WHAT: Tomorrow Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez (CA-46) will visit the Orange County Small Business Development Center (SBDC) to learn about the center’s two newest initiatives in Orange County.

Women’s Initiative
The Women’s Initiative (WI) focuses on outreach and assistance to women-owned businesses to provide them with opportunities to grow their business through contracting with public agencies and corporations. The WI helps women business owners develop a winning strategy, obtain appropriate certifications, market to public agencies and corporations, identify and respond to opportunities and get bonding and financing. By publishing Contracts Central, Orange County SBDC’s informative monthly contracting newsletter, and by partnering with community organizations, including the National Hispanic Business Women Association, National Association of Women Business Owners – Orange County even more women-owned businesses are reached. By working closely with the National Women Business Owners Corporation (NWBOC) and the Women's Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC), third party certifiers for Women’s Business Enterprise (WBE) and Women-Owned Small Business (WOSB), the Orange County SBDC helps more Orange County businesses achieve these important certifications.

Veteran’s Initiative
The Orange County SBDC has launched several veterans’ efforts and increased its outreach to the veteran community to assist as they transition to civilian life through a three-pronged approach. The first component is an entrepreneurial assessment to assist veterans in determining if entrepreneurship and small business ownership is the right fit for their next career. The second component provides entrepreneurial training and counseling on how to launch and successfully grow a business. The center’s training partner is the Orange County/Los Angeles Chapter of the Disabled Veteran Business Enterprises (DVBE) Alliance. The final component helps those veterans who choose not to explore entrepreneurship and find themselves among the many job seekers in today’s economy. In this effort, the Orange County SBDC has partnered with the DVBE Alliance and the local US Small Business Administration office. The program assists veterans with resumes and interview training and matches local employers --small and large--with job-seeking veterans resulting in an increase of veterans hired by local business.

WHERE: Orange County SBDC, 2323 N. Broadway, Suite 201, Santa Ana, CA 92706

WHEN:  Thursday, February 7 at 3 p.m.

WHO:  The following individuals may be available for interviews:

• Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez
• Leila Mozaffari, Director, Orange County SBDC
• John Didion, Executive Vice Chancellor Human Resources and Educational Services, Rancho Santiago Community College District

HOW: For more information about the Orange County SBDC, call (714) 564-5200 or visit www.ocsbdc.org.

About the Orange County Small Business Development Center (SBDC)
The Orange County Small Business Development Center (SBDC), an economic development program of Rancho Santiago Community College District, is partially supported by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), the California State University, Fullerton and the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office.  The Orange County SBDC is a one-stop source for business development, expansion strategies, contracting opportunities and access to capital.