What's Happening with Engage

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January 19, 2021

Distribution: All Active Volunteers

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COVID Stimulus Bill Updates

As of today, January 19, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) has fully opened the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan portal to all participating PPP lenders to submit First and Second Draw loan applications to SBA.

Please register for our upcoming webinar on January 21, which will provide volunteers with information on all the new aspects of the PPP loan program: What's New with PPP and Other Relief Options for Small Businesses. This webinar is a great training opportunity for volunteers who need a greater understanding of these topics to be able to better support clients.

Key PPP updates can be found on the SCORE Support Center here - COVID-19 Information and Resources.

Featured Update - Engage

What's Happening with Engage?

Change Management

January go-live chapters have been attending their data migration and configuration review sessions as well as going live in Engage. At this point, 14 chapters have gone live this month, with another 10 scheduled to go live by the end of the month.

February go-live chapters received their Sandbox login credentials and are currently in the process of exploring the system for the first time. Additionally, they are being scheduled for their data migration and configuration review sessions, which will take place one week prior to their go-live dates in January.

March go-live chapters (Wave 2) are currently receiving Live Journey Orientations for each constituent journey inside of the system and will gain access to the new sandbox environment upon completion. Chapter Success Managers continue to work with these chapters to ensure each of the chapter readiness checklist items required for transition are complete.

April go-live chapters (Wave 2) are currently working on their readiness checklists and will receive their Live Journey Orientations in February 2021.

Product Development

Over the past month, the below releases have been made in Engage:

Engage Release Notes - 1/12/21

If you would like to receive Engage release updates in your SCORE email inbox please sign up here. You will receive a message letting you know about changes and improvements shortly after the release has been completed and undergone verification.

CLIENT SUPPORT

SBA Launches Largest Expansion of Women's Business Centers in 30 Years

On January 4, the U.S. Small Business Administration announced grant funding and the historic launch of 20 new Women’s Business Centers (WBC) across America to serve rural, urban, and underserved communities alike. In addition to opening these 20 new WBCs, SBA launched Ascent, a free digital e-learning platform geared to help women entrepreneurs grow and expand their businesses. Read more about the initiative here.

The Ascent program compliments SCORE’s Start-up Roadmap, which outlines each step in starting a business with information and resources on the most difficult tasks. It also contains tips for working "With Your Mentor" on each topic. View all Start-up Roadmap Mentor Guide resources here.

Upcoming Live Webinars for Small Business Owners

January 19: How to Find and Get a Small Business Grant

January 21: What's New with PPP and Other Relief Options for Small Businesses

January 28: Data Privacy - Why it Should be a Top Priority for Your Small to Medium-Size Business

VOLUNTEER SUPPORT

January Lifelong Learning Webinar - Fox Valley

The January Lifelong Learning Webinar will be held on January 21 at 12pm EST.

The Fox Valley Chapter will present on their robust continuing education program which consists of various milestones a volunteer can reach over the years, eventually earning a status of Master Mentor. Learn how Fox Valley set up this program and how it works for their members. As always, we will have plenty of time for Q&A.

Registration Link

Inclusion and Diversity Networking Opportunities

All volunteers and staff are invited to the monthly networking meetings brought to you by the various I&D National Steering Committees. A conversation starter may be announced in advance. Join and meet your fellow volunteers across the country!

Women's Committee Networking Meeting

Next Meeting: Friday, January 22nd at 1PM EST - Register Here

Black Committee Networking Meeting

Next Meeting: Friday, January 22nd at 6PM EST - Register Here

Hispanic Committee Networking Meeting

Next Meeting: Monday, January 25th at 1PM EST - Register Here

Social Media Call Reminder

The monthly social media calls are typically held on the third Wednesday of every month, but with Inauguration Day being a national holiday, this month’s social media webinar has been rescheduled to Wednesday January 27^th at 2:00 PM EST.

To register for the webinar please click Here.

CHAPTER OPERATIONS

Recruit Volunteers with VolunteerMatch

VolunteerMatch is a great resource to assist your chapter with mentor recruitment, especially throughout the month of January, which is National Mentoring Month. Within VolunteerMatch you can activate the pre-loaded opportunity for Business Mentor or create opportunities for specific subject matter experts.

For example, SCORE Putnam County created an opportunity to recruit mentors who are familiar with digital marketing: Client Mentor – Digital Marketing.

But remember that you can also recruit for chapter support positions. For example, a chapter could seek assistance with their email marketing and post a newly developed VolunteerMatch template for an Email Marketing Specialist.

National Mentoring Month

January is National Mentoring Month and SCORE Headquarters will be running a national SCORE campaign that includes multiple elements. These consist of sending emails to the national list, recruiting highlighted on score.org, a Google ad campaign, and social media posts.

Chapters can get in on the action to spur recruiting locally too! Two new email templates are available within your chapter’s Constant Contact account to support Mentor Month recruiting. The names of these templates can be found below:

Mentoring Month - Chapter Template: This Constant Contact template focuses on traditional mentor recruiting.
Mentoring Month - Volunteer Recruiting - Chapter Template: This template features all types of volunteering opportunities that the chapter might need, including Mentors, Subject Matter Expert (SME) volunteers, local workshop presenter volunteers, and chapter support volunteers.

VolunteerMatch is also a great resource to assist your chapter with mentor recruitment! Within VolunteerMatch you can activate the pre-loaded opportunity for Business Mentor or create opportunities for specific subject matter experts. For example, SCORE SC Lowcountry created an opportunity to recruit mentors who are familiar with website design and social media: Website Design Advisor.

The Field Marketing Editorial Calendar has additional resources your chapter may utilize for National Mentoring Month, as well as featured content, social media post ideas, Hi-Per Local Facebook and Google My Business posting schedule, national webinar schedule, and more!

SCORE COVID-19 RESOURCES

Resources for Clients

SCORE is collecting resources to answer client's critical questions during the COVID-19 pandemic—and afterward. Updates are being made regularly.

Click Here

Volunteer Toolkit

These resources provide the latest communications and notifications around SCORE’s policy and guidance during this trying time.

Click Here

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Funded in part through a Cooperative Agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration. All opinions, conclusions, and/or recommendations expressed herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the SBA.