran and small business contracting requirements.

These initiatives are comprehensive and complementary. The expanded conference offerings will raise awareness of the database among both veteran entrepreneurs and prime contractors. The website on which the database will be located will be a springboard to access the varied resources available to veterans. The Resource Guide will ensure that even those without access to a computer are included in the SBDC’s expanded veterans program.