SBA District Office Collaboration with Resource Partners (House Small Business subcommittee hearing, July 20, 2022)
Summary
The printed record of a hearing, SBA District Office Collaboration with Resource Partners, held July 20, 2022 by the Subcommittee on Underserved, Agricultural, and Rural Business Development of the House Committee on Small Business, Small Business Committee Document Number 117–063. The subcommittee met at 10:07 a.m. in Room 2360 of the Rayburn House Office Building with Chairman Jared Golden presiding. Four witnesses testified: Mark Delisle of the Maine Small Business Development Center, Portland, ME; Nancy Strojny of SCORE Maine, Portland, ME; J.D. Collins of the Michigan Small Business Development Center, Grand Rapids, MI; and John William (Bill) Leaverton of America's SBDC at Tarleton State University, Stephenville, TX, whose statement asks for less duplication between SBA and the SBDCs and more rural programs with longer horizons.
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“SBA District Office Collaboration with Resource Partners (House Small Business subcommittee hearing, July 20, 2022).”
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SBA DISTRICT OFFICE COLLABORATION WITH
RESOURCE PARTNERS
HEARING
BEFORE THE
SUBCOMMITTEE ON UNDERSERVED,
AGRICULTURAL, AND RURAL BUSINESS
DEVELOPMENT
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON SMALL BUSINESS
UNITED STATES
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
HEARING HELD
JULY 20, 2022
Small Business Committee Document Number 117–063
Available via the GPO Website: www.govinfo.gov
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
48–013 WASHINGTON : 2022
HOUSE COMMITTEE ON SMALL BUSINESS
NYDIA VELÁZQUEZ, New York, Chairwoman
JARED GOLDEN, Maine
JASON CROW, Colorado
SHARICE DAVIDS, Kansas
KWEISI MFUME, Maryland
DEAN PHILLIPS, Minnesota
MARIE NEWMAN, Illinois
CAROLYN BOURDEAUX, Georgia
TROY CARTER, Louisiana
JUDY CHU, California
DWIGHT EVANS, Pennsylvania
CHRISSY HOULAHAN, Pennsylvania
ANDY KIM, New Jersey
ANGIE CRAIG, Minnesota
SCOTT PETERS, California
BLAINE LUETKEMEYER, Missouri, Ranking Member
ROGER WILLIAMS, Texas
PETE STAUBER, Minnesota
DAN MEUSER, Pennsylvania
CLAUDIA TENNEY, New York
ANDREW GARBARINO, New York
YOUNG KIM, California
BETH VAN DUYNE, Texas
BYRON DONALDS, Florida
MARIA SALAZAR, Florida
SCOTT FITZGERALD, Wisconsin
MIKE FLOOD, Nebraska
MELISSA JUNG, Majority Staff Director
ELLEN HARRINGTON, Majority Deputy Staff Director
DAVID PLANNING, Staff Director
(II)
CONTENTS
OPENING STATEMENTS
Page
Hon. Jared Golden ................................................................................................... 1
Hon. Claudia Tenney ............................................................................................... 2
WITNESSES
Mr. Mark Delisle, Director, Maine Small Business Development Center, Port-
land, ME ............................................................................................................... 6
Ms. Nancy Strojny, SCORE Maine Assistant District Director, Service Corps
of Retired Executives (SCORE), Portland, ME .................................................. 7
Mr. J.D. Collins, Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director, Michigan
Small Business Development Center, Grand Rapids, MI ................................. 9
Mr. John William (Bill) Leaverton, Regional Director, America’s SBDC at
Tarleton State University, Stephenville, TX ..................................................... 11
APPENDIX
Prepared Statements:
Mr. Mark Delisle, Director, Maine Small Business Development Center,
Portland, ME ................................................................................................. 26
Ms. Nancy Strojny, SCORE Maine Assistant District Director, Service
Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE), Portland, ME ................................ 29
Mr. J.D. Collins, Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director, Michi-
gan Small Business Development Center, Grand Rapids, MI .................. 32
Mr. John William (Bill) Leaverton, Regional Director, America’s SBDC
at Tarleton State University, Stephenville, TX .......................................... 34
Questions for the Record:
None.
Answers for the Record:
None.
Additional Material for the Record:
None.
(III)
SBA DISTRICT OFFICE COLLABORATION WITH
RESOURCE PARTNERS
WEDNESDAY, JULY 20, 2022
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,
COMMITTEE ON SMALL BUSINESS,
SUBCOMMITTEE ON UNDERSERVED, AGRICULTURAL,
AND RURAL BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT,
Washington, DC.
The Subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 10:07 a.m., in Room
2360, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Jared Golden [chair-
man of the Subcommittee] presiding.
Present: Representatives Golden, Williams, Stauber, Tenney, and
Flood.
Chairman GOLDEN. Good morning. I call this hearing to order.
Without objection, the Chair is authorized to declare a recess at
any time.
I would like to begin by noting a few requirements. Standing
House and Committee rules continue to apply during hybrid pro-
ceedings, so all Members are reminded that they are expected to
adhere to these rules, including the rules of decorum.
House regulations require Members to be visible through a video
connection throughout the proceeding, so please keep your cameras
on. Also, please remember to remain muted until you are recog-
nized to minimize background noise.
In the event that a Member encounters technical issues that pre-
vent them from being recognized for their questioning, I will move
to the next available Member of the same party and will recognize
that Member at the next appropriate time slot provided they have
returned.
I will now move to an opening statement.
In the rural areas that make up most of my district, the benefits
of small businesses go much further than jobs and a tax base. They
also provide community. I have seen it with my parents’ small
business, where you can often find folks from all over town and the
surrounding towns coming together to catch up, shoot the breeze,
and check in on one another. Small businesses across rural Amer-
ica are essential to building and maintaining these communities
and preserving the rural American way of life.
But, as my own folks will tell you, running a small business is
not an easy task. That is why the SBA offers free or low-cost coun-
seling and training services that help address unique challenges
that entrepreneurs face.
The SBA relies on four primary resource partners to deliver
these offerings. Those are the Small Business Development Cen-
(1)
2
ters, Women’s Business Development Centers, SCORE, and Vet-
erans Business Outreach Centers to help support small firms
across the country, particularly in rural areas, through every step
of the business cycle.
SBA’s programs and services, including resource partners, work
in close partnership with SBA’s 10 regional offices, and 68 district
offices across the country. U.S. SBA district offices primarily con-
centrate on outreach and marketing efforts and maintain working
relationships with their local resource partners, lenders, and eco-
nomic development organizations.
These district offices perform regular reviews to ensure that re-
source partners meet the needs of their small business clients.
Strong relationships between a district office and their local re-
source partners are vital to the success of the small businesses that
they serve. Clear communication and coordination facilitate the
flow of useful information from the SBA to small businesses. It also
allows the SBA to receive feedback on challenges they face and how
agency offerings can alleviate them.
I have seen the benefit of strong collaboration between the agen-
cy and resource partners firsthand in Maine. With locations in Au-
gusta, Bangor, and Portland, the Maine District Office delivers
SBA programs and services across all of Maine’s 16 counties.
The Maine District Office also meets with the Maine SBDCs,
WBCs, and SCORE chapters quarterly to ensure everyone is row-
ing in the same direction.
For the past 2-plus years, district office staff have been there to
help guide Maine owners as they work to navigate the economic
disruption, particularly early on during COVID-19. Their efforts
have included partnering with me on tele-town halls to spread
awareness about economic relief programs, like the Paycheck Pro-
tection Program that were available to small businesses. Together,
we contacted thousands of business owners to make sure they
knew that there were resources there for them.
And while every relationship is unique, district offices and re-
source partners consistently have problems with staffing. Hiring
caps due to budgeting constraints have left many offices short-
staffed, increasing the burden on current employees, and leading to
higher levels of burnout.
In fiscal year 2022, SBA received approximately $278 million,
about $8 million more than the fiscal year 2021 enacted level in the
salaries and expenses account. This increase was, in part, intended
to better support SBA employees. This budget increase is a good
first step, but I would like to discuss other actions we can take to
ensure that district offices and resource partners have the staff
they need to serve main street.
Today, I would like to take a closer look at this and other chal-
lenges that district offices face and steps we can take to strengthen
the work shared between them and their resource partners.
I will now yield to the Ranking Member, Ms. Tenney, for her
opening statement.
Ms. TENNEY. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I really appreciate
your comments, and I am looking forward to hearing from our wit-
ness today.
3
As we hold this Committee hearing, I am a small business owner
as well. Small businesses are facing historic economic headwinds,
including soaring costs, chronic labor shortages, supply chain dis-
ruptions. Last week, the Consumer Price Index hit another historic
level of 9.1 percent, the highest 12-month gain since 1981.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics also reported the Producer Price
Index, a measure of wholesale inflation, jumped 11.3 percent from
the previous year. Inflation is raging across all industries which
means higher prices for smaller businesses and the customers.
In addition to soaring prices, small businesses continue to experi-
ence significant labor issues and ongoing supply disruptions. The
most recent Job Openings and Labor Turnover Summary reported
11.3 million job vacancies across the nation, and 4.3 million em-
ployees just simply quit their jobs. The National Federation of
Independent Businesses Monthly Job Report shows half of small
business owners reported job openings they could not fill. Further
NFIB stated that approximately 94 percent of small businesses
have been affected in some way by supply chain disruptions.
As our economy approaches potentially a recession, it is impor-
tant for our Committee to examine how the SBA can better support
small businesses on the ground. The SBA’s Office of Field Oper-
ations (OFO) is responsible for that. It oversees regional and dis-
trict offices across the country. OFO is responsible for connecting
and supporting entrepeneurs with SBA tools and services.
Small business owners turn to district offices to gain access to
capital, expand consumer base, navigate government regulations,
and to work with the SBA resource partners. The SBA relies on its
district offices to provide tools for enhancing and growing small
businesses while overseeing the delivery of the SBA programs, in-
cluding the Entrepreneurial Development programs.
Upstate New York is home to three district offices that serve 34
counties. These district offices were vital during the pandemic as
they assisted small firms in applying and assessing the Paycheck
Protection Program, the Economic Injury Disaster Loans, and the
Restaurant Revitalization Fund.
In 2021, New York’s SBDCs helped over 42,000 small businesses
secure COVID-related loans and grants. They were a lifesaver. Fur-
ther, they assisted almost 2,000 new firms opening their doors dur-
ing 2021. These resources and programs have a real impact in
rural communities like mine. Over 16,200 new jobs were created
because of this effort.
However, I am concerned with the SBA actions to allocate re-
sources for duplicative programs such as the Community Navigator
Pilot program and the Growth Accelerators Fund.
Further, it is troubling that the SBA is using resource partners
and programs to advance unfortunately a political agenda. The
SBA has touted becoming the first federal agency to be a des-
ignated voter agency. In a press release, the SBA states, ‘‘It plans
to use district offices to provide access to voter registration services
and vote-by-mail ballot applications, otherwise known as vote har-
vesting.’’
