Local Business Owners Invited to Forging Connections
On Tuesday December 2nd, the Burke Area Chamber of Commerce will host Forging
Connections, a business networking event from 6 – 7:30 pm at Juniper’s at
the Wildflower Inn on Darling Hill Road in Lyndonville. Beer, wine and light
appetizers will be offered. The event is free and all local business owners
and those thinking of starting a new venture in the area are invited to come.
RSVP’s are requested by November 21st. The event is meant to better
connect emerging & existing business owners with some of the local resources
that are available to help them grow their businesses. Representatives from
several area organizations including the Vermont Small Business Development
Center (VTSBDC), Vermont Procurement Technical Assistance Center,
Northeastern Vermont Development Association (NVDA), Northern Community
Investment Corporation (NCIC), the Center for Rural Entrepreneurship at
Lyndon State College and others will be there to talk about the many free or
low cost services they offer. These include professional business advising,
training workshops, help with financial planning, creating a business plan,
assistance in obtaining grant funding, procuring government contracts,
providing low interest business loans, technical assistance and help with
needs such as website creation, graphic design services, utilizing QuickBooks
etc.
"This is a great opportunity for local, small business owners to learn about
some of the many resources available to them in the area so they can expand
and stay profitable,” said Tim Tierney, President of the Burke Area Chamber
of Commerce. “Burke is a growing community and we want all our businesses
to grow along with it and be as successful as possible. We've had quite a
few new businesses start up in the area in just the last year and others are
on the way. It's really important to support these new businesses and make
sure they know from the start that there are a lot of organizations and
people they can reach out to locally for assistance getting a new venture off
the ground.”
The Burke Area Chamber of Commerce is also able to provide financial
assistance to qualifying local, small businesses to pay for part of the cost
of these and other services or local business workshops through a Rural
Business Enterprise Grant from USDA Rural Development. The grant provides
partial funding for Phase 2 of the Burke Area Destination Development
Initiative which is meant to better promote the Burke Area to travelers as
well as assist local businesses expand and keep up with the increase in
tourism and a growing community. Anyone interested in learning more about
this opportunity or wishing to RSVP for Forging Connections should contact
Laura Malieswski at 802-626-4124 or [email protected].
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