BizConnect Local aims to strengthen small businesses in a specific region in the U.S. The program provides businesses with hands-on guidance, including coaching and networking opportunities, to advance their economic success and resiliency to benefit their communities.
Related Programs
How It Works
Accepted applicants in BizConnect Local receive the following benefits:
- Access to mentorship from local business leaders and fellow entrepreneurs in the designated region
- In-person seminar-style classes hosted by local subject matter experts and business coaches that follow a curriculum of facilitated groups and self-guided work covering key business concepts, such as building resilience, generating revenue, and more, tailored to the cohort's interests.
- Network-building and connecting with other relevant stakeholders in the designated geographic area.
- Opportunities to meet with local leaders.
- $5,000 in financial assistance.
Eligible businesses must:
- Employ between two (2) and twenty (20) individuals, including the owner, full, or part time, or those working for the business under a 1099 agreement.
- Be located within a designated metropolitan area.
- Not be part of a franchise brand with more than twenty-five (25) corporate-owned stores, or more than two hundred and fifty (250) stores in total.
- Be located in an economically vulnerable/distressed community (defined as any zip code not in the top 20% of zip codes in the current iteration of the Economic Innovation Group’s Distressed Communities Index).
Learn More
For more information about how your organization can engage with BizConnect Local, contact Shanique Streete, executive director, programs, at sstreete@uschamber.com.
Hear from Past Participants
In partnership with the Greater San Antonio Chamber of Commerce, we launched a pilot program in 2023 to support small businesses in the San Antonio region. The program helped alleviate top challenges faced by these business owners, such as cash flow, access to capital, finding customers, and more.