Now, more than ever, small businesses need the SBA to carry
out its statutory missions and core responsibilities. Small firms are
struggling from the administration’s poor economic policies and
4
they need the SBA to put them first. For this reason, I am a spon-
sor of the Improve the SBA Act, which will safeguard taxpayer dol-
lars by reducing duplicative programs, ensure that resource part-
ners are effectively serving small businesses, and support
entrepeneurs in navigating economic headwinds, especially what
we are seeing today.
I am also glad to have worked across the aisle to find some bi-
partisan solutions to improve the SBA resource partners and pro-
grams. In May, Representative Houlahan and I introduced H.R.
7670, the Women-Owned Small Business Program Transparency
Act, which will strengthen the women-owned small business con-
tracting program by enhancing transparency and accountability,
ensuring it works for taxpayers and our nation’s small businesses.
Further, I worked with Representative Davids to introduce H.R.
6441, the Women’s Business Centers Improvement Act of 2022,
which reauthorizes the WBC program through fiscal year 2025 and
increases the cap on individual center grants for the first time.
I am confident that we can continue to work together to
strengthen these programs and better support small businesses. I
look forward to hearing from our witness today as to how we can
better empower our entrepeneurs and work to ensure that SBA re-
sources are operating efficiently and communicating with the small
businesses in a prompt and efficient manner.
Thanks so much.
Chairman GOLDEN. The gentlewoman yields back.
I would like to take a moment to explain how this hearing will
proceed. Each witness will have 5 minutes to provide a statement,
and each Committee Member will have 5 minutes for questions.
Please ensure that your microphone is on when you begin speak-
ing and that you return to mute when finished.
Before introducing our witnesses, I just want to take a moment
to welcome a new Member to the Subcommittee here. We have got
Congressman Flood from Nebraska. Good to have you on board.
Do you want to say hello, introduce yourself for a quick minute?
Mr. FLOOD. Well, thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I appre-
ciate the opportunity to serve this Congress. I represent the City
of Lincoln and a rural area in Northeast Nebraska and look for-
ward to discussing the SBA and its services and how important it
is for small businesses to thrive in America. So, thank you.
Chairman GOLDEN. Welcome. Mr. Flood and I were just talking
about how Maine and Nebraska are the only two states in the
country that split their Electoral College votes according to the re-
sults of their congressional district votes. So something we have got
in common. It is a unique system and one that I am a fan of.
Moving to witness introduction.
Mr. Delisle is the state director of the Main SBDC and oversees
implementation of the program and delivery of its services. He
serves on the National Accreditation Committee for American
Small Business Development Centers and brings to his position ex-
tensive experience as a small business owner, most recently as an
independent retailer of fine art supplies and picture framing. Mr.
Delisle has a Master’s in Business Administration and a Bachelor
of Science in Materials Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic
5
Institute. Welcome back, Mr. Delisle. Not your first time before the
Committee by any means. It is good to have you.
Our second witness is Ms. Nancy Strojny. She is the assistant
district director for SCORE Maine. Ms. Strojny has served as the
Chair of the Portland SCORE chapter from 2011 to 2020 when she
was promoted to assistant district director for SCORE. She is a na-
tional guest speaker, panelist, and blogger on a wide range of busi-
ness issues and was selected as a White House Champion of
Change in 2012. In 2019, the Portland Chapter of SCORE was
voted the SBA’s National SCORE Chapter of the Year. Welcome to
Ms. Strojny.
Our third witness is Mr. J.D. Collins. He is the state director of
the Michigan SBDC. He leverages 20-plus years of executive lead-
ership experience in small businesses and large corporations to
oversee the SBDCs human, financial, and administrative resources,
along with stakeholder relationships. Mr. Collins is passionate
about serving Michigan’s small business community. Welcome, Mr.
Collins.
And I will now yield to the Ranking Member, Ms. Tenney, to in-
troduce our final witness.
Ms. TENNEY. Thank you. I yield that distinguished introduction
to the small business owner, Mr. Williams, Representative Wil-
liams.
Mr. WILLIAMS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you, Ms.
Tenney for that. And it is an honor to do this today. I want to
thank the Chairman and the Ranking Member for allowing me to
introduce our final witness, who happens to be from my congres-
sional district in Texas.
Mr. Bill Leaverton is the regional director for Tarleton State Uni-
versity, home of the Texans. Fighting Texans, right? But Univer-
sity Small Business Development Center in Stephenville. A native
Texan, Mr. Leaverton is proud to represent Tarleton State Univer-
sity and the SBDC in assisting rural entrepeneurs. We have a lot
of rural in our district. Prior to assuming the position as director
in 2019, Mr. Leaverton spent most of his career owning and oper-
ating small businesses that make up the bedrock of America and
often that history, we do not have that in helping people. So you
bring a unique background to us. In 2021, Mr. Leaverton’s SBDC
assisted in providing small businesses over $100 million in capital
assistance, which was a record for their mostly rural network, and
it has been a pleasure to watch rural area grow in our district and
see the benefits that Tarleton’s SBDC is having on our economy.
Mr. Leaverton, thank you for all of your work to support main
street. It is good to see that you brought some friends with you
that we have, and I know your experience as a small business
owner and SBDC regional director will be extremely beneficial to
our hearing today. So Mr. Leaverton, thank you for taking time to
testify before us, and I yield my time back, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman GOLDEN. The gentleman yields back.
Thank you all for being here. And we will begin with recognizing
Mr. Delisle for 5 minutes. Go ahead, sir.
6
STATEMENTS OF MARK DELISLE, DIRECTOR, MAINE SMALL
BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT CENTER; NANCY STROJNY, SCORE
MAINE ASSISTANT DISTRICT DIRECTOR, SERVICE CORPS OF
RETIRED EXECUTIVES (SCORE); J.D. COLLINS, CHIEF EXECU-
TIVE OFFICER AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, MICHIGAN
SMALL BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT CENTER; JOHN WILLIAM
‘‘BILL’’ LEAVERTON, REGIONAL DIRECTOR, AMERICA’S SBDC
AT TARLETON STATE UNIVERSITY
STATEMENT OF MARK DELISLE
Mr. DELISLE. Good morning, Chairman Golden, Ranking Mem-
ber Tenney, Members of the Committee. Thank you for inviting me
to testify today.
My name is Mark Delisle and I am the state director for the
Maine Small Business Development Center program and joined the
program in 2008. As you know, the SBDC is a nationwide network
that helps build and strengthen small businesses through no-cost,
confidential business advising, training and educational resources.
A program of the Small Business Administration, we have served
in Maine businesses for over 40 years, being one of the initial eight
pilot programs in the country.
The impact of our program in Maine is substantial. In 2021
alone, we helped 2,953 entrepreneurs to start 136 new businesses,
create and save 917 jobs, and helped entrepreneurs access $48.8
million in capital. All of those results are verified and attributed
to our assistance by the client in writing.
We could not have this level of success without the support of our
partners at the SBA’s Maine District Office. District Director Diane
Sturgeon and her team work tirelessly to support resource partners
and the small businesses of Maine. Examples of our collaboration
with the district offices include:
Regular meetings. There are quarterly resource partner meetings
that involve SBDC, Women’s Business Center, the SCORE program
as well, where we can enhance communication collaboration, un-
derstand each other’s initiatives and programs, and avoid duplica-
tion.
For the past several years, the SBA district offices also convene
a broader meeting that includes many other economic development
partners that meet on a quarterly basis. It is a great opportunity
for not only SBA programs but other economic development part-
ners and resources to get together quarterly, again to kind of co-
ordinate and make sure that we are serving the best interests of
small businesses across the state of Maine.
We additional also cohost many educational events with the
Maine District Office. A most recent example of that would be in
May of this year, National Trade Month and Export Week, we co-
hosted a four-part series on exporting with topics ranging from
writing an export business plan to obtaining financing for an ex-
port venture. We also have regular sessions that we hold, dis-
cussing the resources that are available to small businesses and
entrepeneurs across Maine and also basics of starting a business
and have done that on an ongoing basis.
There are also our promotional opportunities that are available
that we work with the district office on where we will regularly
7
visit local businesses, especially pre-pandemic, to highlight services
that have been received by the small business from the SBA and
the resource partners. The two times a year that that is most com-
mon is Small Business Saturday in the fall leading into the retail
season, and also Small Business Week in May where we highlight
many of our small business award winners, often our clients of the
various resource partners as well.
The other element of collaboration and coordination between the
SBA district office and the resource partners at SBDC specifically
would be oversight or compliance oversight. There is an annual
Project Officer review. In fact, I had mine yesterday. It involved a
90-minute meeting with our project officer where we go over all the
performance of the program and all aspects of collaboration and
moving together, working forward, working together.
They also have responsibility to sign off on our annual proposal
and that goes in usually in August and September of this year. So
they review what we are proposing for our core grant award.
In addition to my work in Maine, as was noted, I am on the Na-
tional Accreditation Committee for the SBDC program. I joined
that Committee in 2018. This involves a weeklong review of SBDC
programs across the country. Since 2010, I have been on teams
that have reviewed 18 SBDCs across the countries. Every one of
those reviews involves a meeting with the district director and the
project officer at the SBA in whatever state or region we are in
where we review the collaboration, the partnership, the relation-
ship between the district officer and the SBDC program. So I have
seen all sorts of great examples of collaboration of work between
a district office and the SBDC program. The elements that are
there when we have the strongest relationship from my view hav-
ing gone to so many other states and programs are open commu-
nication, understanding each other’s roles and responsibilities, and
a mutual goal to serve entrepeneurs of small businesses in the
state or the region.
In Maine, our work together is mutually beneficial and helps in-
crease awareness of the critical services we provide to Maine small
businesses. The advocacy of our district office enables more
entrepeneurs to access the SBDC services that they need to start,
grow, and sustain their business. The district office relies on and
trusts the resource partners to be their feet on the ground doing
the fieldwork to deliver detailed one-on-one guidance to small busi-
ness.
Thank you, and I look forward to any questions you might have.
Chairman GOLDEN. Thank you.
And we will now give 5 minutes to Ms. Strojny. Go ahead,
ma’am. Thank you.
STATEMENT OF NANCY STROJNY
Ms. STROJNY. Subcommittee Chairman Golden, Ranking Mem-
ber Tenney, and Members of the Subcommittee, thank you for the
opportunity to offer testimony on SCORE’s collaboration with the
U.S. Small Business Administration district offices in the state of
Maine. I am Nancy Strojny and I am currently the assistant dis-
trict director for SCORE in Maine.
8
SCORE is the nation’s largest network in the nation of volunteer,
expert business mentors, with more than 10,000 volunteers across
the country offering free and confidential business advice and edu-
cation.
Since our founding in 1964, SCORE volunteers have helped more
than 11 million entrepreneurs to start, grow, or troubleshoot their
small business. We continue to mentor because mentoring works.
SBA data shows that the business owners who received 3-plus
hours of mentoring report higher revenues and increased business
growth. In the past 5 years in the state of Maine alone, SCORE
has helped our clients to start 1,791 new businesses, in turn cre-
ating 5,487 new jobs.
My fellow SCORE volunteers represent a diverse range of back-
grounds and industry expertise. I spent 30 years working in sales
and marketing with Proctor and Gamble and merchandising with
CVS before going into business for myself.
