Contact: Ann Hatch
214-378-1819;
ahatch@dcccd.edu
For immediate release — May 19, 2014
(DALLAS) — Small business is the backbone of the country’s economy. Teaching small businesses how to run their companies more efficiently and providing capital to support their efforts are key components of the
10,000 Small Businesses initiative created by Goldman Sachs, an internationally known finance corporation. Goldman Sachs announced recently that the
10,000 Small Businesses program has come to Dallas-Fort Worth — and that the Dallas County Community College District will deliver courses for the initiative through the Bill J. Priest Institute for Economic Development at El Centro College.
Dr. Joe May, DCCCD’s chancellor, joined Mayor Mike Rawlings of Dallas, Mayor Betsy Price of Fort Worth and Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein for the announcement during a press conference on May 15 in Dallas. The $20 million partnership will create jobs and stimulate growth for area small business. Other participants in the announcement included Margaret Spellings, president of the George W. Bush Presidential Center and former U.S. Secretary of Education; Javier Palomarez, president and CEO of the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce; and local program partners.
“On behalf of everyone at the Dallas County Community College District, I want to say how excited we are to be a part of Goldman Sachs’
10,000 Small Businesses,” said May. “I want to assure you that DCCCD will do its part to deliver this first-rate program that has developed a strong track record of success across the United States.”
He added, “We are honored to have been chosen to lead the program locally. We have a long track record of supporting workforce development, small business development and career services through El Centro’s Bill J. Priest Center for Economic Development. Goldman Sachs is known for its investing expertise. They clearly recognize the potential of small businesses, the strength of educational institutions like DCCCD and the determination of our small businesses to succeed.”
May first learned about the program and how it worked when he was president of the Louisiana Community and Technical College System, which includes Delgado Community College, home of
10,000 Small Businesses in New Orleans. “The program works because it provides small business owners with business training, one-on-one business advising and exclusive networking opportunities so that they can grow their own businesses and create jobs,” said May.
The program, which begins in September 2014, involves three key components: business and management education, access to capital and business services. The business education classes that DCCCD will provide are designed to help small business owners develop a business growth plan to help them increase revenues and hire new employees. The course modules will include: “You and Your Business,” “Growth and Opportunities,” “Money and Metrics,” “You Are the Leader,” “It’s the People,” “Marketing and Selling,” “Operations and Processes,” “Being Bankable” and “Action for Growth” (two parts). The 100-hour curriculum will be taught in 11 sessions from early September through December.
“We’ve seen firsthand through
10,000 Small Businesses that giving small business owners access to education and capital helps them grow and has a positive impact on the local economy,” said Blankfein, Goldman Sachs’ CEO. “We look forward to working with our local partners in Dallas-Fort Worth to help small businesses in the area grow and create jobs.”
Other local DFW partners in the program with DCCCD and Goldman Sachs are Accion Texas Inc. and PeopleFund; those two institutions will use funds from the program to make loans to small business owners in the area. Accion also has partnered with Goldman Sachs in Houston for the
10,000 Small Businesses initiative in that city.
DCCCD will work with local organizations to encourage small businesses to apply for the education and/or capital program components and also to provide technical assistance to program participants. Key local partners will help DCCCD recruit those small business owners and entrepreneurs in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, provide outreach support and offer business support services. Those organizations include the Dallas Entrepreneur Center, the Dallas-Fort Worth Minority Supplier Development Council, the Fort Worth Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, the Dallas Regional Chamber, the Dallas Small Business Development Center, the North Texas Small Business Development Center, the Urban League of Greater Dallas and the Women’s Business Council Southwest.
“Classes are literally transformative,” May told the Dallas Business Journal after the announcement. “They focus on the immediate needs of small businesses and really give a hands-on approach. What you learn in the classroom you can immediately take back to business and put in practice.”
The
10,000 Small Businesses program is active in urban and rural communities across the United States. Sites include Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Houston, Long Beach, Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans, New York, Philadelphia and Salt Lake City. Access to capital also is available in parts of seven states: Kentucky, Maine, Montana, Oregon, Tennessee, Virginia and Washington.
A report released in February 2014 by Babson College, the lead academic partner for
10,000 Small Businesses, found that only six months after graduating from the program, 64 percent of participants have reported increasing their revenues, 45 percent have reported creating new jobs and 80 percent have worked or are working together with other program participants. The program maintains a 99 percent graduation rate.
The
10,000 Small Businesses initiative seeks out community colleges like DCCCD to deliver its education component of the program because they are at the center of economic development and they are accessible to many people who are in need.
Interested small business owners can apply online now for the program by visiting DCCCD’s website at
www.dcccd.edu/10KSB.
# # #