By Stamford (CT) Mayor Dannel P. Malloy
August 5, 2002

Stamford (CT) Mayor Dannel P. Malloy, co-chair of the Conference of Mayors Small Business Task Force, writes about his smalll business intiative to share best practice in meeting the needs of the small business community.

It is my pleasure to share with you the successful story of how Stamford has developed and implemented a new Economic Development Program entitled: The Mayor's Initiative for Small Business ... Presenting Resources and Opportunities for Business Development. This program is designed to assist small businesses in the greater Stamford area by focusing on presenting resources and information at the federal, state, and local level to address the issues, needs, and concerns of Stamford's small business community.

The genesis of this Small Business Initiative dates back to September, 2000. Acting on the belief that the city of Stamford could do more to assist small businesses in the greater Stamford area, I hosted a roundtable discussion in conjunction with Partner Americaª and representatives of local small businesses. Listening to the issues confronting the participants, I assembled a task force comprised of representatives from various government and private agencies to address their concerns for success in Stamford. This resulted in a pooling of resources from the local organizations mandated to assist small business that created leverage and reduced the chance of duplication of efforts and programs.

The main partners in this program include the city of Stamford Office of Economic Development, the Stamford Chamber of Commerce, the Women's Business Development Center, and the Connecticut Small Business Development Center. I host and moderate workshops on pertinent topics that are planned and presented periodically with task force members and guest speakers. They are scheduled from 5:30 pm to 8:30 pm to ensure that individuals working in small businesses have the maximum opportunity to attend and network. The events are free of charge as long as participants pre-register, and we always provide a light supper during the presentations. The first three workshops dealt with such important issues as Set Aside Programs, Procurement Opportunities, Technical Assistance for Manufacturers, Non'traditional Financing Sources, and Disaster Preparedness. Average attendance for these events was over In May, I had the pleasure to host the fourth small business workshop to be implemented by this initiative. The subject of the workshop was the "New Small Business Loan Fund" that is now available to qualifying businesses located in Stamford via the Community Economic Development Fund (CEDF). This new segmented loan fund was established with funds from the U.S. Trust Company and First County Bank, and makes term loans and lines of credit available to existing small business owners and people looking to start a new small business. These two institutions join existing investors that include: JP Morgan Chase, Fleet Bank, Citizens Bank, Webster Bank, Sovereign Bank, Peoples Bank, First Union and the New Haven Savings Bank. The loans range from $5,000 to $250,000 and can be used for such things as working capital, buying equipment or stocking inventory. The session began with an overview of tAccording to Donna Wertenbach, President and CEO of the Community Economic Development Fund, it was the participation of the CEDF in one of the previous Mayor's Initiative for Small Business events held on April 25, 2001 that generated the large increase in interest from Stamford based businesses and ultimately led to the need for and establishment of this new and separate fund. She acknowledges that, prior to our inviting the CEDF to present at the event held last April, it did very little business in Stamford. In the two months following the event, the CEDF office received 13 new inquiries citing the MISB workshop as the source of information, and 38 for the year. In one case, the Stamford client received and has already paid back a loan. This year to date, the CEDF had received 13 new inquiries prior to the May event, and an amazing 93 requests for loan applications in the two weeks fThere are approximately 6,500 businesses in Stamford, and the majority of these can be classified as small to medium size companies. We truly recognize the importance small businesses play in our community and we want to continue to build on the success of our previous events. I believe that our businesses will continue to benefit from the contacts, resources, and information we continue to assemble as part of this ongoing series.

In May, I had the pleasure to host the fourth small business workshop to be implemented by this initiative. The subject of the workshop was the "New Small Business Loan Fund" that is now available to qualifying businesses located in Stamford via the Community Economic Development Fund (CEDF). This new segmented loan fund was established with funds from the U.S. Trust Company and First County Bank, and makes term loans and lines of credit available to existing small business owners and people looking to start a new small business. These two institutions join existing investors that include: JP Morgan Chase, Fleet Bank, Citizens Bank, Webster Bank, Sovereign Bank, Peoples Bank, First Union and the New Haven Savings Bank. The loans range from $5,000 to $250,000 and can be used for such things as working capital, buying equipment or stocking inventory. The session began with an overview of tAccording to Donna Wertenbach, President and CEO of the Community Economic Development Fund, it was the participation of the CEDF in one of the previous Mayor's Initiative for Small Business events held on April 25, 2001 that generated the large increase in interest from Stamford based businesses and ultimately led to the need for and establishment of this new and separate fund. She acknowledges that, prior to our inviting the CEDF to present at the event held last April, it did very little business in Stamford. In the two months following the event, the CEDF office received 13 new inquiries citing the MISB workshop as the source of information, and 38 for the year. In one case, the Stamford client received and has already paid back a loan. This year to date, the CEDF had received 13 new inquiries prior to the May event, and an amazing 93 requests for loan applications in the two weeks fThere are approximately 6,500 businesses in Stamford, and the majority of these can be classified as small to medium size companies. We truly recognize the importance small businesses play in our community and we want to continue to build on the success of our previous events. I believe that our businesses will continue to benefit from the contacts, resources, and information we continue to assemble as part of this ongoing series.

According to Donna Wertenbach, President and CEO of the Community Economic Development Fund, it was the participation of the CEDF in one of the previous Mayor's Initiative for Small Business events held on April 25, 2001 that generated the large increase in interest from Stamford based businesses and ultimately led to the need for and establishment of this new and separate fund. She acknowledges that, prior to our inviting the CEDF to present at the event held last April, it did very little business in Stamford. In the two months following the event, the CEDF office received 13 new inquiries citing the MISB workshop as the source of information, and 38 for the year. In one case, the Stamford client received and has already paid back a loan. This year to date, the CEDF had received 13 new inquiries prior to the May event, and an amazing 93 requests for loan applications in the two weeks fThere are approximately 6,500 businesses in Stamford, and the majority of these can be classified as small to medium size companies. We truly recognize the importance small businesses play in our community and we want to continue to build on the success of our previous events. I believe that our businesses will continue to benefit from the contacts, resources, and information we continue to assemble as part of this ongoing series.

There are approximately 6,500 businesses in Stamford, and the majority of these can be classified as small to medium size companies. We truly recognize the importance small businesses play in our community and we want to continue to build on the success of our previous events. I believe that our businesses will continue to benefit from the contacts, resources, and information we continue to assemble as part of this ongoing series.

If you are interested in learning more about the Partner America( program, please contact Shawna Francis, Managing Director at 877-778-6726 or sfrancis@usmayors.org.