Small Business Development Program
Valley Community Development’s Small Business Development Program provides a range of free services to meet the needs of low- and moderate-income individuals engaged in start-up and existing small businesses. Our program is designed to help you start, stabilize, and grow your business and is customized to meet your needs.
We offer one-on-one business assistance, from access to capital to sales and marketing, from record keeping to staffing, everything you need for your business to thrive. We also offer educational workshops to polish your skills and keep you ahead of the business curve. These workshops can also create a network of small business owners who can be your peers and mentors as you and your business grow.
Please fill out this form to be contacted by a small business consultant. Include a brief description of your situation and goals.
Resources
Missed a workshop we hosted? Check out our YouTube channel for recordings of our webinars.
Verizon Small Business Digital Ready – Free online curriculum on SEO, remote work, and credit. Learn more here.
Our program offers proactive support for all stages of entrepreneurs
Workshops
We offer workshops essential for both business and professional growth. It’s important to keep informed and to create a network of small business owners who are your peers and mentors.
All our small business workshops are at no cost. Please register ahead of time to get the Zoom link and the recording after the session ends. Keep up to date with these by joining our newsletter and checking our workshop page.
One-to-One Business Assistance
We offer targeted one-to-one business assistance to enable you to increase revenues and profits by helping implement more effective marketing campaigns, to operate more efficiently, and to better manage finances. A different marketing strategy, a new product, a good hard look at your financials in order to make some business decisions? – We do all of that and more.
Starting A Small Business
It’s exciting to be your own boss, but do you REALLY know what that means?
Maybe you have a new idea, a side hustle that you want to expand, or a passion for being your own boss – then we are here for you. For someone at these initial stages, we offer a monthly information session entitled Small Business Fundamentals. You’ll get a realistic idea of what it is like to start a small business from a professional who has first-hand experience.
Our Partners
Small business is the heart and soul of our local economy. It can be a conduit to creating a strong community and increasing the economic viability of our region. Our goals are to create and retain local jobs, to secure new or increased financing for local business growth, and to help achieve business stability and viability, with the ultimate goal of increasing the income of households as well as the economic vitality of the communities we serve and the larger region.
Our services are generously supported by Mass Growth Capital Corporation, the City of Northampton, the Town of Amherst, Capital One, Florence Bank, and TD Bank. Photos taken by Elizabeth Solaka Photography, www.elizabethsolaka.com.