The story features David Clark, owner of a shoe repair shop, who began with a home-based business. He ran the business out of home (actually out of garage) until he was able to move to a local shopping center. Now, Clark’s shoe repair & manufacturing business is north of Avon Park, in the shopping center that’s located one block past Stryker Road. Now Clark is a part of the upward trend for African American business operations, especially those in Highlands county. The Tampa Bay Times article describes such black-owned businesses as an “economic engine,” while also pointing out that Florida is third in the nation for black-owned business statistics. Women owned businesses are another form of minority owned business classification. Minority owned business classifications result from 51% ownership by the minority owner (such as an African America, Hispanic, women, and others). Speaking of which, the article also points out the growth in Hispanic owned business operations, as well. To read more about Clark’s business success, minority-owned business trends & statistics, and local resources for business start ups & growth, see the full article at Tampa Bay Online (TBO) on “Minority Owned Business Joining the Majority “.

David Noel is the Small Business Development Center’s consultant for the Highlands county area. He assists businesses like Clark’s with start up advice, business assistance, business growth, government contracts for minority business owners, & other small business help. Noel offers advice to minority and women-owned business in free business consulting sessions. He offers tips, such as suggesting these business owners should visit the State Office of Supplier Diversity web site, www.dms.myflorida.com/other_programs/office_of_sup… for more information about seeking out federal contracts (one of the primary reasons for seeking declaration as a women or minority owned business classification).

Also, the Small Business Development Center’s PTAC program hosts local events, like the 2011 Government Contracting for Small Business Conference. If you are a minority owned business or start up who is seeking government contracts, be sure to speak to your local PTAC consultant for advice. In Tampa, the PTAC consultant is Charlene Bostic.

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After graduating from the University of Cincinnati, Hig Rodriquez Dillinger worked with a number of building materials companies. In 2002 he decided to leverage his experience and contacts to launch Commercial Industrial Roof Services Co. ?It seemed natural that we would take all of that expertise and put it to use as a roof consultant,? Dillinger said. So in 2002 Dillinger came to the Florida Small Business Development Center at the University of South Florida in order to learn how to obtain his certification as a Minority Business Enterprise and how to win government contracts.

According to Dillinger, the consultants at the Small Business Development Center ?provide high quality advice, were very helpful, and really cared about my business. I go to many functions where Small Business Development Center consultants participate and I am impressed by the commitment of their people.? Dillinger?s vision when he started his business was to be a roof consultant.

However like many entrepreneurs, he discovered that his customers wanted more. They wanted not only a roof consultant, but also a quality roof contractor to protect their roofs. So CIRSCO soon expanded beyond advising customers on how to extend the life of their roof. Now, CIRSCO works primarily with multiple-facility building owners and property managers, providing maintenance inspections, budgeting, planning, roof repairs, restorations, recovery, and replacements. ?We focus almost exclusively on helping the owners and managers of existing buildings protect their roofs which protect their buildings,? Dillinger explains.

Dillinger explains his company?s motto is ?treat customers as human beings and understand their needs.? CIRSCO has developed into a family firm of 22 employees with sons, Scott and Steve and daughter, Nichol working in the business. It has received many awards such as: 2008 Top 25 Minority-Owned Companies in Tampa Bay, Nation?s Top 100 Disabled Veteran owned Business, Nation?s Top 500 Hispanic Owned Business and many others. Dillinger still makes use of the resources at the Small Business Development Center to grow his business having attended 44 counseling sessions since the business started in 2002. Now, his customers want CIRSCO to provide services for their facilities, landscaping, parking lots, irrigation systems, and storm water management.

In spite of the recession, CIRSCO is growing and looking to hire quality people. Again, CIRSCO is going where its customers takes it- well beyond the original vision in 2002. For further information, visit www.cirsco.com or call (813) 740-8080.

The answer to these questions is that there is a kernel of truth in what you have been told; enough of it is true so that the source does not risk serious legal liability. However, read and listen closely to their words. Although they give the impression that these business grants are available in great abundance and are yours for the asking, the whole truth is that they have many restrictions. In the last six years, I have assisted 2,115 clients in finding money for their businesses. Only 22 (1%) of those clients received a business grant and almost all of them received their grants from a state of Florida program that is available only to the disabled and Native Americans. In my nine years of business counseling, I am not aware of anyone who ever received a business grant from any source they directly identified upon buying a book, watching an infomercial, or paying a grant consultant. So, what are the common myths and realities? Are there any grants available for your business?

Grants for Minorities, Veterans, and Women Owned Businesses

One of our most frequently asked questions is ?where are the grants for minorities, veterans, and women to start a business??  A common myth is – if you are a member of one of these groups, then free money to start a business is out there for you. All you have to do is ask for it! What is the reality? The kernel of truth is that as a member of one of these groups you are not excluded from grant consideration. Scattered across the United States, there are a few grant programs that give small amounts of money (usually less than $2,000) to members of one of these groups who wish to start a business. However, these programs always have many other restrictions. Why, because no organization, including the federal government, has enough money to fund the potentially large of requests. Based upon the 2000 census, over 150 million adults are a member of one of these groups. A recent infomercial claimed that ?any member of one of these groups can get a $9,000 grant to start a business. If true, then 1.3 trillion dollars would potentially be needed to fund grants to members of these groups. That amount is approximately 60% of the federal 2004 budget or about the same as the combined budgets for Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and the Department of Defense.

