1:15pm | The City of Long Beach Redevelopment Agency (RDA) and Long Beach City College (LBCC) will celebrate the opening of the LBCC Downtown Small Business Development Center at 10:00am tomorrow at 309 Pine Avenue in downtown Long Beach.
“The new Downtown Center will be an incredible opportunity for small business owners to connect with the great resources at Long Beach City College and our own city economic development programs and tax incentives,” said Mayor Bob Foster.
The new Downtown Center, opening just north of 3rd and Pine, will offer small business owners free training, business advising, access to capital, and advice from entrepreneurs and industry experts. In addition, the Downtown Center will host the LBCC Small Business Development Center (SBDC), the Long Beach International Trade Office, and the 10,000 Small Business Goldman Sachs Program. The City of Long Beach will also use the center to promote its economic development programs to small businesses.
The opening ceremony will include remarks from Mayor Bob Foster, President Eloy Ortiz Oakley, John Thomas, Chair of the Long Beach RDA, and a resource fair for small business owners.
The SBDC, a program of the Small Business Administration, has been hosted by Long Beach City College since 2006, and in that time has helped hundreds of area business owners increase their sales, obtain loans, streamline operations, utilize new technologies, expand into new markets, and position themselves for long-term growth.
One key objective of the (RDA) is to support the revitalization of commercial sites and to improve commercial corridors in the Downtown Redevelopment Project Area. To promote this objective, the RDA leased this once vacant property to Long Beach City College as a satellite for its regional Small Business Development Center program. SBDC’s presence on Pine Avenue will help activate space in the Downtown and provide convenient services to area businesses.