Greater Vancouver Chamber of Commerce Business Resource Center: 360-567-1051
Hispanic Metropolitan Chamber: 360-450-9044 or info@hmcoregon.com.
Two business-support organizations — the Greater Vancouver Chamber of Commerce and the Hispanic Metropolitan Chamber — have both launched small-business assistance programs for low-income Vancouver residents. The programs are tapping federal grant money allocated by the city of Vancouver.
Leaders of both chambers say they’re aiming to reach beyond the income and geographic limits imposed by the grant to create ongoing programs to help small and emerging businesses in Clark County. Additionally, the Portland-based Hispanic Metropolitan Chamber, in addition to launching its new small-business assistance program, announced that it is opening a new office in downtown Vancouver to better serve Southwest Washington’s Hispanic business community, in part using money from the Kaiser Permanente Community Fund.
Separately, the two organizations had already been making plans to offer a new array of small-business services when the city of Vancouver requested applicants for a $110,000 federal Community Development Block grant targeted to assist low-income owners of startup business ventures. The grant money is restricted to benefit Vancouver residents or business owners with household incomes of less than 80 percent of the median for the Portland-Vancouver region. That 80 percent figure is $55,500 for a family of four.
After reviewing the applications, the city decided to split the grant money equally between the two organizations, said Peggy Sheehan, Vancouver’s community and economic development programs manager. “Both (organizations) have different skill sets,” Sheehan said. “Both agreed they could make it work.”
The dual arrangement is likely good news for eligible startup owners in need of business assistance, who can choose between the two organizations. The Vancouver chamber will provide direct service but also will rely heavily on local community business organizations for resources to serve the business owners, said Kelly Love, the chamber’s chief executive officer. The Hispanic chamber’s strategy is to tap its own staff expertise to help the business owners directly, with a much smaller focus on outside assistance, said Gale Castillo, the chamber’s president. Castillo emphasized that the organization would help both Hispanic and non-Hispanic business owners.
The city’s goal is for each organization to provide technical assistance to 30 clients who meet the federal criteria, Sheehan said. She doesn’t think the two organizations will compete for clients.
“We feel there’s enough work to go around,” she said.
At the Greater Vancouver Chamber of Commerce, Love said her organization’s program coordinator and councilors will work with some two dozen local entities that are tied to economic and business development in Clark County. Those include Washington State University’s MAP Program, the Small Business Development Center, the SCORE business mentoring program, and community groups that work with women and minority entrepreneurs based in Portland and Clark County. The chamber will function as a “concierge,” she said, helping clients with services without requiring them to make numerous phone calls themselves.
In our community, partnerships matter,” Love said. “We have tried to bust out of silos for the last five years.”
The Greater Vancouver Chamber had been working on launching a small-business assistance program even without the federal grant, Love said, and it aims to assist small-business owners even if they are outside the grant’s limits. She said the program will operate out of the chamber’s offices at 1101 Broadway, Suite 101, and will be staffed by business counselors Carroll Bernard and Jeannet Santiago, The chamber itself is investing $30,000 in direct and indirect financial support for the initiative, Love said.
The Hispanic Metropolitan Chamber, which has served Southwest Washington since 1994 from its Portland office, will have an open house from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Feb. 25 at its new Vancouver office, 805 Broadway, Suite 230. The chamber is financing the office in part with a $200,000, three-year grant from the Kaiser Permanente Community Fund that also is to be used for business assistance, leadership development and scholarships, Castillo said.
Castillo said its work in the Portland region has given it confidence in providing business assistance to Vancouver business owners with moderate and low incomes.
“We have over 11 years of service providing direct services to the community, and we specialize in this particular demographic in Portland and Beaverton,” she said. “We will provide 85 percent of services ourselves but will coordinate and refer to others as needed.”
