January 12, 2004

Miami Mayor Manny Diaz hosted his first Partner America Small Business Conference on December 4th at the Tower Theater in historic Little Havana. Small business owners from the Miami area were invited to attend the morning session featuring speakers from the city of Miami, the Florida Atlantic University Small Business Development Center and the U. S. Small Business Administration.

Noting the partnership formed by the city of Miami and the U.S. Small Business Administration last year, Diaz was pleased to announce that 657 SBA loans, with a value of $85.3 million were awarded this year, an amazing increase of 763 percent over the prior year. Diaz credited the cooperative efforts of the city of Miami's Office of Economic Development, Office of Community Development and the SBA District Office for the tremendous increase.

The keynote speaker, George Cloutier, Chairman and CEO of American Management Services and Chairman of Partner America challenged those in attendance with his presentation, " Do You Really Want To Make A Profit (or what they don't teach you at Harvard Business School)." Cloutier outlined the necessary steps to becoming a successful and profitable small business today and responded to specific questions from members of the Miami small business community.

Keith Carswell, Director of the Office of Economic Development and Barbara Gomez-Rodriquez, Director of the Office of Community Development outlined the various local loan and grant programs and technical assistance that are provided by the city of Miami to small businesses.

If you would like more information about Partner America, or if you are interested in hosting a Partner America Small Business Conference in your community, please contact Jeff Bean, Managing Director of Partner America, at 781-487'0461 or send email to jbean@usmayors.org