Small Business Program Relocates, Moves Closer To Its Mission

With a cross-campus move, the Connecticut Small Business Development Center (CSBDC) has taken a giant step closer to the heart of its mission.

The Center – a partnership between UConn and the U.S. Small Business Administration – had been based in the School of Business. But this month, its offices were relocated to the Ratcliffe Hicks Building, next door to the headquarters of UConn’s Cooperative Extension System.

“When the concept of business development centers was developed in the 1950’s,” said Center director Richard Cheney, “the idea was to follow the cooperative extension system model, and use University resources to help in the creation and support of small businesses as the engines of a state’s economy.”

The CSBDC’s network of business assistance centers provide training, educational workshops and confidential, one-on-one counseling in all aspects of starting or growing a business at offices in 11 Connecticut cities, at no cost to the client. More than 245 workshops and seminars were offered to Connecticut entrepreneurs last year, in both English and Spanish.

Cheney says the move will create new service opportunities for the CSBDC by physically strengthening the relationship between the Center’s network and the nine Cooperative Extension Service system’s offices statewide.

“Our fundamental mission is public outreach – to provide outstanding support for entrepreneurs, and help create new businesses that will help build a stronger economy in this state,” he says. “What we do is all about teaching. That’s also the extension system’s mission.”

Kirklyn Kerr, dean of the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, which includes UConn’s extension system, says, “We see this as a very positive step that will add strength to our extension program.”