I have been a SCORE volunteer for more than a decade, serving
in leadership roles as chapter chair, assistant district director, and
the SCORE board of directors. As a mentor, I am proud to create
meaningful and long-term relationships with my clients, helping
them to launch new businesses and operate existing businesses
more successfully.
My SCORE client, Kate McAleer, founder and co-owner of Bixby
Chocolates in Rockland, Maine, has explained the value of our
mentoring relationship as, and I quote, ‘‘Our participation with
SCORE has been invaluable to Bixby’s company. Our mentor has
the extensive experience and incomparable ability to provide ad-
vice. Her judgement is always sound, invaluable, and uncanny. Her
ability to help navigate our entrepreneurial journey for key deci-
sion making and support has been and continues to be important
and critical to us in our successes.’’
Clients like Kate demonstrate SCORE’s vital contribution to
Maine’s large and vibrant small business community. According to
SBA data Maine’s 150,000 small businesses represent 99.2 percent
of all state businesses. And small businesses accounted for 56.8
percent of Maine’s employment in 2018, compared to 39.7 percent
nationally. Maine is truly a small business state.
In order to best serve our clients, SCORE regularly collaborates
with the SBA and its resource partners—the SBDC, the Women’s
Business Center, the Veterans Business Outreach Center. This is
a result of the outstanding SBA leadership in Maine led by District
Director Diane Sturgeon and our willingness to serve Maine clients
without organizational or geographical boundaries. We share infor-
mation and refer clients to each other freely, putting the needs of
the client first.
One example is Tiny Homes of Maine, a designer and builder of
custom mobile spaces with a manufacturing facility located in
Northern Maine. Founder Corinne Watson worked with an SBDC
business advisor on her financials to help secure capital and
worked with SCORE on strategy and operations.
Another example of collaboration between resource partners in
Maine is Focus ME, which is now in its 7th year. This women’s
group program was created in collaboration with the Women’s
9
Business Center and focuses on personal development, including
goal setting and peer-to-peer learning.
Our SCORE main client success award luncheon held annually
in June celebrates business innovation, vision, and achievement
and presents nonmonetary awards to worthy clients. Our resource
partners and the SBA attend and participate in this luncheon.
Serving clients without borders is a hallmark of SCORE and
SBA teams in Maine. Other SBA collaborations include the SBA
Thrive Emerging Leader Program. Score Maine has mentored cli-
ents through this program since 2018, also serving as expert panel-
ists to provide insight and feedback on each business’s 3-year
growth plan.
Lender information panels, which are hosted by the SBA quar-
terly and are attended by all resource partners.
The SBA Small Business Awards held each year during National
Small Business Week. SCORE Maine clients regularly win SBA
Maine awards, including Tyler Frank, founder of Garbage to Gar-
den who won the 2022 Small Business Person of the Year Award
in Maine. Tyler has been a SCORE client for over 7 years.
SCORE participants in quarterly meetings hosted by our SBA
district director. My colleague, Marty Doto, chapter chair for
SCORE Central NY, also shared the following information about
SCORE’s collaboration with SBA district offices in New York. SBA
staff participates in our monthly volunteer mentor meetings, pro-
vides insight into SBA programs and resources, which enables our
mentors to offer clients enhanced services. Members of the SBA
Upstate New York District Office team have also co-mentored with
SCORE volunteers. During the pandemic, SCORE Central New
York worked closely with the SBA to provide timely and updated
guidance and training on SBA COVID relief programs as they
evolved. The SBA District Office held numerous ‘‘train the trainer’’
webinars to help us better counsel our clients in understanding and
applying for emergency funding.
Similar to my district in Maine, SCORE and the SBA collabo-
rated on client recruitment, marketing of the emerging leaders, and
THRIVE programs. At SCORE, we believe that our clients’ success
is our success and collaborating with the SBA and our fellow re-
source partners is one way we help our clients succeed.
Thank you for the opportunity to testify today, and I welcome
any questions.
Chairman GOLDEN. Thank you.
We will now give 5 minutes to Mr. Collins.
STATEMENT OF J.D. COLLINS
Mr. COLLINS. Good morning. And thank you to the Committee
for the opportunity to testify today. This is a real honor.
Once again, I am J.D. Collins, and I am the executive director
of the Michigan SBDC. The Michigan team consists of about 100
core consultants and specialty teams that address technology com-
mercialization, cybersecurity, growth strategies, market research,
and mobility. We are the Motor City after all.
I am here today to discuss how Michigan established a robust re-
lationship with our state and regional SBA offices and demonstrate
how that relationship resulted in better outcomes for Michigan’s
10
small businesses. So I asked the question, what is the advantage
of a tightly aligned small business partner network? Well, the ad-
vantage became evident during the early days of the pandemic. To
take you back in those early March days in 2020, there was a tsu-
nami of information cascading into the small business world, often
leaving them with more questions than answers.
Well, that is when the Michigan SBDC invited the SBA resource
partners into daily huddles where we distilled information and dis-
tributed it to small businesses in terms that were easy to under-
stand. We then coupled this information with co-hosted webinars
that helped businesses navigate the early days of the pandemic.
Think EIDL and PPP days.
To say this was popular is an understatement.
To put the demand into perspective, Michigan SBDC hosts
webinars and we are thrilled if we get 10 attendees. For one PPP
webinar, we had over 3,000 attendees.
Mr. Golden, you mentioned in your preamble demand for services
was high and I hope to address that as well as that is a continued
issue for SBDCs in Michigan and I have heard from my fellow col-
leagues around the nation that demand for services is high. We can
attribute this to people who reached out during the pandemic, liked
what they got, and are coming back for repeat services as time goes
on.
So the business-friendly information ended up on our website. I
have had to update the website in Michigan just to keep up with
demand and keep the website from crashing. The collective efforts
of the resource partners and our distribution of client-friendly in-
formation earned us the nickname, ‘‘The Small Business Source of
Truth.’’
Now, this story was made possible by the focused efforts to estab-
lish meaningful resource partnerships. It is about people. It is
about relationships and it goes beyond names on paper. Yes, we
have aligned strategies, goals, and clear communication, but it is
a fact that I know our district director, Leketa Henderson, I know
that she has my back. If can call her, and she will answer. And
I have sat shoulder to shoulder in the trenches with the other re-
source partners as well. It is those deeper relationships that al-
lowed a focused partner response when it was needed.
Now, you have heard from my colleagues about regular cadence
at meetings and partnership opportunities. We do the same here in
Michigan. I can tell you one unique aspect of what we are doing,
and in fact, I am there right now as we host and collaborate with
the SBA district office on what we call the Great Lakes Lenders
Conference. It is an SBA lender’s conference where we bring part-
nerships together and allow for those human-to-human relation-
ships and bonds to grow, and quite frankly, it builds esprit de corps
amongst the team when it comes to planning it. That, coupled with
our regular touch bases and strategic alignment allows us to part-
nership.
So Michigan’s resource relationships with our resource partners
gave us a nick-name, and I am happy to answer any questions the
Committee may have. Thank you for the opportunity to testify.
Chairman GOLDEN. Thank you.
11
And now Mr. Leaverton, thank you for being here today, and we
will give you 5 minutes.
STATEMENT OF JOHN WILLIAM ‘‘BILL’’ LEAVERTON
Mr. LEAVERTON. Good morning, Chairman Golden, Represent-
ative Tenney, Representative Williams and Mr. Flood. Thank you
for inviting me to testimony today. I look forward to discussing
small business, and particularly in the rural setting with you.
My name is Bill Leaverton. I am the regional director for the
SBDC at Tarleton State University located in rural Stephenville,
Texas. We represent some of the most rural communities of the
state, if not, in fact, the nation.
The SBDC’s overall focus is simply to help the public become suc-
cessful small business owners. I specifically focus on assisting
small business owners in the rural setting obtain loans.
So, we are here today to talk about the SBA’s role and its col-
laboration with resource partners. So, I wanted to share with you
some of that collaboration.
As Representative Williams can certainly attest, the SBDC as-
sisted countless businesses during the pandemic during the shut-
down. We were given daily updates from the SBA, lots of webinars
that were vital to helping the public understand what was going
on and indeed, how to improve and yet survive.
A significant program is the 504-loan guaranty program which
helps small businesses obtain loans in order to open those dreams.
But the needs of the rural entrepreneur are vastly different than
that of our urban counterparts. They are not even close to the
same. The first unique distinction I would like to point out is that
the rural environment requires face-to-face interaction. This type of
interaction builds the most cornerstone foundation of small busi-
ness in the rural setting and that is trust and in the SBDC. An-
other unique distinction is that in many rural areas, they simply
do not have access to internet. It is vital.
So, this makes online participation in webinars and Zoom con-
ferences impractical at best. For example, I worked for 7 months
with a community in rural Texas of 500 people open a daycare cen-
ter. It injected $260,000 into the economy, created eight jobs, and
more importantly, put rural parents back into the workforce. I com-
municated with those people almost exclusively face to face or via
telephone because they could not do Zoom conferences as they had
no access to internet. Unfortunately, this is a problem that is
rampant in small Texas rural areas.
Second, the rural community needs longer term commitments
programs. The CARES Act created human capital that allowed the
SBDC to meet an overwhelming demand. Now that that program
as it relates to the SBDC is expiring along with the human capital,
we are left with a situation in which demand outpaces supply
greatly. For instance, our office currently has a 3 week wait period
to meet with clients.
Third, rural communities need streamlined programs. Rural cli-
ents to the SBDC oftentimes find themselves attempting to navi-
gate the many different programs available, and most of these pro-
grams quite frankly closely align with the mission of the SBDC.
For example, the Navigator program was a very well-designed and
12
planned program. However, in my opinion, it could duplicate the ef-
forts of the SBDC, overlap geography, and divert resources.
Finally, the rural community needs direct support. Recently, I
was able to obtain a $300,000 rural business development grant
from the USDA. This allowed and enabled the Stephenville Eco-
nomic Development Foundation to create a revolving loan that will
create access to capital and jobs for our rural communities.
The SBA is a successful organization but finding ways to
strengthen those programs that are working is essential for the
rural business. In my opinion, there are three examples that policy
could assist.
One, create more long-term horizon programs for the SBDC that
result in direct interaction with the rural community. The SBDC
is effective whenever we are allowed to be present.
Second, streamline the various duplicate programs that could
overlap the mission of the SBDC itself.
Third, establish ways to provide direct access to capital for small
and microbusinesses in rural areas. We desperately need that.
In closing, thank you for inviting me to testify today. Your will-
ingness to invest your time on this Committee is duly noted and
we very much appreciate it. On behalf of the Northwest Texas
SBDC Network, Tarleton University, and the University of A&M
system, I thank you for your service.
Chairman GOLDEN. Thank you very much.
We are now going to move to the questions from Members por-
tion of the hearing, and I will go ahead and recognize myself first.
I will probably end up asking each one of you a question and I
imagine there will be several rounds and we will do these in 5-
minute increments.
Someone has got to start the clock by the way. Thank you.
So, I am going to actually start with you, Mr. Leaverton. Just
kind of following up on what you were just talking about. I have
heard a lot of what you just said from folks back home in Maine.
