WASHINGTON (BRAIN) — The Small Business Administration is offering a free regional webinar series to provide resources and knowledge to business owners continuing to recover from the financial hardships of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The SBA will join with nonprofit Public Private Strategies Institute on the Getting Back on Track: Help is Here series. It will feature speakers from The White House, SBA, Congressional members, and small-business leaders advising how to access new and existing SBA programs.
The series began Thursday in Region 4 — which serves Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee — and continues in other regions until August.
"Small businesses are beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel as marketplaces and main streets reopen thanks to strong vaccination rates," said SBA Administrator Isabella Casillas Guzman. "We are empowering small businesses to reopen fully and safely by connecting them with helpful resources and tools, including the Biden Administration's tax credits that cover paid time-off for employees getting vaccinated. We all must double down on our efforts to help our beloved small businesses survive and get our economy back on track."
The regional webinar series builds on the national SBA-Public Private Strategies Institute webinar series that detailed the benefits of the Paycheck Protection Program to smaller businesses. That series provided resources and information to more than 80,000 small-business owners nationally, according to the SBA.
"This webinar series is designed to reach the hardest hit small-business owners across the country with regionally focused conversations connecting them to local resources and to give them the steps they need to build back better," said Rhett Buttle, Public Private Strategies Institute senior advisor. "The program will focus on three key areas: economic recovery and access to capital options, digital tools, and resources to allow small-business owners to be vaccine leaders with their employees and communities."
Schedule
All times 2 p.m. EDT
May 27: Community Organizations and Groups.
June 3: Region 5 — Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin.
June 17: Region 9 — Arizona, California, Guam, Hawaii, and Nevada.
June 24: Region 6 — Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas.
July 8: Region 1 — Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont.
July 15: Region 7 — Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska, and Region 10 — Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington.
July 22: Region 2 — New York, New Jersey, Puerto Rico, and The U.S. Virgin Islands.
July 29: Region 8 — Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming.
Aug. 5: Region 3 — Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Washington, DC, and West Virginia.
