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WASHINGTON, D.C. – As the hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast works to get back on its feet, the Small Business Administration (SBA) has partnered with Operation HOPE to launch Project Restore HOPE/Small Business. The announcement was made today from New Orleans by SBA Administrator Hector Barreto and Operation HOPE Chairman and CEO John Byrant.
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Project Restore HOPE/Small Business, made possible through the SBA and Operation HOPE cosponsorship, is set to offer small and minority-owned businesses in disaster-affected communities access to free financial counseling, information on economic assistance programs and budgeting advice. The advice will be offered through one-on-one telephone counseling. SBA and Operation HOPE are working to recruit 1,000 volunteer professionals to offer this assistance.
"I would like to thank Operation HOPE for joining us in this worthy cause to help disaster-affected small and minority businesses and entrepreneurs get back on their feet," Barreto said. "Small businesses are the engine of our economy and I hope that the local business community, lending and insurance institutions will join us to help re-energize the Gulf Coast economy and create jobs."
To access the new resource, business owners should call 888/388-4673 and select the Project Restore HOPE/Small Business option.
"The Gulf Coast region – from its location to its resources to its unique community trades and businesses – represents one of richest regions commercewise in our country," Bryant said. “We cannot and will not give up on the businesses affected, or the people who still want to create business in the region. Rather, we must actively support, encourage and educate them, through substantive and result-oriented, on the ground and direct-action programs like Operation HOPE's. We must all remember that you can’t have a rainbow without a storm first. Our friends in the Gulf Coast region have been through their storm."
The SBA's mission is to maintain and strengthen the nation's economy by aiding, counseling, assisting and protecting the interests of small businesses. The SBA offers small business financing through partners in the commercial lending sector, technical assistance through national networks of small business counselors and assistance to small businesses seeking contracting opportunities. The SBA offers financial assistance to homeowners, renters and businesses of all sizes following disasters. For more information on SBA programs, please visit http://www.sba.gov/.
Operation HOPE is America's first nonprofit social investment bank and a national provider of financial literacy and economic empowerment programs. Through ongoing collaborations and long-term partnerships with leading government, private sector, and community interests, Operation HOPE works to bring self-sufficiency and a sustained spirit of revitalization to America's inner-city communities. At the core of Operation HOPE's mission to eradicate poverty and empower the wealthless is a movement to establish the right to financial literacy, access to capital, and equality of opportunity for the underserved. For more information on Operation Hope, please visit http://www.operationhope.org/.