October 2022

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SURVEY FOR RURAL INDEPENDENTLY-OWNED BUSINESSES

Help Community Navigator, Energize Colorado, and your local Chambers of Commerce design and develop business education programs for independently-owned businesses in your community by filling out this QUICK survey!


Hearing directly from you will allow us to provide the information you tell us you want in at least seven counties in the Southeast plains, including Kiowa, Las Animas, and Otero.

TAKE THE SURVEY HERE

Marketing Trainings For Your Small Business Toolbox

REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED.


Every first Friday of the month through November, join the Brown Bag Seminar Series to

learn marketing skills to help your business and the opportunity to access related technical assistance counseling.


TOMORROW from 11:00 am to 12:00 pm, bring your lunch and learn about social media strategies and how to optimize TikTok!

REGISTER

Spoke Feature:

NeighborWorks Southern Colorado

Part of the Community Navigator Pilot Program's strength lies in its connectivity among Southern Colorado. We're glad to feature groups and businesses who've engaged with us as we try to reach new audiences!


Living and working along the front-range of Colorado sure has its perks, and peaks! The Southern portion of Colorado that straddles Interstate-25 generates a unique mixture of culture, business, and industry that thrives on the bedrock of mountain ranges and valleys. Based in Pueblo (100 miles South of Denver) NeighborWorks Southern Colorado and Southern Colorado Community Lending are dedicated to the residents of this area and diligently serve them with homeownership and business loan opportunities. For us, what makes serving these community members so special is getting to know their unique background and stories. 

 

Our organization was founded in 1977, so this year we’re celebrating 45 years of operations. Over the past year or so we have made tremendous progress as an organization. To better serve our clients we have increased our staff by 33%, with more hires expected in the future. Our 98-unit Hyde Park Gardens was completed. We created a metro district and had our zoning and subdivision approved for Pikes Peak Park – a 75-acre mixed-use, mixed-income neighborhood that we’ll soon break ground on. We’ve embraced the shared equity model of homeownership and created the “NeighborWorks Southern Colorado Shared Equity Homeownership Program” that will assist low and moderate-income families achieve homeownership so they may secure safe housing and build generational wealth. To top it all off we achieved the prestigious federal certification of Community Designated Financial Institution (CDFI), this will allow us to leverage federal funds with private sector investments to support financially underserved community members.

Here at Southern Colorado Community Lending one of the best things we get to do when working with clients is we hear their personal stories. Stories of success and struggles from veterans, steelworkers, kindergarten teachers, and beauty queens. They share their lives with us as they attempt to improve them. Sometimes we even help them see their own vivid stories of the blood, sweat, and tears they sacrifice to make a better life for themselves and their family. They see their own pain combined with their accomplishments, joy, and pride. While working together, we absorb a bit of that client's history by listening and creating an action plan to do all we can to help them achieve their goals.  Things have been moving at warp speed for us as we prepare for future business and housing needs. Our primary goal is to be the first choice for homebuyer resources in Southern Colorado. Cheers to the next 45 years being as bountiful as the last!  


We are currently helping a mother who exemplifies the American Dream. Irene Caperon is on her journey to purchase the building that houses her self-made business. Irene was born in the Mexican state of Sonora and came to the U.S. in 1995. She is a legal resident who, in addition to her own 3 children, has been raising her U.S. Marine nephew after his mother passed away some years ago. Irene worked very hard to attain her own food truck in 2019, and while her primary product, tacos, was selling fast she had other tasty ideas. The parking lot where she would park her truck belonged to a bookstore that was going out of business. Since she always honored her obligations to the landlord, they offered to rent the brick-and-mortar building to her. She jumped at the opportunity to move in to a safer, more stable facility, only this time she switched the model from tacos to ice cream.  


As a child Irene worked in her family’s neveria (ice cream shop) so she had first-hand experience with not only making the frozen treats from scratch, but also what the books should look like. After building her successful (and delicious) ice cream business, called “Alaska Paleteria Y Neveria,” through the pandemic Irene came to our lending center seeking help to purchase the very building she has been renting. Although we haven’t yet closed on the building, we are confident that her can-do attitude matched with our expertise and lending products will lead to a speedy closing that will help Irene and her four children further realize the American Dream.  



Note: Community Navigator resources are specific to small business and small business serving nonprofits. Meanwhile, program partnerships and connections are cross sector to reach a broader spectrum of small business clients.


Community Navigator is partnering with the City of Pueblo, Southern Colorado Small Business Development Center, Colorado State University School of Business, and CSU Institute for Entrepreneurship to bring to you PIVOT PUEBLO.


This FREE workshop is valued at more than $1,000 and made specifically for Pueblo businesses!


The class will run every Friday at 8:30 am to 1:00 pm from October 21st to November 11th.

Sign up for Pivot Pueblo
Sign Up For Childcare Expo and Other SBDC Classes/Events

More Small Business Funding Opportunities

Contact the Navigator Program HERE if you'd like assistance with any of these opportunities.


NeighborWorks

Southern Colorado:

As our access to capital Navigator, check out their programs HERE. Stay tuned for more opportunities as their new federally designated Community Financial Development Institution (CDFI) status develops!


Colorado Enterprise Fund:

CEF will also have more funding opportunities opening up this year. Check out their current programs HERE.


Grants:

The Colorado BIPOC Micro Equity Fund supports the growth and resiliency of Black, Indigenous, and People Of Color (BIPOC) owned businesses through patient equity-like investments designed to feel like friends and family capital. Learn more HERE.


The Colorado Community Revitalization Grant provides gap funding for projects in creative districts, historic districts, main streets or neighborhood commercial centers. Applications are open and accepted on a rolling basis.


Colorado Office of Economic Development & International Trade (OEDIT):


-Browse an OEDIT program & funding overview HERE


-Rural Jump Start Program:

If a business is located in a Rural-Jump Start zone, businesses can receive up to $20,000 as a newly established business and up to $2,500 per new hire. (Eligible counties: Fremont, Huerfano, Las Animas, Otero, Prowers, Pueblo)


If a business is located in a Tier 1 Just Transition community, businesses can receive up to $40,000 as a newly established business and up to $5,000 per new hire. (Eligible county: Pueblo)

NEW CLIENT RELATIONSHIP MANAGER ANNOUNCEMENT

The Community Navigator consortium is pleased to introduce Bernadette Martinez as its new Client Relationship Manager. Born and raised in Pueblo, she is a mother of two: Reyes and Alexis, and has worked in the community with the Greater Chamber of Commerce for the past seven years. She is excited to work with small business advocates and clients throughout Southern Colorado in her new role.


Financial and E-commerce Training & Counseling Opportunities Available

The Community Navigator Program is offering ongoing training and counseling sessions for online QuickBooks financial software and related topics. Tax preparation is also available.


Registration is required. Email bernadette@scedd.com to let us know you want to sign-up for this opportunity.

Above & Below: Shauna Boyd (center) owner of Boyd's Bookkeeping & Administrative Services works with the Pueblo Food Project Startup Inaugural Entrepreneur Development Class of 2022 during a group training facilitated in part by the Community Navigator Program.

More News & Resources from the SBA

Federal Resources for Small Businesses Tax Preparation Help - Learn more here

This program is funded through a U.S. Small Business Administration grant.

All opinions, conclusions, and/or recommendations expressed herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the SBA.