You mentioned the 504 loan guaranty. You also talked about using
this USDA grant to set up like a revolving loan program. So, and
of course, I think you said you really focus on helping people get
access to capital.
So what are some of the challenges when you look at the various
capital that is out there, particularly SBA versus private banking,
et cetera? Just as an example, why the need to set up a revolving
loan program rather than rely on others? What do you say to busi-
nesses when they come to you and say we need some help finding
capital?
Mr. LEAVERTON. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
What I say to them is simply access to capital is the most dif-
ficult part of opening a small business. And in many cases, particu-
larly in the rural setting, access to capital is difficult because of the
collateralization issue. Without that collateralization, that small
business is not going to open. The banking institutions have their
regulations and they have their need to make a profit as well. And
so, their risk factors must be taken into consideration.
With instituting a revolving loan fund from the USDA’s rural
business development grant allows a private group, albeit overseen
by the USDA, but it allows them to inject capital into the rural set-
13
ting in a much more personal way. We are able to have a com-
mittee that is made up of the community members. We are able to
have a committee that is made up of small business owners, and
therefore, they can make a determination on what is best to inject
that money rather than at an institutional level.
Chairman GOLDEN. Thank you. And tell us a little bit about
how the 504 loan guaranty helps you with that problem you were
just talking about as well.
Mr. LEAVERTON. Sure. The SBA’s guaranty programs, of which
there are many, obviously, the 504 is the most popular one that I
encounter due to the collateralization issue again. The banking in-
stitutions, like the 504 program, because it does leverage hard as-
sets as it were, land, buildings, and such that enable the bank to
mitigate their risk factor. And due to that issue, it is the most pop-
ular program we have in the rural area. The 7(a) loan is not as
popular because it is a working capital loan and again, the
collateralization issue is a problem. So, it is not as viable.
Chairman GOLDEN. Thank you. I guess lastly, one of your third
recommendations was on access to capital, and you talked about
the need for some kind of maybe new program, what you could do
like microloans and things of that nature. How do you envision
that being implemented?
Mr. LEAVERTON. Well, quite frankly, you know, there is no
word ‘‘business’’ in the USDA. There is in the SBA. So, I do not
understand quite honestly why we cannot operate in the same
manner. I mean, if the USDA is coming to our aid, why cannot the
SBA come to our aid? I realize that their mission may be a bit dif-
ferent but my question to you is, why is that? We can change that
and make policy to enable them to allow the small business in the
rural setting to thrive. Whereas, instead, I must turn to the USDA
for that same very assistance and I find that troubling.
Chairman GOLDEN. Thank you.
I have got a minute left. I am going to stick with you and then
we will hand it off to Ms. Tenney.
I talk with Mr. Delisle a lot and I think he agrees with you about
the importance of face to face. What type of challenges do you have
with getting yourself and your SBDC employees out to meet with
your potential clients face to face? Is it staffing? Is it a lack of re-
sources? I mean, what can we do to help with that?
Mr. LEAVERTON. Well, Mr. Chairman, the easy answer is more
money. But the truth is that I have to make a choice. Do I drive
to this small community that I mentioned about the daycare which
is close to an hour from my office to meet with them and then drive
back, thereby spending at least half a day, or do I stay in my office
and meet with four people? That is the choice. And the question is,
indeed, do I allocate my resources to that rural setting or do I not?
And we are left with this uneasy feeling of are we going to help
the rural businesses or are we not? And I think that we have to
come together and say that we are going to and apply the nec-
essary resources.
Chairman GOLDEN. Thank you. And that was perfectly right on
time for my 5 minutes.
So with that, I will turn it over to Ms. Tenney.
14
Ms. TENNEY. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And thank you to the
witnesses, all the witnesses for what you do, especially those who
work for SBA.
As a small business owner, you have been vitally important to
our region. In my area, we have Bernie Paprocki, who does a phe-
nomenal job for many years helping our small business community,
and we are really grateful for your service, which is why this first
issue I want to address is so upsetting to me as you just described
your lack of resources.
In January of 2022, the Small Business Administration issued a
press release highlighting the agency’s request, the agency’s re-
quest to be a designated voter agency as a response to President
Biden’s March 2021 Executive Order. We still have not received the
details as to what this would look like and what type of advocacy
the agency will engage in. My biggest concern, obviously, as the
founder of the Election Integrity Caucus and someone who has
been through this, why are we tasking a nonpartisan organization
to get involved in partisan work outside the mission of small busi-
ness. The last thing I think that anyone in the SBA would want
to be is in the middle of political battles, especially dealing with the
nuances and the really important issues around voter security,
making sure that there is one person, one vote. Making sure that
we have private voting, all that goes into it. Why are we tasking
the SBA and these other agencies? HUD is also included in this.
I wanted to ask you, in viewing this, and you just decided the
wonderful work you are doing in our rural communities, do you not
think that this is really going to be a burden on SBA with unre-
lated tasks dealing with getting to the rural needs? You just cited
the 504 loan guaranty program, 7(a), some of these. Could you just
comment, I know you work for SBA, but is this not this kind of out-
side the mission in your opinion that we are getting involved in po-
litical partisan vote harvesting as opposed to really helping our
small business community?
Mr. LEAVERTON. Thank you, Ms. Tenney, Representative
Tenney.
Ms. TENNEY. The question is to Mr. Leaverton by the way.
Mr. LEAVERTON. I do not know that I can speak to a lot of that
because it does not affect me directly. I can tell you that I have
never helped a small business open or a political party affiliation
was ever an issue. They simply want to open a business, serve cus-
tomers, and make a living. They are not trying to open the next
Google. They are not trying to conquer the world so to speak. They
simply want to provide for themselves in a fashion with their two
hands or their brain or their back or what have you. They just sim-
ply want to put food on the table for their families. And not one
time in my time has it ever been an issue. So I do not understand
how that would ever need to be an issue. And I would certainly
hope that it does not become one because there is not really, open-
ing a small business in a rural setting is about as bipartisan as it
gets.
Ms. TENNEY. The nonpartisan nature of the SBA is so critically
important to its mission. It seems to me that why would you want
to engage in this when you are just really just trying to get people
15
up and running. It just concerns me that the top at the SBA would
actually make this pitch.
Mr. LEAVERTON. I would hope that it does not become that.
Ms. TENNEY. I thank you for that. I appreciate that.
I just want to touch on a couple of things. So, you know, obvi-
ously, we have inflation. It is at a 41-year high. You are a small
business owner, a former small business owner. What can we do
as a Committee? How can we help the small business community
weather this storm right now—inflation, rising costs, gas prices?
And what can we do from the SBA viewpoint, how can we create
legislation in a bipartisan way or some way to help these busi-
nesses with the struggling costs? What have you been doing and
what have you been advocating for?
Mr. LEAVERTON. Great question, actually. Very good question.
Education is the key. Most of the people that come to us need
education in small business. They understand how to bake a cake.
They understand how to sew a dress. They understand to do the
task that they are required to do or want to do. Bale hay, whatever
that may be. They understand that. That is inherent in their na-
ture. However, operating a business is not the same in most cases.
And as a result, many of them just simply are not tooled, do not
have the tools in order to perform that. And the challenge is——
Ms. TENNEY. May I reclaim my time?
So in education, how do we get them to weather the storm
through these rising costs? What can we do with SBA and with our
Committee on Small Business, how can we help them get through
this with strategies, you know, the loan programs that might be ex-
tended to be able to deal with our——
Mr. LEAVERTON. Certainly.
Ms. TENNEY.—supply chain, rising costs, inflation? In especially
rural areas. I know in my rural area, we do not even have public
transportation in most parts.
Mr. LEAVERTON. Part.
Ms. TENNEY. So we have to drive to get to work.
Mr. LEAVERTON. The short answer is all of the above. But cer-
tainly, capital is the biggest issue. At least access to it. That is
probably the number one issue.
Ms. TENNEY. I think my time is out. Thank you very much. I
appreciate it. I yield back.
Chairman GOLDEN. Thank you.
Well, we will recognize Mr. Williams.
Mr. WILLIAMS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
As most of you know, I am also a small business owner. I have
been for 51 years. And the challenges we see are a lot. And we ap-
preciate what you are doing. And I have also seen Tarleton State
University grow and transform over the years through expanding
their career and technical education programs to partnering di-
rectly with small business owners in the community to focus their
academic offerings on the current needs of employers. And there
are a lot of those needs right now with the employment situation
like it is. And furthermore, Tarleton’s partnership with America’s
SBDC has been a great asset to our rural Texas communities.
16
So Mr. Leaverton, your SBDC has leaned into its intended role
and taken on the difficult task of helping rural entrepeneurs navi-
gate the waters when opening their own small businesses.
My first question would be to you. How can we direct SBDCs
across the country to better carry out their intended mission and
mimic, copy your success in reaching those in rural communities?
Mr. LEAVERTON. Thank you, Congressman Williams.
I think that the main success story is to say either we are going
to pay attention to rural business or we are not. And it is that sim-
ple. And if we are, then we have to go meet with them face to face.
As I said earlier in my testimony, trust is important in the small
business community. You cannot build trust from a phone call. A
friend of mine often says that an email creates contact. A phone
call creates a conversation and a face-to-face meeting creates a re-
lationship. Well, these people operate on relationships and you can-
not do that from a Zoom call. You cannot do that from an email.
It must be in person, speaking to them in the coffee shop or wher-
ever they want to meet. And I will say to you that is a big piece.
Mr. WILLIAMS. I agree with you. It is called being retail.
Mr. LEAVERTON. Yes, sir.
Mr. WILLIAMS. I mean, you have got to sell something; right?
Mr. LEAVERTON. Right.
Mr. WILLIAMS. And you forgot one thing. You talk about this
and that, and you did not mention Zoom, but it is a disaster. I will
add that to what you just said.
Mr. LEAVERTON. Sure.
Mr. WILLIAMS. Eye to eye contact is the way to get it done. So,
since I took office, I have pushed for less government regulations
and encouraged the streamline of federal programs to ensure gov-
ernment is being a good steward of taxpayer dollars.
That is why I have been concerned with the newly created Amer-
ican Rescue Plan’s Community Navigator Pilot program. It looks
like this program is looking to perform extremely similar functions
for the small businesses as SBDCs and it is insufficient and will
cause confusion if we have two programs that frankly are doing the
same thing, that are providing the same type of assistance.
So the next question, in your opinion, does the duplication of
these programs hinder the work your SBDC can provide to rural
communities, and what issues does this cause?
Mr. LEAVERTON. Great question, sir. Thank you so much for
that. That is a really good question, actually.
The answer is it hinders us greatly. We have many great pro-
grams out there. Unfortunately, many of them, their mission aligns
with the same as the SBDC. Therefore, we have duplication of ef-
fort across many different platforms. So, if you are a small business
owner in the rural area and you are trying to contact someone to
help you, who do you contact? You contact three or four agencies.
