Looking for Jobs in All the Right Places

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

The Oregon Business Development Department (OBDD) is seeking public comment on the proposed 2011 CDBG Method of Distribution through September 8, 2010. A public hearing will be held at 11:00 am on September 8, 2010 at OBDD, 775 Summer Street NE, Salem, Oregon in conference room 201. The draft Method of Distribution (MOD) can be viewed at http://www.oregon4biz.com/calendar.php?site=IFA&site_category=general Written comments on the proposed 2011 MOD will be accepted until 5:00 pm on September 8, 2010. Comments can be forwarded to Mary Baker, OBDD, PO Box 866, Klamath Falls, Oregon 97601 or by e-mail at mary.a.baker@biz.state.or.us