Albany - State University of New York Chancellor Robert L., King today announced that SUNY’s Small Business Development Center (SBDC) has reached a new milestone in its 18-year history by helping locate more than $2 billion in public and private investment for small businesses in New York State. SBDC is a statewide network of 23 small business assistance offices administered by the State University of New York.
“This growth reflects, among other things, the increasing importance of small business to the economic health and long-term prosperity of New York,” said Chancellor King. “Small businesses sink deep roots in their communities, hire local workers, and contribute to a strong, stable tax base.”
Founded in 1984 and funded in part by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) and the State of New York, the SBDC has provided over 187,000 New Yorkers with high quality business counseling and training. In that 18-year period, the SBDC has helped business owners and entrepreneurs locate more than $2 billion in private and public funding for their small businesses. These businesses have created or saved over 89,600 jobs in New York.
“Beginning with just four regional centers, the SBDC-with strong support from SUNY, the State, and the SBA-has grown into an electronically integrated network of 23 regional centers and 49 outreach and satellite offices, located in or near every population center in New York,” said Jim King, SBDC State Director.
The U.S. Small Business Administration supports SBDCs in all 50 states and three U.S. Territories. In reaching and exceeding the $2 billion investment milestone, the New York State SBDC places itself among the largest and most successful of these service delivery agencies. In the last five years, the New York SBDC has won 14 national awards for excellence.
SBDC Regional Centers are located on the campuses of SUNY and SUNY’s educational partners-including the City University of New York and private universities. At each of the Regional Centers, talented, dedicated and professionally certified business advisers work one-on-one with entrepreneurs, helping them launch their businesses or improve the performance of an existing business. Specific services include business plan development, export assistance, financial planning, cost-analysis, and loan assistance. Thanks to federal and state sponsors, there is no charge for the SBDC’s direct counseling services.
The SBDC prides itself on its responsiveness to special needs and extraordinary circumstances. For example, less than a week after the terrorist attack on Manhattan on September 11, 2001, the SBDC expanded small business assistance to enterprises impacted by the disaster through more than 12 locations covering all five boroughs in New York City.
SBDC business advisers from across the state were deployed in existing and temporary service centers and helped locate over $111 million in emergency funding for small businesses impacted by the disaster. The SBDC won a 2002 National Association of Manufacturing and Technical Assistance Center Project of the Year Award for its Disaster Recovery Assistance.
The State University of New York is the largest comprehensive university system in the United States with more than 403,000 students enrolled in 5,100 fields of study on 64 campuses. To learn more about how SUNY creates opportunity, visit www.suny.edu.
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