You have the Women’s Development Center, the SBDC. You have
SCORE and you have numerous other ones that are short-term
based. And (a), the short-term based programs, when they just
about get ramped up it is about time for the money to run out and
so therefore, they extinguish. Secondly, some of the duplication of
effort that happens is contradictory. Just by human nature it can
be because we are person-to-person contacts, so my opinion and
17
yours may vary. So that is very challenging, and it does hinder us
greatly. And I would say to you, in my opinion, I quite frankly do
not understand why we cannot streamline that and make a pointed
approach. Gather the resources; therefore, I would have the ability
to go out into those rural areas because those resources have been
reallocated. You can call it the SBDC or call it something else but
allocate the resources into a single fine point and then let us do
our job.
Mr. WILLIAMS. That is called common sense.
Mr. LEAVERTON. Yes, sir.
Mr. WILLIAMS. That is the answer to your question.
Mr. LEAVERTON. Yes, sir.
Mr. WILLIAMS. Quickly. main street sees a lot of problems.
Right now we have got inflation skyrocketing, supply chain disrup-
tions. I have been in business 55 years. I have never seen anything
like this before. We cannot find workers. It is hindering business
operations. It goes on and on and on. The Federal Reserve is rais-
ing interest rates now. It reminds me of 1981 all over again. So
with all these costs, business owners are having to make some dif-
ficult decisions that they have not made in the past. So, what are
the top concerns you are hearing from American small businesses
right now? And are you elevating these concerns to the top officials
at the SBA? You have got 15 seconds, if you can answer that.
Mr. LEAVERTON. The answer to your question about the con-
cerns they have is how do I raise my prices to afford the costs I
have to meet the demand of the public, yet the demand cannot af-
ford my product? How do I do that? That is the question?
Mr. WILLIAMS. Yes.
Mr. LEAVERTON. And there is no answer.
Mr. WILLIAMS. Have you told the SBA? Have you talked to
them about these concerns?
Mr. LEAVERTON. I attempt to. Sure.
Mr. WILLIAMS. Yeah. Attempt. Okay. I get it.
All right, Mr. Chairman, I yield my time back. Thank you.
Chairman GOLDEN. Thank you.
Next up, Mr. Flood from Nebraska.
Mr. FLOOD. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
You know, as a Nebraskan, we have the lowest unemployment
rate of any state in the nation since they started keeping the sta-
tistics in 1974. Our state unemployment rate is the absolute low-
est. To help me provide context to that, Mr. Leaverton, can you tell
me, when you talk about rural, what size communities are you
talking about? Like 2,000 people, 3,000 people, 10,000 people in a
community?
Mr. LEAVERTON. The largest community I have in my whole
region is 36,000 people.
Mr. FLOOD. Okay.
Mr. LEAVERTON. Which is why the Rural Business Develop-
ment grant works because it requires 50,000 or less population in
order for you to be accessible to that funding.
Mr. FLOOD. In your service area, do you have towns of less than
5,000?
Mr. LEAVERTON. Absolutely. I have towns less than 100.
Mr. FLOOD. Okay.
18
Mr. LEAVERTON. Most of my towns probably I would think av-
erage in the range of 2,000.
Mr. FLOOD. Okay. So according to an NFIB report, half of small
business owners reported job openings they could not fill. Is that
a hurdle in your service area?
Mr. LEAVERTON. Absolutely. I would think it probably, behind
access to capital, be the second biggest challenge that small busi-
ness owners face. There simply are not people to, in those commu-
nities there is no one to work which is why the USDA created that
program was to help revitalize small communities and thwart the
urbanization.
Mr. FLOOD. So I appreciate what you are doing. I think it is im-
portant work. Let’s talk about the types of capital that we need.
Obviously, there is the SBA traditional capital that you are talking
about here that could be anything from a widget manufacturer to
a dog grooming business. What tools do you have in the toolbox
when it comes to at-risk capital? And by that I mean money for
speculative tech startup type businesses that are part of the eco-
nomic development ecosystem of American that is actually building
wealth? What do you have? Is there a program in Texas that pro-
vides that or a nonprofit corporation?
Mr. LEAVERTON. Not formally. No, sir. I have been fortunate
enough to encounter some private equity groups that are willing to
invest in a riskier startup faction such as tech or something in the
medical field. But in terms of formal, no, sir, there is not. There
is no network available that I am aware of.
Mr. FLOOD. So would you say it is a fair characterization of the
people in your service area, and this often happens in rural areas,
where they think that tech startups and that economic develop-
ment entrepreneurial ecosystem belongs only to towns like Boston,
Austin, San Jose, and does not touch the places that you are cur-
rently serving? Is that a feeling?
Mr. LEAVERTON. That is absolutely true. And I want to give
you a real quick example. I moved a company from Mountain View,
California, to Austin, Texas. I was an owner of the company and
I moved them from there to Texas. And the thought was we had
to be in the City of Austin because it is a tech-centric area. And
therefore, we needed to be around tech people. And since then, I
have obviously moved to Stephenville, Texas, and I can tell you
that categorically that was incorrect. That business could have
moved from Silicon Valley to Stephenville, Texas, and thrived just
as well as it would have in Austin. It was a mischaracterization on
my part it was, and I think it is a large miss for companies.
Mr. FLOOD. And there is no data to support that only tech
entrepeneurs live in places like Austin.
Mr. LEAVERTON. No.
Mr. FLOOD. They, in fact, live where you live. And would you
also agree with me that, you know, when you live in a rural area,
you find creative solutions to problems that people in larger cities
with access to more amenities take for granted? They fashion their
own parts in Stephenville, Texas.
Mr. LEAVERTON. Absolutely. One of the largest resources that
Stephenville has is human capital because Tarleton State Univer-
sity is so successful. Well, those people want to stay there. Well,
19
there simply are not jobs when they graduate so they must migrate
on to the urban areas which would give me as a business owner
moving that company from Silicon Valley to Austin, Texas, it would
have given me a tremendous amount of people to choose from. Can
you imagine if I had to move there? I needed 32 people to work in
that company. I would have had a choice of probably 500 or 600
to choose from versus in Austin I have a much more difficult time
attracting the same talent pool. And people who want to live in
those rural areas are willing to stay and sacrifice, and like you say,
fashion things and do what is necessary. So, we need to pay more
attention to it. Absolutely.
Mr. FLOOD. Thank you for your answers. I yield back.
Mr. LEAVERTON. Thank you.
Chairman GOLDEN. We are going to go to a second round for
those that want to stick around.
Mr. Leaverton, thank you for your service to this Committee. You
are off the hot seat for just a minute at least.
I guess I will shift to Mr. Delisle, sticking with the SBDC aspects
here. We have heard a lot about duplication. I shared a lot of those
concerns as you know. And I am certainly a big fan of the work
that SBDCs do. I have raised concerns on this Committee about
the existence for decades in statute within SBA of something called
the Office of Rural Affairs which literally had no staff and no fund-
ing. Something we have been trying to fix, and yet we are moving
on creating more programs. And of course, I am the sponsor for the
second time of a bill to reauthorize the SBDCs and try and improve
upon the work that you can do, how you can use your money, and
of course, get you more resources.
Mr. Delisle, can you talk a little bit about the importance of re-
authorization for the SBDC programs nationally and what you like
most about the proposed bill that has passed the House for the sec-
ond Congress in a row and of course has yet to see any action in
the Senate?
Mr. DELISLE. Yes. Thank you, Chairman Golden for the ques-
tion. And thank you for your support of reauthorization.
As you know, the reauthorization is critical to kind of endorsing
the Small Business Development Centers program as an author-
ized program of Congress. It is very important. And it is also an
opportunity to do some corrections or some enhancements of the
rules and the criteria for operating the program. I know of your
support of increasing our capability to market our services and to
raise awareness. One thing that we definitely have seen through
the pandemic is that by raising awareness of Small Business De-
velopment Centers and the other resource partners, it has really al-
lowed us to really serve far more clients especially with the addi-
tional CARES funding. So having additional room to spend mar-
keting dollars is important. Raising the authorized level so that the
Appropriations Committees can take action to hopefully increase
resources so that we can continue to provide those services ot the
small businesses across Maine and across the country. So I am
hopeful, as I know you are, that the Senate will also take up reau-
thorization and we can get that passed so that we can really ad-
vance the program further across the country.
20
Chairman GOLDEN. Thank you. You know, it was my amend-
ment to CARES that helped to increase SBDC funding as part of
that CARES Act funding that Mr. Leaverton noted was really im-
portant. Of course, that increase now going away. We know that
there are workforce shortages out there among your clients. What
about among SBDCs in Maine, Mr. Delisle? Are you having a hard
time maintaining staffing and finding the right people?
Mr. DELISLE. We are not having a hard time maintaining staff-
ing. We are fortunate that we have a great organization of staff of
SBDC advisers in Main that are long term and many have retired,
and we have been successful in hiring some really, really good peo-
ple even through the workforce shortages that we have. So we do
have good people.
Now, what we find is that people who become business advisors
for SBDC, they do it because they love the work. They love working
with clients. They love the small businesses and they are really
just committed to that mission. So, fortunately, even though it is
such a tight labor market and certainly, all of my advisors could
market their skills elsewhere probably for significantly higher pay,
they really are committed to the organization.
With that said, any time we have an opening, it is always a chal-
lenge. And as you know, especially in rural Maine, I have a host
partner up in Caribou, Maine. If we need to hire an advisor in Car-
ibou, Maine, it certainly is a challenge to find a good, talented pool
of candidates for that position but fortunately right now we have
a really good advisor in Caribou and I hope he does not go any-
where.
Chairman GOLDEN. Thank you.
I particularly like the aspect of the reauthorization bill that
would allow you to use a small, responsible amount of your budget
for marketing as both I think you and Mr. Leaverton have spoken
to. What good are your services if the businesses, particularly in
rural areas, do not even know that you exist? It is a real shame
and something that we could fix with just a small tweak in the
statute with the passage of that bill.
I am going to probably come back in a little bit to ask some ques-
tions about SCORE, but I am going to give the opportunity to ask
more questions.
And I see that Mr. Stauber has joined us from Minnesota. Wel-
come, sir. And why do you not go ahead?
Mr. STAUBER. Thank you very much, Chair and Ranking Mem-
ber for holding this meeting.
I first want to give a shout out to the SBA district office in Min-
nesota. District Director Brian McDonald and his team have been
working tirelessly over the last few years, and I could not let this
moment go by without acknowledging their hard work and it is
greatly appreciated.
And like the struggle, we, as Members of Congress have had to
get the federal agency in D.C. to respond to our questions, the SBA
district offices have been instrumental in helping our small busi-
nesses survive during the government-mandated shutdowns in
2020 and 2021 and have been extremely responsive to our local
small businesses.
21
Mr. Leaverton, with new inflation numbers at record highs, what
would you say is the confidence level of the small business owners
you interact with in the economy and current state of play?
Mr. LEAVERTON. Thank you, Representative Stauber.
By competence, you mean competence in their business environ-
ment?
Mr. STAUBER. Yes.
Mr. LEAVERTON. I would say that they know their business
very well. The challenge is that they do not know the market or
they do not know the environment very well and they cannot adapt
to it whenever the inflationary conditions such as we are experi-
encing take place. They cannot adapt. They cannot change to that
because they have not the tools to do so. So as a result, they are
trying to utilize things that happened 2 years ago to help them op-
erate their bakery or their business today and the conditions have
migrated. So as a result, new tools are needed and they do not sim-
ply have them.
