Microenterprise Technical Assistance: Business Assistance Center Program

The Business Assistance Center Program (BAC) is administered by the Office of Economic Development (OED) and is funded by a federal grant (Community Development Block Grant-CDBG) from the U.S. Department of  Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

The BAC Program is intended to provide benefit for low-moderate income persons in the City by promoting entrepreneurship and microenterprise* development by providing technical assistance to those who are interested in developing new microenterprise businesses and capacity building to those who already own microenterprises.

Areas of technical assistance provided by the Business Assistance Centers (BAC) may include but are not  limited to various business development topics such as:

• Different structures of for-profit businesses
• State registration requirements
• Tax implications
• Business plan development
• Strategic plan development
• Industry and marketing research
• Marketing plan/campaign development and branding
• Different funding mechanisms and assistance in understanding loan applications
• Budget development and accounting
• Staffing/payroll, worker’s compensation, health benefits and pension
• M/WBE-DBE-HUB certifications, contracts and sub-contracting, bonds and insurance, and
• Others as pertinent and in compliance with eligibility and the applicable federal/state/local governing regulations.

*Please note: A microenterprise is a commercial enterprise that has five (5) or fewer employees including, one (1) or more of whom own(s) the enterprise (U.S. Code Laws CITE: 42USC5302; Section 102 of the Act).  For the purposes of this document,  microenterprises are considered to be for-profit businesses.

 Map of all Business Assistance Centers