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Release Date: September 09 2004
ULM receives $268,000 Rural Business Enterprise Grant (article) From the September 9, 2004 edition of the Monroe News-Star:
<Grant will benefit small businesses
9/9/04
Source: The News-Star
Mike Taylor of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and University of Louisiana at Monroe President James E. Cofer announced Wednesday the university has received a $268,000 Rural Business Enterprise Grant.
The university was awarded the grant on behalf of the Louisiana Small Business Development Centers' state office in the ULM College of Business Administration.
Also on hand was Mary Lynn Wilkerson, state director, and Violet Liner, Associate state director of Louisiana Small Business Development Centers, co-authors of the grant proposal, and Virginia Eaton, director of the ULM Office of Graduate Studies and Research.
The announcement came at an afternoon press conference in the Media Briefing Room at ULM's University Library.
The grant will enable the Louisiana Small Business Development Centers to provide technical assistance in 15 selected parishes and towns in Louisiana with populations of less than 50,000 and poverty rates of 18 percent or higher. Rural residents can create jobs for themselves and for others in their community through the creation of private business enterprises.
To accomplish the goal of creating new businesses and jobs, training programs and individual counseling will be provided by the six Small Business Development Centers serving those parishes.
In the last eight years, the Louisiana Small Business Development Centers network has conducted more than 3,300 training programs with more than 59,000 attendees and has provided more than 127,000 hours of one-on-one counseling to 26,000 individuals and businesses.
"The university is an integral component of economic development both through academic research and service to businesses," Cofer said.
ULM hosts the state office of the Louisiana Small Business Development Center network, which provides technical assistance to small businesses across the state.
Economic impant information has only been collected since September 2001, but these training programs have resulted in individual loans of $46-plus million, equity financing of $45-plus million, and the creation and retention of more than 3,500 jobs.
In addition, the individual centers work in partnership with local economic development and business assistance resources, such as banks, chambers of commerce, and universities to provide training and counseling.>
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