Mr. STAUBER. Our federal government has put forth, and these
are the Biden administration’s number, $201 billion—that is with
a B—$201 billion dollars of additional regulations on small busi-
nesses across this nation, punishing them even further. In your
mind, are these regulations, do they stymie the small business
growth and/or do they stymie people wanting to live that American
dream by owning their small business?
Mr. LEAVERTON. That is a great question. And actually, I
think you hit the nail on the head when you said owning their
dream. The people that see me simply have a dream. I have always
wanted to open a small business. My kids are grown. Now is my
time. I am going to open the restaurant I always wanted to. Or I
have just graduated college and I want to forge my own path and
I want to create my own business, to be my own person, my own
boss.
Quite frankly, it is that simple for them. They just want to pro-
vide a service or a product and be paid an appropriate price, put
food on the table, and live their lives.
Mr. STAUBER. Without the government on their back or in their
pockets; right?
Mr. LEAVERTON. Well, the challenge becomes whenever we
mount regulation and require them to do more and more and more
and more with the same dollar, if you will, either they are being
taxed more or they are being appropriated more, or whatever the
case may be, they wind up being inundated, and quite frankly dis-
couraged. And I see some leave business because they simply just
feel it is not worth the fight. And they consider it to be a fight.
Mr. STAUBER. And it should not be. That is unfortunate.
Mr. LEAVERTON. Well, again, they are just trying to support—
if I own a bakery, you come in, you have got a birthday, you want
to buy a cake from me. I bake you a cake, you buy it at an appro-
priate price, and we are all happy. Well, I do not see why we need
to complicate that.
Mr. STAUBER. Right. I agree with you.
And this is for any witness. How has your role changed or what
assistance have you started working on more given the historic eco-
22
nomic headwinds facing small businesses? And this is for anybody.
Anybody?
Mr. COLLINS. Can you repeat the question?
Mr. STAUBER. Yes. How has your role changed or what assist-
ance have you started working on more given the historic economic
headwinds facing small businesses? So what have your priorities
been these last couple of years with reference to the headwinds we
are facing with inflation and job creation?
Mr. LEAVERTON. The headwinds are difficult. Coming out of
COVID, people are struggling to begin with. Then, if you tack on
some of the issues that we are facing in today’s rural environment,
and I operate in a very rural area of Texas mostly. And I can tell
you that those people are at their wit’s end and many of them do
not survive because of that. They simply fold their tent and go
home because the headwinds are too much. And so, they just do
not have the tools to withstand it.
Mr. STAUBER. We understand that the economic engines of
Main Street American are our small businesses and we must do ev-
erything we can to help them succeed.
Mr. Chair, I am out of time. I yield back.
Chairman GOLDEN. We are going to recognize Mr. Williams
next.
Mr. WILLIAMS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
What have you seen out of the SBA, the national scope, the Feds
if you want to call them that? It has been my opinion that they do
not really understand small business. They actually support higher
taxes. And raising taxes on Main Street America is the wrong
thing to do.
We talked about burdens. My colleague talked about the dollars,
but the manhours to do that is 130 million manhours for crying out
loud. And the SBA does not want to talk about that. They do not
want to talk about cutting taxes and what they do. Have you seen
that kind of attitude from the Feds when it really gets down to it
on helping small business and relieve burdens as opposed to rais-
ing burdens and keeping some of these businesses from staying in
business?
Mr. LEAVERTON. Well, Congressman, in my opinion, I see us
adding programs, adding burdens, adding bureaucracy, if you will,
to the small business environment. Simply put, we should just get
out of their way. If I take a cake, you want to buy a cake for your
birthday, I do not really see why we need to interfere so much.
Mr. WILLIAMS. Well, competition works, does it not?
Mr. LEAVERTON. Yes, sir.
Mr. WILLIAMS. And if you get the government out of our life
and let businesses compete for service, for customers, then cus-
tomers will tell you if you are doing a good job or not.
Mr. LEAVERTON. Right. I do think that there is a place for the
SBA. I do think that there is a place for the programs because I
do think that they can support, provide access to capital. And edu-
cation is a big key, particularly in the rural area. But at what cost?
Mr. WILLIAMS. Yeah, there is a place for the SBA. There is no
question. But I think that the SBA should totally be for Main
Street America regardless of who is in the White House. And cut-
ting taxes, cutting regulations, cutting burdens, creating oppor-
23
tunity is the role of the SBA. And we have got 75 percent of the
workforce, 75 percent of the payroll is generated by the people you
are talking about. And right now we need them more than ever.
So, I appreciate you being here again. It is good to be able to call
you a Texan. And with that, Mr. Chairman, I yield my time back.
Chairman GOLDEN. Thank you very much.
Mr. Flood is gone.
Question for Ms. Strojny. So in 2019, your SCORE chapter was
named Chapter of the Year. So what is your secret, and what do
you think that Congress could do, this Committee specifically, to
get resources to more SCORE chapters so they can be as successful
as yours?
Ms. STROJNY. Well, thank you for the question.
The secret to our success in the Southern Maine chapter was
really about building the appropriate team of people, of volunteers,
to serve the community. SCORE initially in Southern Maine had
a small cohort of volunteers, and we managed to bring that during
a 6-year time, bring in volunteers who could deliver the expertise
and help with clients and really make a difference in the commu-
nity. So we expanded our footprint all across Maine. And trained
up our volunteers and they provided extensive services in commu-
nities that we had not previously served because we did not have
sufficient manpower.
Now, relative to how you can support SCORE, it is all around the
reauthorization and increasing our funding because when we have
increased funding, we are able to do additional education. We are
able to offer additional services. We have additional tools and re-
sources that we can support the rural communities with.
Chairman GOLDEN. Thank you. I appreciate that.
Can you tell us a little bit about the performance reviews carried
out by SBA district offices, reviews of the resource partnerships? So
what is included in these reviews? Is the review structure bene-
ficial to you? Is it a burden? Just tell us a little bit about that rela-
tionship.
Ms. STROJNY. Yes. So the SBA reviews our services on an an-
nual basis. Generally, we sit down for an hour based on the fact
that we have extremely collaborative relationships with the SBA
folks to begin with in Maine. This is not a burden but rather an
opportunity to talk about how we each can better serve each other
and serve the larger state of Maine. Questions are around edu-
cational opportunities. How can we partner? How can we partner
more? How can the SBA support SCORE? Are there additional op-
portunities that can be addressed? We review the numbers, and by
the numbers I mean how we create impact in the state of Maine
so that the SBA during this review is fully up to speed on the role
that SCORE plays in Maine. How many new businesses we help
create, how many jobs we help create, the size of our organization,
where we are growing, what is our expertise. One of the hallmarks
of SCORE is that we have quite a bit of specific expertise that we
call subject matter experts and it is always important because the
SBA is often the first place that a person will call and say, hey,
where can I get help? And so for the SBA during these reviews to
be totally up to speed on what our organization looks like and what
kind of expertise we offer actually helps the SBA to make sure that
24
they are reviewing to the right organization and getting the help
that that client needs.
So, the reviews are not onerous in any way and based on how
we support each other it is just an opportunity to review potential
growth areas in the times ahead.
Chairman GOLDEN. Great. I am not surprised that the relation-
ship is pretty good between the partners and the SBA in Maine.
But Mr. Collins, it has been described that when you took over
the SBDC that maybe there is room for improvement is the way
I have heard it described for the relationship with the district of-
fices in Michigan. How did you go about accomplishing that and
how would you advise others to improve upon that relationship and
just improve the collaboration and communication? You can speak
either to what SBDCs could do to improve that or the district of-
fices themselves.
Mr. COLLINS. Thank you for the question. I hope it came across
in my testimony that it is all about people and it is about relation-
ships. And yes, we have the metrics that were discussed earlier by
Ms. Strojny, but the ability to collaborate on strategy, collaborate
on programs, and it comes with establishing those relationships
first. And so, we started with what we are just calling a monthly
huddle. We then migrated that to partner meetings, and then took
that up one step by cohosting some events together. And believe it
or not, it is the planning committees and it is the ability to address
strategy and be part of the participation in the event that really
builds esprit de corps amongst the team and those relationships
that allow us to have that relationship. So I would say that it start-
ed with the personal relationships and it has blossomed from there.
So like I say, we are on really solid footing right now.
Chairman GOLDEN. Thank you for that. I appreciate it very
much.
It looks like we are out of questions. And I appreciate the, first
of all, testimony that you have provided to the Committee, as well
as the answers that you have provided to the questions that have
been put forward to you today.
In closing, certainly, a big thanks to each one of you not only for
joining us but for the work that you do in the communities that
you serve helping small business owners, entrepeneurs, do what
they want to do and be as successful as possible. I certainly believe
that your work is vital to their success and to growth in our com-
munities, and specifically, in rural communities like those rep-
resented by many of us that joined the hearing today. I think that
here in this Committee, your partner programs are some of those
that are most ripe for bipartisan support. I certainly agree with
those that express concern about duplication, ways we might be
able to find savings to put more resources into your hands so you
can reach even more potential entrepeneurs and small business
owners out there. So, thanks to you all and to your staff for the
work that you do day in and day out and for being passionate
about it. And of course, it is our responsibility to have good over-
sight over the agencies that are responsible for working with you
and the district offices and the SBA, so we are always open to
hearing your feedback about how we can press them, question
them, and make sure that they are using their resources appro-
25
priately to support you and make sure that they are doing their job
in trying to connect their potential clients with your great services
as well.
And with that, I am going to go ahead and close things out.
And if there is no further business to come before the Committee,
we will be adjourned.
Although, I should say that Members have 5 legislative days to
submit statements and supporting materials for the record. And we
appreciate your time. Thank you all for coming.
[Whereupon, at 11:23 a.m., the subcommittee was adjourned.]
26
APPENDIX
AMER IC A~ S
SBDC
Testimony
of
Mark Delisle
July 20 , 2022
Committee on Small Business
Subcommittee on Underserved , Agricultural
and Rural Business Development
US House of Representatives
"SBA District Office Collaboration with Resource Partners"
27
Testimony ot Mark Delisle - ME SBDC 2
Chairman Golden, Ranking Member Tenney, Members of the committee, thank
you for inviting me to testify.
My name is Mark Delisle and I am the state director of the Maine Small Business
Development Centers (SBDC). The SBDC is a nationwide network that helps build
and strengthen small businesses through no-cost, confidential business advising,
training and educational resources . A program of the Small Business
Administration (SBA), we have served small businesses in Maine for over forty
years. The impact of our program in Maine is substantial. In 2021 alone, we
helped 2,953 entrepreneurs to start 136 new businesses, create and save 917
jobs, and helped entrepreneurs access $48 .8 million in capital.
