Help for Small Businesses/ Assistance/Grants
With the information age upon us, there is so much information available on the internet. Your first stop for business information and training is the Arkansas Small Business Development Center which is accessible online at; http://www.asbdc.ualr.edu/. It is suggested that you enroll in some of their 3-hour workshops and download some of their free information such as booklets entitled “New Venture Guide” and “Business Blueprints; Is your Business Idea Feasible”. In addition to free information, the Arkansas Small Business Development Centers also have a tremendous amount of resources for your use and offer free consulting to small businesses. Arkansas Small Business Devlopment Centers are located in Arkadelphia, Fayetteville, Fort Smith, Jonesboro, Little Rock, Magnolia and Montecello. Listed below are some additional places to go for assistance.
Business Training and Advisory Services
Entrepreneurial Service Center
2301 S. University Ave.
Little Rock, AR 72203
501/671-2000
Service Core of Retired Executives (SCORE)
320 W. Capitol, Suite 601
Little Rock, AR 72201
501/378-5813
Small Business Development Center (SBDC) Central Office
100 S. Main St., Suite 401
Little Rock, AR 72201
501/324-9043
Entrepreneurship Support Network
Association of Arkansas Entrepreneurs
University of Arkansas at Little Rock Entrepreneurial Center
100 S. Main, Suite 401
Little Rock, AR 72201
501/371-5381
Government Contracting
Arkansas Procurement Assistance Center
103 E. Page
Malvern, AR 72014
501/337-4866
Industrial Marketing Services
P.O. Box 1239
Magnolia, AR 71753
870/235-4375
U..S. Small Business Administration
320 W. Capitol, Suite 601
Little Rock, AR 72201
501/378-5871
International Trade and Education
U.S. Department of Commerce
U.S. Foreign and Commercial Services
Savers Building, Suite 811, 320 W. Capitol
Little Rock, AR 72201
501/378-5794
Arkansas Economic Development Commission
Marketing Division International
One Capitol Mall
Little Rock, AR 72201
501/682-1121
Arkansas Development Finance Authority
Export Finance Office
100 S. Main,
P. O. Box 8023
Little Rock, AR 72203
501/682-5900
University of Arkansas at Little Rock
Office of International Programs
Ottenheimer Library, Room 505
2801 S. University
Little Rock, AR 72204
501/569-3374
U.S. Small Business Administration
320 W. Capitol, Suite 601
Little Rock, AR 72201
501/378-5871
Inventor Support Networks
Arkansas Inventors Congress
P.O. Box 1784
Little Rock, AR 72203
501/682-7377
University of Arkansas Center for Technology Transfer Engineering Research Center
Fayetteville, AR 72701
479/575-3156
Patents and Trademarks
Arkansas State Library U.S. Patent Depository
One Capitol Mall
Little Rock, AR 72201
501/682-2053
Office of Public Affairs
Patent and Trademark Office
Washington, DC 20203
703/557-3341
Technical Assistance:
Graduate Institute of Technology
2801 S. University
Little Rock, AR 72204
501/569-8000
University of Arkansas Center for Technology Transfer
Engineering Research Center
Fayetteville, AR 72701
479/575-3156
Marketing Resource Information
List of Helpful Websites for Small Business Startup and Marketing Research (From the Arkansas Small Business Development Center)
Agriculture Handbook2001-2002/Chapter 2;
http://www.usda.gov/factbook/chapter2.htm.
-Profiles food consumption in America.
American Fact Finder;
http://factfinder.census.gov.
- Is part of the Census Bureau website that offers community profiles, population and housing facts, and industry and business facts.
Bureau of Labor Statistics;
http://stats.bls.gov.
-Provides wage and labor statistics.
Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance
http://www.cfda.gov/.
Census Dept. State and County Quickfacts;
http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd.
Census State Data Center (CSDC);
http://www.aiea.ualr.edu/census/default.html.
-Houses are all Arkansas information provided to the states from the U.S. Census Bureau.
Claritas
http://claritas.com.
-Is a marketing information resources company dedicated to helping companies engaged in consumer and business-to-business marketing.
ESRI
http://www.esribis.com/reports/ziplookup.html.
-See demographic data for a ZIP Code of your choice.
