Urban League of Louisiana works with Google to provide Black-owned Small Businesses with free Storefront Kits

Google is working with the Urban League of Louisiana on a pilot to provide Black-owned, small and medium-sized businesses with free Google Storefront Kits and other Google services. This initiative will support safer business environments for customers and employees of eligible businesses in response to COVID-19 safety measures. This pilot program will support Black-owned businesses operating storefronts, food trucks, commercial office spaces, or customer-accessible home offices across the state of Louisiana.

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Resilient Corridors Initiative Grant Applications Open for Small Businesses Due December 14, 2020

The City of New Orleans and the New Orleans Business Alliance (NOLABA) launched a $350,000 pilot program to support businesses and commercial corridors within Strategic Neighborhood Development focus neighborhoods (Gentilly, Treme, Algiers, New Orleans East, Lower 9, Hollygrove and Gert Town). These communities have experienced decades of disinvestment, leaving surrounding businesses more vulnerable to economic and environmental disasters, such as the current COVID-19 pandemic.  

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Louisiana SBDC launches refreshed brand

MONROE – The Louisiana Small Business Development Center statewide network introduces a new public website with a new domain of www.louisianasbdc.org as part of a refreshed brand for the state’s largest entrepreneur technical assistance provider.

 

The new public website offers aspiring entrepreneurs and existing entrepreneurs an opportunity to get instant access to resources and information that will answer immediate questions, and give them a jumpstart prior to working with an LSBDC business consultant. The website continues to allow users to request for the Louisiana SBDC’s no-cost consulting services as well as register for the entrepreneurial training and workshops in their local areas.

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New Orleans City Business | Federal Reserve expands Main Street loan program to smaller firms

The Federal Reserve will reduce the minimum loan level in its small business lending program and waive some fees to try to boost participation in a program that has so far provided little assistance to struggling companies.

The Fed announced Friday that it will support loans of as low as $100,000 in its Main Street Lending Program, down from an earlier minimum of $250,000. The Main Street program seeks to support small and mid-sized businesses by buying 95% of a loan from participating banks. This is intended to limit the risk to banks and encourage them to lend more.

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Capital One Bank Graduates its 2019 “Getting Down to Business” Class

A Variety of Businesses Represented in New Orleans

By Lisa Stafford, NOELA Services, LLC

On November 21, 2019, I had the honor of being one of the proud graduates of Capital One Bank’s Getting Down to Business small business development program. The program culminated in a ceremony at Xavier University after 12 weeks of sometimes grueling sessions, covering a broad range of subjects structured to create successful entrepreneurs.  

Carmen Sunda (LSBDC), Angele VonDerPool (Business Builders Management & Consulting, LLC), Lisa Stafford (NOELA Services, LLC), Mark Boucree (Capital One Bank), Tiffany Taylor-Hicks (The Velvet Rope Experience) and Maria LeBlanc (The Workaholic). (Photo credit: Tracie Morris Schaefer)

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