Most of the books, tapes, CDs, and infomercials on finding free money use the Catalogue of Federal Domestic Assistance as their source material. This catalogue is over 1500 pages and includes all domestic spending programs, not just grant programs. So, the authors condense the information and then sell it to you. However, that catalogue is available on-line for free at www.cfda.gov. Even this on-line version is extremely cumbersome to navigate and is difficult to understand. That is why the federal government recently created an on-line federal grant search engine. This grant search engine is available for free at www.grants.gov.

Currently, we are not aware of any local or state grants for members of these groups. However, occasionally local women and/or minority organizations may sponsor grants for individuals in specific circumstances. For example, a few years ago the Women?s Resource Center in Sarasota had a grant program for recently divorced moms with young kids who wanted to work at home. In that instance, they would consider, if needy, providing a grant up to $1,000 to help them get started. Although we are not aware of any local or state organizations that provide these grants today, you might consider asking the local women, minority, and/or veteran organizations. If you find any organizations that do provide these type grants, please let us know so we can make the information available to our other clients.

Grants for the Disabled and Native Americans

Common knowledge says that there is free money available for the disabled and/or Native Americans to start or expand a business. The reality is that although some Indian tribes do have grant programs, they are usually reserved for tribal members living on a reservation. In addition, almost all of the grant programs for the disabled go to assistance providers rather than to a business. However, the state of Florida does have a business grant program for the disabled and/or Native Americans to start or expand their business. As mentioned in the introduction to this article, the USF SBDC has had a number of its clients receive one of these grants. The state?s primary purpose for these grants is to help the disabled and Native Americans become self sufficient and thereby get off of public assistance. For information, contact a counselor at your local office of the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation, Department of Education. You can find the location of the local office in the telephone directory or through www.myflorida.com.

Research and Development Grants

The federal government does require its agencies to make research and development grants available to small businesses. Two of these programs are the Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) grant program and the Small Business Technology Transfer Research (STTR) grant program.

The SBIR is a highly competitive grant program. It provides research and development funds for the commercialization of high-tech products. To be eligible the small business must be: American-owned and independently operated, a for-profit business with less than 500 employees and the principal researcher must be employed by business. Each year ten federal departments and agencies are required to reserve a portion of their R&D grants for small business. These grants award up to $100,000 for approx. 6 months to support the exploration of the feasibility and merit of the technology. In the next phase, grants are awarded up to $750,000 for up to 2 years to perform the R&D and evaluate the commercialization potential of the technology.

The STTR program is very similar to the SBIR program except that the principal researcher is employed by a non-profit research institution rather than the business. Other differences are the first phase grant of up to $100,000 may be for up to one year instead of six months and the second phase grants are up to $500,000 instead of $750,000.

You can find a list of Requests for Proposals at the website of each federal agency. A link to those agencies that issue small business grants can be found at the Small Business Administration?s website, www.sba.gov. For a list of the federal departments and agencies that provide SBIR/STTR grants and for additional information, refer to the SBA website at www.sba.gov/sbir. However, you will probably find it easier to find a federal government grant for which your business may qualify at the www.grants.gov website.

Foundation Grants

Yahoo has an on-line directory of foundations that provide grants. Although these grants usually go to not-for-profit organizations for philanthropic work, sometimes they do go to for-profit businesses. For further information on these and the type of work they support, go to: http://dir.yahoo.com/society_and_culture/issues_and_causes/philanthropy/organizations/grant_making_foundations.

Other Grant Resources

A free on-line list of business grants from non-government sources can be found at the Idea Café Grant Center. This is a bulletin board at a website for business owners. They ask their members to post any grants that they hear about on the bulletin board. You do have to register but there are no fees. Their address is www.businessownersideacafe.com.

There are many fee-based on-line search engines such as www.grantselect.com that claim to match your needs to a possible grant source. There database includes many different types of grants, some of which are available to small businesses. However, be very careful and spend your money wisely. Rarely do small businesses find grants through one of these matching services due to the reasons previously discussed.

Conclusion

When searching for business grants, you start out with one basic question. Who cares about what I am doing so much that they will give me ?free? money? In order to get one of these grants, your business venture must provide the solution to some major problem or need identified by government and/or foundations.

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n. Elevation of the blood pressure, or extreme emotional tenseness often attributed to your attempts to navigate the protocols of doing business with the government.

Rules, requirements and regulations — oh my! Stuck in the red tape surrounding the U.S. government? We can help set you free with these classes that guide you through the creation and maintenance of valuable government relationships.

Prescription for Success

• Women, Minority, & Service Disabled Veteran Certification
• Government Contracting Series
• Annual Government Small Business Conference