We could not have this level of success without the support of our partners at the
SBA's Maine District Office . District Director Diane Sturgeon and her team work
tirelessly to support resource partners and the small businesses of Maine. Among
many things, our work together includes:
• Meetings - The Maine District Office holds regular SBA resource partner
meetings. These meetings gather SBA-funded programs such as SBDC,
SCORE, and the Women's Business Centers (WBC) to discuss strategy,
performance, and collaboration . The meetings serve as an accessible and
easy way to have open communication among the group. The Maine
District Office also coordinates a broader meeting which includes many
other economic development partners across the state . These meetings
help strengthen relationships and enhance communication to keep
everyone aligned and working together for the small businesses of Maine.
• Cohosted educational events for small businesses - The SBA District Office
and Maine SBDC regularly work together to host events and training for
small businesses in Maine. In May 2022, our teams worked together to
celebrate National Trade Month and Export Week with a four-part series
for small businesses interested in exporting. The training provided guidance
on everything from writing an export business plan to obtaining financing
for an export venture . The SBA and SBDC also regularly partner to host
sessions that discuss resources available to entrepreneurs and the basics of
28
Testimony of Mark Delisle · ME SBDC 3
starting a business . Working together for events like these enables us to
connect with more entrepreneurs to make them aware of the wide array of
services available to them .
• Promotional opportunities that highlight small business successes - Maine
SBDC and the Maine District Office regularly visit local business.es who have
used our services to highlight the successes of these small businesses. For
example, each year in promotion of Small Business Saturday we plan a
media event that tours downtown businesses that have connected to our
programs . This provides an excellent opportunity to promote the great
work the SBDC and SBA do, but also to highlight the success of clients who
have worked with the SBDC. This promotion also helps generate attention
to Small Business Saturday. Similar visits to businesses happen periodically
throughout the year where there is the opportunity, and during Small
Business Week in May.
• Program oversight - The Maine District Office provides guidance and
oversight on the SBDC program . The Project Officer reviews the program
yearly to ensure compliance . The District Office also conducts a review of
annual program proposals.
Our work together is mutually beneficial and helps to increase awareness of the
critical services we provide to Maine's small businesses. The advocacy of our
District Office enables more entrepreneurs to access the SBDC services they need
to start, grow, or sustain their business. They rely on and trust resource partners
to be their feet on the ground, doing the field work to deliver detailed, one-on-
one guidance to small businesses. This allows the District Office to serve as
educators, connectors, and advocators for the variety of programs and services
the SBA provides .
That concludes my testimony. I look forward to any questions you might have.
29
Nancy Stroj ny
Ass istant Distri ct Di rector
SCORE Mai ne
SBA District Office Collaboration with Resource Partners
Statement to the Small Busin ess Subcommi ttee o n Underse rved, Agricu ltura l, and Rura l Deve lopmen t
United States House of Representatives
July 20, 2022
Chairman Go lden, Rankin g Mem ber Ten ney and members of the Subcommittee - thank you for th e
opport un ity to offer test im ony o n SCORE' s co ll abo ration with th e U.S. Sma ll Bus iness Admini strati on
(SBA) d ist rict offi ces in the state of Mai ne.
SCORE is the nation ' s largest network of vo lunteer, expe rt business mentors, with more than 10,000
vo lunteers across the nati on offering free and confidenti al bus in ess advice, and free or low-cost
ed ucational workshops to curren t and aspi ri ng sma ll business owners. Sin ce our fo undi ng in 1964 as a
resource partner of the SBA, SCORE vo lunteers have he lped more than 11 milli on entrepreneurs to
start, grow, or tro ubleshoot the ir sma ll busi ness.
SCORE vol unteers represen t a di verse range of backgrounds, w ith expe rti se in different areas of
industry. About ha lf are currently working as entrepreneurs or executi ves, with the other half ret ired. We
tend to be acti ve a nd we ll-networked members of our comm uni ties, often making va luab le conn ections
for our cl ients, whether to loca l fi nancia l instituti ons, medi a outlets, governm ent offi ces or other sma ll-
bu siness-oriented organizati ons. By creatin g meanin gful , and often long-tenn re lationships wi th our
clients, we he lp them to launch new busin esses and operate ex isti ng businesses more successfu lly.
The data shows that mentori ng works - bu si ness owners who rece ive three or more hours of mentorin g
report hi gher revenues and increased busi ness growth. In FY 202 1, SCORE helped its cl ients to start
24,742 new busi nesses and create 7 1,475 new j obs nat ionwide. In the past fi ve years in the state of
Maine a lone, we helped our c lients to start 1,79 1 new busin esses, in turn creating 5,487 new jobs.
My SCORE cl ient, Kate McAleer, fou nder and co-owner of Bixby Chocolate in Rockland, ME. explained the
value of our mentori ng relationship as. "Our partici pation with SCORE has been invaluable to Bixby' s company.
Nancy has the extensive experience and incomparable ability to provide advice. Her judgement is always sound,
inval uable, and uncanny. Her abi li ty to help navigate our entrepreneurial journey for key decision making and
support has been and continues to be very importan1 and critical 10 us in our successes. "
Accordi ng to the 202 1 Sma ll Business Pro fil es by the SBA Office of Advocacy, the 150,000 small
bus in esses in Ma ine represent 99.2% of a ll state busi nesses. Sma ll businesses accounted for 56.8% of
Ma ine em ployme nt in 20 18, compared to 39.7% nationally. Mai ne is uni que. Ou r large and vibrant
small business community means that our SCO RE mentoring and ed ucati onal services are vita l to the
success of sma ll busi ness owners.
www.score.org SCORE /A
•o~ "'llFf.O•¥oo~ , .....,..s.
30
New bus iness starts highli ght a tremend ous opportunity to serve more small businesses. With 150,000
SMBs in Maine, SCORE is comm itted to continued co llaboration with the SBA and fellow resou rce
partners, so we can best serve everyone who needs ou r help.
Maine SBA District Office Collaboration with Resource Partners
SCO RE regularly coll aborates with the SBA and its resource partners (SB DC, WBC, VBOC) on an
ongo ing basis. This is a result o f the outstandin g SBA leadership in Ma ine and our wi llin gness to se rve
Maine clients without organi zational or geographical boundari es. We share in fo mi ation freely, and we
understand there are more than eno ugh clients to be served. The pi e is always growing, so we are neve r
takin g clients from each other. In many cases we share a client with a resource partner, dependin g on the
cl ient' s need for experti se. One example is Tin y Homes of Maine, a designer and bu ilder of custom
mob ile spaces. Her manufacturing fac ility, located in Houlton Main e, is in Aroostook County. Founder
Corinne Watson worked with an SBDC business advisor on financial s to secure cap ital and worked with
SCORE on strategy and operati ons. Serving clien ts without borders is a hallm ark of the SBA team in
Maine.
I' d like to hi ghli ght how we participate in several client-specific programs in Mai ne:
Ou r vo lunteer mentors work with partic ipants in the cohort of th e new ly named SBA THRIVE
Emerging Leade r Program. SCORE Maine has mentored clients since 2018, when the program
initiated in Maine. At the conclu sion of the I 3-week program, SCORE Ma ine mentors are part of a
pan el of guest experts, who role is to provide insight and feedback on th e business owns three-year
growth plan.
SCORE Mai ne participates in lender information panels, hosted by the SBA Main e quarterly. All three
of the resource partners (SBDC, WBC, SCORE) attend these sess ions and presen t in fom,at ion about our
services and how we help the small bus iness community.
SCORE Ma in e is an active nominator an d supporter of the an nu al SBA Small Business Awards, held
each year during nati ona l Small Business Week. SCORE Maine clients regularly win SBA Main e
Awards. Ty ler Frank, fo under of Garbage to Garden, won the 2022 Small Busin ess Person of the Year in
Maine, and has been a SCORE Maine cl ient fo r 7 years.
SCORE Mai ne has initiated three "women in business" panels pre-COV ID, with support from Mai ne
SBA and our resource partners.
2022 marks the seventh year of a program ca ll ed Focus ME, which SCORE Ma ine init iates in
co ll aborat ion with the Women' s Business Center. This facilitated gro up di scuss ion focuses on personal
development. Top ics include goa l setting, time management and pitching your business. There is an
opportunity to share business challenges and bra instorm so luti ons, and a "my tum" tim e allowin g each
member of th e group to share somethin g they are worki ng on for group in put and accountab ility. We
pair accountab ility partners to check in between sessions.
SCORE Maine hosts a Client Success Award Luncheon in June each year (not includin g the past two
years, due to COV ID.) We celebrate inn ovation, vision and achievement, and present non-monetary
www.score. org SCORE/~
FO<>H•EuHo,vou~BUS!Nes•
31
awards to worthy clients. Ou r resou rce partne rs and the SBA attend thi s luncheon. If a cl ient is a shared
client between the organizations, business adviser and a mentor take the stage with the winn ing client.
SCORE Maine works with all the resource partners for ongoing referrals, knowing that coll aboration
enab les us to better se rve our clients. For examp le, the WBC asked if we had a mentor with literary
agency expertise fo r thei r cl ient. We have a client who was able to share specific resources for getting
pub lished and referral s and next steps for working with a book coach. Th is SCORE client resides in VA
and has been a SCORE Maine client for eight years.
Internally, the SBA District Director hosts a two-hour quarterly meetin g·for the Maine resource
partners. We discuss issues, opportuniti es, and updates from each resource partner. This has been virtua l
since 2020, and we hope to return to in person thi s fall.
New Yo rk SBA District Office Collaboration with Resource Partners
My coll eague Marty Doto, Chapter Cha ir for SCORE Central NY, also shared the following information
about SCOR.E' s collaboration with SBA district offices in New Yo rk:
During the pandemic, SCORE CNY worked cl ose ly with the SBA to prov ide timely and upd ated
gu idance and training on SBA C OVID relief programs as they evolved , so we cou ld better counse l
cl ients. In part icular, the SBA Distri ct Office he ld numerous "train the trainer" web inars to comp lement
the public-facing market ing of the COV ID program s.
SCORE mentored busi ness clients to help them understand and apply for SBA 's EIDL and PPP
program s, and supported SBA with outreach and support fo r app lications. We participated in SBA
resource partner meeti ngs fo r networking and collaboration among the SBA partners during the
pandemic.
SBA staff participate in our monthly volunteer mentor meetin gs, providi ng insight into SBA programs
and resources which enables our mentors to offer clients enhanced services.
In add ition, the SBA included SCORE in the recru itment and marketing of Emerging Leaders and
THR IVE Emerging Leaders Reimag ined and received several appl icat ions via SCORE referral.
Members of the SBA Upstate NY Distri ct Office team have also co-mentored with SCORE on subject
matter issues across the entire di stri ct.
Thank you for all owin g me to submit thi s written testimony. I welcome any further questions.
www.score.org SCORE /,A
•oRr .. ,cHO<VOVRB<JW<ESS
32
Michigan
seoc·
I'm J.D . Collins, Executive Director of the Michigan SBDC. The Michigan team consists of ~100
core consultants and specialty teams that address technology commercialization , cyber security,
growth strategies, exporting , market research , and mobility.
I'm here today to discuss how Michigan established a robust relationship with our State and
Regional SBA offices and demonstrate how that relationship resulted in better outcomes for
Michigan's small businesses.
