SBA expands veterans’ services

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) recently announced the expansion of programs and services available to assist veterans in starting or growing a business through the signing of a partnership agreement with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the Association of Small Business Development Centers (SBDCs).

The agreement was signed as part of the implementation of the Veterans Entrepreneurship and Small Business Development Act of 1999, Public Law 106-50, which President Bill Clinton signed into law last summer.

"With this agreement, we renew our commitment to helping veteran-owned small businesses and re-energize our campaign to bring awareness to veterans about the programs and services available to assist them," said SBA Administrator Aida Alvarez.

"We need to do a better job in reaching out to veterans — proactively — and making sure that they know how the SBA, the SBDCs, and the VA can help them attain their business goals," Alvarez added.

Under the agreement, the SBA will develop distance-learning tools and training for veterans and conduct studies on veteran-owned small businesses. The SBA currently is designing online classrooms tailored to the entrepreneurial needs of veterans as part of the agency’s small business classroom distance learning initiative at http://classroom.sba.gov/.

More information on SBA assistance to veterans and on Public Law 106-50 is available at www.sba.gov/vets/.

Additional information about SBA programs and services is available by calling the SBA Answer Desk at (800) U-ASK-SBA.