SBA Partner and Minnesota Rural Community Rallies Around Immigrant Business Owner
Ruby Tungseth-Dowden, originally from the Philippines, grew up in the restaurant business. With a bachelor’s degree in accounting and while working in the health care industry, she began her small business journey in 2018 by selling eggrolls at festivals in
Ottertail County, Minn.
After two years selling eggrolls at special events around the area under a tent, Ruby’s community rallied around her and she created Ruby’s Pinoy Foods, which focuses on serving Filipino foods in the Fergus Falls area.
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The
Small Business Digital Alliance has announced its national members and a slate of upcoming events. The SBDA is a new public-private co-sponsorship between the
SBA and
Business Forward, Inc., a non-profit organization working with small business leaders in support of policies promoting America’s economic competitiveness, focused on connecting entrepreneurs with critical digital tools and resources to
start and expand their businesses to scale for success, including in the burgeoning e-commerce economy.
Upcoming Small Business Digital Alliance Events
A list of free virtual and in-person events hosted by the SBDA can be found below. These events will feature discussions on small business trends and showcase the free digital tools small businesses can take advantage of through the SBDA. More events will be
announced in the coming weeks, and the schedule is subject to changes. We encourage any and all interested community members to sign up to participate via the links provided. To learn more about the SBDA, visit www.smallbusinessdigitalalliance.com.
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Thursday, March 31st, Time TBA: Virtual Webinar | Accelerate Your Digital Transformation: https://bit.ly/3LuWB8i
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Week of April 4th: Panel/Roundtable and Training in Ohio
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Week of April 26th: Panel/Roundtable and Training in Arlington, Virginia
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Week of May 2nd: Virtual Webinar | Digital Benefits: Hire, Train, and Retain: https://bit.ly/3LyrcSu
Other federal agencies have some great programs that could be helpful to your small business. Below are just a few of them we’ve heard about recently:
USDA Opportunities
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The USDA announced recently that it is making available up to
$215 million in grants and other support to expand meat and poultry processing options, strengthen the food supply chain, and create jobs and economic opportunities in rural areas.
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The
Food Supply Chain Guaranteed Loan Program guarantees loans of up to $40 million for qualified lenders to finance food systems projects, specifically for the start-up or expansion of activities in the middle of the food supply chain. The
USDA program will support new investments in infrastructure for food aggregation, processing, manufacturing, storage, transportation, wholesaling, and distribution to increase capacity and create a more resilient, diverse, and secure U.S. food supply chain.
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The Meat
and Poultry Processing Expansion Program provides grants to help eligible processors expand their capacity. USDA Rural Development designed the MPPEP to encourage competition and sustainable growth in the U.S. meat processing sector, and to help
improve supply chain resiliency.
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USDA recently shared a resource
guide to help people in rural America start and grow businesses, create good-paying jobs in their communities and strengthen America’s economy. The guide features information on how rural entrepreneurs can use USDA and other Federal programs to
access financing and other assistance to help start and expand their businesses.
Department of Labor Opportunities
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U.S.
Department of Labor-Wage & Hour Division’s Midwest Care Workers Summit 2022, March 23. DOL’s Labor-Wage & Hour Department is inviting health care industry stakeholders from Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, Ohio, Michigan, Minnesota,
Missouri and Wisconsin to hear from distinguished panelists and WHD experts. The goal is to facilitate a more in depth discussion about issues that affect the health care industry in the Midwest.
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DOL has a new grant program to strengthen, modernize, expand and diversify its
Registered Apprenticeship Program to enable more workers to earn while they learn and find reliable pathways to the middle class. the “Apprenticeship Building America” program will make $113 million in grant funding available. Eligible
applicants include nonprofits, labor organizations, public and state institutions of higher education, and county governments.
BBB Torch Awards for Ethics through the Better Business Bureau foundation recognizes marketplace role models that demonstrate an outstanding commitment to ethics and integrity in all aspects of their operation in Minnesota and North Dakota.
2022 Torch Awards Application is now open from January 6 – March 4, 2022. The awards event will be held in person on May 20 at Radisson Blu in Bloomington.
SBA’s support of or participation in this event is not an endorsement of any product, service, or entity.
We are hosting training webinars to help entrepreneurs and small business owners start, grow, expand, and recover.
To learn more and register today, visit the links below:
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SBA Veteran Small Business Resource Brief
March 4, 10 a.m.;
Register -
Steps for Starting a Small Business
March 9, 10 a.m.;
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Risk Management – Planning for the Unexpected
March 9, 1:00 p,m.;
Register -
Exploring SBA Microlending Coast to Coast
March 10, 10 a.m.;
Register -
Insurance – Choices for Business
March 16, 1 p.m.;
Register -
Start & Grow with SBA Program’s for Women Entrepreneurs
March 17, 4 p.m.;
Register -
Tax Planning and Reporting
March 23, 1 p.m.;
Register -
Veteran’s
Training: Boots to Business Reboot
March 25, 8 a.m.;
Register -
Selling Your Business and Succession Planning
March 30, 1 p.m.;
Register
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for information as it becomes available too.
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