So what's the advantage of a tightly aligned small business partner network? That advantage
became evident during the early days of the pandemic. To take you back, each day in March of
2020 a tsunami of information cascaded into the small business world , often leaving more
questions than answers. That's when the Michigan SBDC invited the SBA Resource Partners
into a daily huddle to distill information and distribute it to small businesses in terms easily
understood . We coupled this information with co-hosted webinars that helped businesses
navigate the early days of the pandemic, EIDL, and PPP applications. To say this was popular
with our small business clients is an understatement. To put the demand into perspective, we
average about 10 attendees per webinar during normal times. For a PPP webinar, we had over
3,000 attendees.
The business-friendly information and webinars were then posted on our website. Businesses
devoured the information. Michigan had to upgrade its website service package 3 times to keep
up with demand and keep the website from crashing. The collective efforts of the resource
partners and our distribution of client-friendly information earned us the nickname, "The Small
Business Source of Truth ."
This story was made possible by the focused efforts to establish meaningful resource partner
relationships. It's about people and relationships that go beyond names on paper. Yes, we have
aligned strategies, defined goals, and clear communication . But it's also the fact that I know that
our District Director Leketa Henderson has my back or that I've stood shoulder to shoulder in
the trenches with VetBizCentral Director Abron Andrews. It's the deeper relationships that allow
a focused partner response when needed.
It hasn't always been this way in Michigan so let me outline how we deepened our working
relationship over the last 4 years :
• Established personal relationships and a deeper understanding of business issues. We
accomplished this via monthly 1x1 director meetings to review strategic alignment,
progress to goals, and service needs.
33
• Provided forums for Some Good News. Established quarterly resource partner meetings
to share best practices and align programming .
o Started a quarterly stakeholder video/newsletter.
• Collaborate with the SBA District Office to host an SBA Lenders Conference (Great
Lakes Lenders Conference)
o Planning this event deepens our understanding of each other's organization and
builds cohesion within the team.
• Co-host events with SBA staff and resource partners.
• Hosted regional events with resource partners to introduce SBA products into the small
business ecosystem.
Michigan's relationships with SBA resource partners resulted in nick-name-worthy services for
the small business community. Thank you for the opportunity to testify today.
J.D. Collins
Executive Director, Michigan SBDC
34
A~ -t s ¢J
SBDC
Tarleton State University
TARLETON
STATE UN IVERS ITY.
Written Statement - John Leaverton
Regional Director
America's SBDC at Tarleton State University
Stephenville, Texas
Before The:
House Committee on Small Business
Subcommittee on Underserved, Agricultural,
and Rural Business Development
Hearing Title:
"SBA DISTRICT OFFICE COLLABORATION WITH RESOURCE
PARTNERS"
JULY 20, 2022
Consulting - Training - Research
America's SBDC at Tarleton State University
P.O Box T-250 I Stephenville, Texas 76402 I 254.968.0558 I www.tsusbdc.org
35
A~ "r s
SBDC
Tarleton State University
TARLETON
STATE UN IVERS ITY~
Chairman Golden , ranking member Representative Tenney , Representative Williams and
members of the subcommittee, thank you for inviting me to submit testimony for today's
hearing, "SBA District Office Collaboration with Resource Partners." I am grateful for the
opportunity to discuss rural small business with you . It is clear by your participation on
this committee that you all value rural small business as much as I.
My name is John (Bill) Leaverton . I am the Regional Director for America's Small Business
Development Center (SBDC) at Tarleton State University in Stephenville, Texas . I
represent some of the most rural counties and communities of the state and , in fact, the
nation .
Role of the SBDC at Tarleton:
The SBDC has been a proven model of success since its inception in 1976. Tarleton has
proudly hosted the SBDC since 1987. By design, the SBDC assists, in my case , rural
entrepreneurs navigate the very difficult task of opening small businesses. Typically ,
these rural entrepreneurs want to open a business that will simply serve their rural
communities. Therefore , margin for error is as small as is their access to capital. My
primary focus is to create financial forecasting statements that are inserted into business
plans for the purpose of obtaining a commercial loan. Our focus overall is to educate and
help rural Texans open small businesses .
One of the benefits of being a resource partner with the SBA is the collection and
coordination of information and data. Listed below , are the three reported metrics that
show substantial impact the SBDC at Tarleton has on the local rural economy . During the
2021 year, the Northwest Regional Network of the SBDC in Texas achieved the following
metrics:
•
1. Job Creation
The SBDC assisted in creating 1,414 primarily rural jobs.
2. Capital Investments/ Financing
The SBDC assisted in injecting $107M into the economy. A new record for
the Northwest Regional Network.
3. New of Businesses Opened
The SBDC assisted in opening 230 businesses .
Consulting - Training - Research
America's SBDC at Tarleton State University
P.O Box T-250 !Stephenville, Texas 76402 I 254.968.0558 I www.tsusbdc.org
36
A~ "'f s
~
SBDC
Tarleton State University
TARLETON
STATE UN I VERS ITY~
Relationship with SBA:
The SBDC at Tarleton enjoys a collaborative relationship with the SBA. Many examples
include:
• Daily informational updates provided by the SBA during the pandemic were
instrumental in our ability to convey information to the general public. The SBA
guidance for CARES Act resources was invaluable and allowed us to assist
with small business survival.
• As Representative Williams can certainly attest, the SBDC at Tarleton was on
the front lines consulting with countless of business owners throughout much
of the 25 th district during the pandemic.
• The SBDC at Tarleton considers the on-line webinar support the SBA provides
instrumental in disseminating information and education .
• The guarantee programs the SBA supports , assist countless clients of the
SBDC at Tarleton obtain necessary funding to open small businesses. For
example, the 504-loan guarantee program is extremely helpful to the rural
business environment.
• Prior to the pandemic, the focus on the opportunity zones program created
much needed attention to the revitalization of rural areas.
Needs of the Rural Entrepreneur:
The needs of the rural entrepreneur are unique and unlike those of our urban
counterparts. These needs dictate how the SBDC at Tarleton engages the rural
entrepreneur.
The first need of the rural community is personal interaction. The rural community in
general relies on this personal interaction to create trust. Trust in the rural community is
earned over time. Consistent personal interaction can ONLY be gained through our
continued presence . In order for the SBDC at Tarleton to be successful , we must interact
in a face to face fashion . To further complicate matters, many in rural Texas have no
accessible or reliable internet. Therefore , attending webinars or zoom meetings is limited.
Consulting - Training - Research
America's SBDC at Tarleton State University
P.O Box T-250 (Stephenville, Texas 76402 I 254.968.0558 I www.tsusbdc.org
37
A~ "'f s ¢;
__ ___ _
SBDC
Tarleton State University
TARLETON
,.,.
STATE UN IVERS ITY~
• For instance, I worked for seven months to build a viable business plan for a
client that wanted to open a daycare facility in a community in very rural Texas.
Opening this daycare facility resulted in $260,000 injected into the economy ,
through a local lender loan, created 8 jobs, and allows rural parents to return
to the workforce . This , all in a community of 500 people that had no prior, formal
daycare. The majority of the communication held between myself and the client
was either via telephone or in face to face meetings because the client has no
access to reliable internet.
This type of interaction is not uncommon in rural Texas. This type of consultation requires
lengthy, individual one on one effort. Unfortunately, we frequently underestimate the
amount of human capital resources needed to assist these rural areas. As a result, we
find ourselves in situations in which demand simply cannot be met under current
conditions.
Another need of the rural community is long-term viable assistance . The CARES Act
allowed the SBDC at Tarleton to meet an overwhelming demand for our services.
Momentum and exposure created unprecedented demand (Currently, a three week wait
list). Additional human capital (CARES Act personnel) assisted in meeting that demand.
Now that the program assistance as it relates to the SBDC is expiring and the human
capital along with it, we find ourselves in a situation where demand outpaces supply.
This results in a choice we must make. Service the more rural areas. Or, service
the more urban areas.
Streamlining programs is another need of the rural community. Clients of the SBDC at
Tarleton often times finds themselves navigating the many different programs available .
Most of these programs find direct alignment with the mission of the SBDC. For instance:
• The Northwest Regional Network of the SBDC in Lubbock, Texas houses at
least five different governmental programs under one roof. Most of those
programs seek to accomplish seemingly indistinguishable goals. They are all
assisting small business entrepreneurs fulfill their dream of small business
ownership using very similar if not the same approaches.
Consulting - Training - Research
America's SBDC at Tarleton State University
P.O Box T-250 !Stephenville, Texas 76402 I 254.968.0558 I www.tsusbdc.org
38
--=--
AMER IC A~ S 1,
SBDC
Tarleton State University
TARLETON
STATE UN IVERSITY.
Many of these programs are funded using short-term goals. Therefore , once they become
fully operational , they are near their expiration date. Programs such as the Navigator
program are very well planned and intended . However, in my opinion , they duplicate the
efforts of the SBDC and overlap geography. Mostly, they remove the necessary resources
from the SBDC ii needs to be even more effective.
Direct support is another area of need in the rural community :
• Recently , I was able to secure a $300,000 grant from the USDA. The Rural
Business Development Grant is designed to assist rural communities in
thwarting urban population migration. This grant will enable the Stephenville
Economic Foundation , Inc. to create a revolving loan fund (RLF) that will live in
perpetuity. This fund will provide access to capital to small rural businesses in
the area and provide much needed jobs.
Improving Upon Success:
The SBA is a successful organization . Its founding helps entrepreneurs. It helps the
SBDC. Its loan guarantee program assists in funding many loans. In short, the SBA does
great work. I choose to seek those things that are working and try to find ways to
accentuate them . There are challenges in this arena , particularly , in rural communities.
Finding ways to continue to strengthen programs that are working is essential to small
business success in the rural setting . A friend of mine often says , "a digital
correspondence creates a reaction . A phone call creates a conversation and a face to
face meeting creates a relationship ." Rural communities require relationships . In my
opinion , we can improve upon the success of the SBA by the following :
1. Establish ways to provide direct access to capital for small and micro
businesses in rural areas that do not have the fixed assets to obtain
traditional financing , like the USDA grant program .
2. Streamline the various programs that can overlap the mission of the SBDC.
Reducing duplicity will help the mission of the SBDC. Thereby making the
communication efforts between the SBA, SBDC and the public more
effective.
3. Create more SBDC programs that result in direct interaction with rural
communities. And , provide longer term horizons for such programs . The
SBDC at Tarleton is effective when present. We need to be present more
often .
Consulting - Training - Research
America's SBDC at Tarleton State University
P.O Box T-250 I Stephenville, Texas 76402 I 254.968.0558 I www.tsusbdc.org
39
A~ "r s
SBDC
Tarleton State University
TARLETON
-------
STATE UN IVERS ITY~
In closing , I thank you for allowing me to testify before this committee. Your willingness
to invest your time and talent on this committee is vital to the sucyess of small business
in rural communities. We spend our days attempting to assist those in need. You
exemplify this notion.
• The views expressed within this testimony are my own and not those of the America's SBDC, Texas
A&M University System or Tarleton State University.
Consulting - Training - Research
America's SBDC at Tarleton State University
P.O Box T-250 I Stephenville, Texas 76402 I 254.968.0558 I www.tsusbdc.org
Æ
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