Employment Laws Assistance for Employees and Small Businesses
http://www.dol.gov/elaws/.
Federal Statistics;
http://www.fedstats.gov.
-Provides federal statistics and demographics that are helpful to small business owners or people considering starting a business.
Institute for Economic Advancement;
http://www.aiea.ualr.edu/.
- Excellent source for Arkansas-specific data
IRS Homepage;
http://www.irs.gov/.
-Information on federal taxes.
Legal Information Center
http://www.lawinfo.com/.
- Free legal information and over 85,000 free downloadable legal forms by state
Grant Sources
Whether you are an entrepreneur trying to get a food processing business started or an existing business needing to grow, there are grants available. Listed below are some of the more common grants;
Learn to write proposals for free at; http://foundationcenter.org/getstarted/tutorials/shortcourse/index.html.
This online course takes you through the steps of writing a grant proposal.
For a list of possible grant funders, I suggest you join the Foundation Center for $20-$30/month and get access to over 10,000 grant funders. To obtain this service, go to; http://fconline.fdncenter.org/. and join in the BASIC or PLUS programs.
Winrock International- www.winrock.org. Under U.S. Programs, assistance and grants for community and economic development including strengthening rural business and cooperative development.
Producer Groups- Some funding is available from producer groups such as American Egg Board, National Cattleman’s Assn, National Pork Producers Council etc but these grants tend to be for basic scientific research. For details, go to the producer websites listed in another section of this website.
Federal Government Grant Sources
1)USDA - www.grants.gov.Source for all U.S. government grants
2)Small Farm Program – http://www.csrees.usda.gov/nea/ag_systems/in_focus/smallfarms_if_grant.html.
Government assistance and grants for small farms
3)Small Business Innovation Research -
Gives grants for new technology or the application of technology to address problems and opportunities that exist in rural areas. They generally fund up to $80,000 for phase I and $300,000 for phase II work. University involvement is strongly encouraged. Industry/ Business writes the proposal to obtain the grant money with university help, if desired. To learn more, check there website at;
http://www.csrees.usda.gov/fo/fundview.cfm?fonum=1128. The USDA representative is Dr Charles Cleland 202/401-4002 or email at ccleland@reeusda.gov.
4) Sustainable Development Program-
http://www.sare.org/publications/limited-resource.htm.
5) Community Food Projects-
http://www.csrees.usda.gov/fo/fundview.cfm?fonum=1080.
6) Rural-Business Cooperative Service of the USDA- Provides grants for rural businesses. Provide grants for feasibility studies, marketing strategies, business plans, equipment etc. They also provide help setting up cooperatives. Go to their website at; www.rurdev.usda.gov/rbs/coops/vadg.htm or www.rurdev.usda.gov/rbs/coops/cswhat.htm and click under “Rural Business Enterprise grants”. See what has been funded recently and that will give you some idea as to what they think is important. The Arkansas state representative in Little Rock is Tim Smith 501/301-3280 or email at tim.smith@ar.usda.gov. If you are interested in starting an agricultural cooperative, call James Haskell at 202/720-8460 or email james.haskell@usda.gov.
7) Community Food Security Coalition http://www.foodsecurity.org/funding.html. Provides assistance to prospective applicants for food projects funding.
8) RBS- Cooperative Services Directory - www.rurdev.usda.gov/rbs/coops/csdir.htm. Assistance in forming a cooperative.
9) Rural Cooperative Development Grant Program
www.rurdev.usda.gov/rbs/coops/rcdg/rcdg.htm. Grants made for establishing and operating center for cooperative development for improving the economic condition of rural areas.
10) Rural Development- www.rurdev.usda.gov/rbs/coops/vadg.htm.
For value-added producer grants.
11) Farmers Market Development- www.nemw.org/farmersmarkets/.
Click on "Federal Programs". Then click on "U.S. Department of Agriculture". Numerous grants and services to assist farmers markets to include I) Value added agriculture Product Market Development Grants, 2)Community Food Projects Competitive Grants Program and 3) Marketing Services Program.
The Nationa AgLaw Center
The National AgLaw Center website contains numerous links to laws regarding agriculture.
http://www.nationalaglawcenter.org/