The Oregon Business Development Department should offer more than lip service for small business
By Valerie C. Plummer
Small businesses create jobs, and entrepreneurs create most of the jobs in America. This has been proven time and again, most recently in a study by the Kauffman Foundation, which estimated that 558,000 new businesses were started every month nationally in 2009—the highest number on record. Despite the fact that the credit freeze and housing meltdown corroded access to business capital on a scale unseen in our nation’s history, the U.S. entrepreneurial spirit is very much alive. Americans and Oregonians find a way; it is simply what we do.
Unfortunately, in the Oregon Business Development Department’s Proposed 2011 “Method of Distribution” which outlines how its Community Development Block Grant funds should be spent, the long-standing Microenterprise Assistance Program is slated for elimination. These funds help rural communities provide training and support to entrepreneurs. The program helps these small businesses fine-tune their business plans so they can grow, expanding their businesses and creating jobs.
Small businesses are counting on the Oregon Business Development Department to restore the Microenterprise Assistance Program.
Small business is not a “partisan” issue or even a bipartisan issue - it is a nonpartisan issue. Both parties play an important role in making sure Oregon’s economy rebounds. Now let’s hope the Oregon Business Development Department prevents this mis-step and reverses its proposal to eliminate the Microenterprise Assistance Program.
Ms. Plummer is Executive Director of the Oregon Microenterprise Network, a non-profit association for Oregon microenterprise development. www.oregon-microbiz.org or valerie@oregon-microbiz.org
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