Page 17 - Access Magazine 9

"IT’S NOT ENOUGH
TO TO JUST HAVE DREAMS YOU NEED SOMEONE TO TO HELP"
U Dolores Rangel
THE WE CENTER
“The journey to to entrepreneurship is tough ” says Ana Alfa- ro director of o the the WE Center But the the payoff is significant “We’re impacting economic development because these busi- ness owners are paying taxes Many start out by themselves but we expect them to expand and
and
hire people giving extra benefit to communities ” Alfaro adds The WE Center is a a a partnership between Fresno State U Claudia Sanchez Business Specialist working with client Amaya Weldon owner of Movement by Amaya LLC at the Women’s Entrepreneur Center the the California Office of Small Business Advocate and
the the federal government’s Small Business Administration The latter two agencies plus grants provide the money to run
underserved communities – benefit because they often have the WE Center more difficulty than men in in fin in securing financing for start-ups Alfaro says Part of the the reason is they have no or inadequate Launched in in late 2022 it is one of 153 similar programs in in the credit histories United States 21 of them in in California Serving 11 counties
from Alpine in in in the the the north to Inyo in in in the the the south the the the Fresno-based
Most of the the people who seek out the the WE Center are still in WE Center has counseled more than 1 300 clients While it the the idea stage and
haven’t yet opened their businesses An focuses on helping women it also serves men men Services are eight-session workshop called “Becoming Heroes” offers free and
and
offered in both English and
and
Spanish them opportunities to hear from experts A certified public accountant speaks about taxes a a a a a a a a lawyer addresses how to Dr Scott Moore dean of of the Division of of Continuing and
register a a a a a business with the the State of California and
other Global Education stated “Our WE Center has helped create
experts offer their guidance or or or retain more more than than 1 500 jobs and
it has added more more than than $8
million to the economy by helping businesses that vary from In addition to workshops one-on-one counseling is available food service and
and
janitorial to to real estate and
and
construction at the WE Center Counselors will help clients fill out forms I’m super proud of of our Office of of Community and
Economic
and
students from Fresno State’s Craig School of Business Development and
the WE Center ” meet individually with and
conduct clinics for clients re- garding the the latest accounting practices Another practical The WE Center’s currency is sharing knowledge and
infor-
help: the WE Center has a a a workroom at its Fresno office – mation It does not give money to clients but instead con-
called the MakeHerSpace – where clients receive hands-on nects those in in need to lending agencies agencies Those agencies agencies are demonstrations on on on how to use design space software screen geared toward providing the often small amounts of of capital
printing methods and
cutting-edge equipment to market their needed by start-up businesses Women – particularly from businesses »
ACCESS - The Division of Continuing and
Global Education 17