On Jan. 20, Barack Obama took over the helm of the U.S. government, and in large measure, began setting the course of the American economy.
Mr. President, small businesses and the self-employed represent approximately 50 percent of America’s gross domestic product. To help rebuild the American economy, you must directly and significantly help America’s small businesses.
To that end, I suggest as one of your first acts, that you adopt a WPA-type program for small businesses aimed at enabling small companies to adopt new technologies, adapt new strategies, expand and add jobs. The WPA, or Works Progress Administration, was a massive Depression-era program that funded infrastructure projects, such as bridges and roads, but also programs such as job training, bringing electricity to rural communities, hiring artists and writers and funding cultural activities.
My concept of a rebuilding program for small companies — I call it the “Grow America” program — is designed to provide small companies and the self-employed with:
• Subsidized direct technical assistance.
• Grants and loans for adopting new — especially green — technologies.
• Tax incentives for adding employees.
• An online portal for small-business information and connecting to pre-vetted service providers.
• Information and training for those who are laid off and can’t find other jobs to successfully make the transition to self-employment.
Let’s say there’s a dry cleaner in Phoenix. Right now, I’m guessing they’re struggling to adapt to new environmental requirements. They may not have a Web site or have the ability to use even simple online marketing techniques. In this economy, they’re almost certainly in danger of closing.
Instead, a WPA-program would provide a growth team to assist that small dry cleaner, helping them access government loans or grants to adopt the new technologies necessary to become green, and also providing pre-vetted, government-subsidized small-business consultants to help them market their business, put up a Web site. This, of course, would also provide work for self-employed marketing consultants, graphic designers, technology providers.
In particular, the components of a Grow America Campaign would include growth teams and a growth online portal.
The growth teams would assist individual small businesses and entrepreneurs on a local level to help solve their specific problems. These teams would be composed of pre-qualified service providers from the private sector, with preference given to providers who are themselves small companies or self-employed, thus creating work for those companies as well. Assisting them would be appropriate specialists such as Small Business Development Center (SBDC) counselors or Entrepreneurship professors from local universities.
A growth portal would provide an online portal to be the central address for entrepreneurs and small businesses to find the resources, assistance, and services they need.
The online growth portal will be composed of:
Exchange — to link up individual businesses with the growth teams and other service providers they need.
Learning modules — for individuals to learn some of the skills necessary for growing and repositioning their businesses or transitioning to self-employment.
President Obama, congratulations on your inauguration. I hope that one of your first actions will be to adopt a WPA-type program to help small businesses be a vital part of America’s economic recovery.
Rhonda Abrams is the author of “Six-Week Start-Up” and “What Business Should I Start?”
