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MBN USA

January 31, 2022

The partnership to focus on underserved, unserved communities

With a mission to be the single unified voice advocating equal opportunities for Pan Asian American/AAPI businesses, the US Pan Asian American Chamber of Commerce Education Foundation and our partners through the recently awarded the U.S. Small Business Administration Tier -1 Community Navigation Pilot Program (CNPP) Grant, will focus on five regional service markets.

It will focus on underserved and unserved Pan Asian American businesses. Through this collaboration with 14 trusted, culturally, and technically knowledgeable partners, our goal is to connect business owners in those communities with critical services and assistance programs.

USPAACC, with corporate headquarters in Washington D.C., will be the Hub where leadership and implementation of the CNPP will connect with our dedicated national network of Spokes in California, Georgia, Illinois, New Jersey and Texas.

With the business and financial advisory support and expertise in market entry of our community partners to the Pan Asian American/AAPI business community, this collaboration will help these businesses bounce back after the financial instability caused by the pandemic. USPAACC will communicate with them in their language to assist in understanding, training for and cultivating the skills needed for development and growth; and through technology and advisement, gain the ability to cut through the red tapes, develop confidence, trust and find their voice.

Each of the 14 Spokes was chosen for their ongoing service which have positively impacted their community. Many of them are all voluntary and driven to support their community because they believe in them. The CNPP grant to USPAACC is a major step by the U.S. Small Business Administration toward lifting up Pan Asian American/AAPI small businesses which have been underserved and unserved for far too long.

We want to recognize each of the dedicated Spoke organizations and their ongoing commitment to their community. Below is just some of what these organizations have committed to support CNNP, USPAACC and the small business community.

Mass Market Broadcasting (MMB) based out of Santa Clara, California, with affiliates in all major markets to include San Francisco, New York, Los Angles, Chicago, Dallas and Atlanta will support CNPP with paid and earned media across TV channels to the hard-to-reach Asian American Pacific Islander communities who were immensely impacted by COVID.

NuMedia Marketing will support the small business communities across all the national network of Spokes with counseling, loan applications, marketing, Human Resources advisement in multiple languages including, English, Cantonese, Mandarin, Taiwanese, Fujianese, Japanese, Hindi, German and Russian.

Universal Processing, through extensive outreach and in multiple languages will support the AAPI small business community across the nationwide Spoke network with technical training, navigating loan application/forgiveness processes, sharing tips on disaster preparedness and recovery through their social media platform, newsletter and sales crew network.

Asian Business Association of Orange County will serve the Pan Asian American/AAPI communities in the Orange County area of Southern California. This group will support small businesses with access to capital through webinars, social media and other resources as well as provide training workshops, counseling and matchmaking.

BeChinatown is a San Francisco Chinatown nonprofit organization that was formed by an all-volunteer coalition of community leaders, residents, merchants, and property owners in 2017. This group is committed to supporting their community with training, counseling, technical and business services in English, Cantonese and Mandarin.

Los Angles Small Business Development Center (LA SBDC) hosted at the Long Beach Community College District will offer expertise in all facets of small business with a focus on access to capital and sales/revenue growth. Since 2007, this organization has become the leading source of small business technical assistance in the region supporting start-ups to mature businesses in a wide variety of industries.

Northeast Community Federal Credit Union is a non-profit, member-owned federally insured community development credit union serving the Chinatown, Tenderloin and SOMA neighborhoods in San Francisco. NECFCU has committed to support CNPP and the small business community with loan and grant applications, loan forgiveness and counseling services about credit and financial literacy in Mandarin and Cantonese.

USPAACC Western Regional Chapter will serve the Northern California small business communities in Santa Clara, San Mateo, Contra Costa and San Francisco and the Southern California communities of Los Angeles, Orange and Riverside. They will be instrumental in helping small businesses by providing industry experts, hosting events, creating a directory of local experts that will provide in-language support in person and through video training.

The Trusted Lawyers, a Desai Law Group, PC will support the Asian American-owned business communities in the metro Georgia area with legal counseling services for entity formation, franchise agreements and dispute resolutions.

USPAACC Southeast Regional Chapter located in the Metro Atlanta area will focus on providing services and workshops to the Asian American business community by facilitating operational, marketing, sales, management and legal training and counseling as well as introductions to larger tier 1 and 2 suppliers within their network.

Roth & Co will be serving the Chicago and New Jersey Asian American small business communities with culturally and linguistically competent support to provide advisory services for certification, licensing, tax, and exit planning, financial counseling assistance and access to capital.

USPAACC Northeast Regional Chapter located in New York/New Jersey will support the Hub and the small businesses in that region with direct outreach efforts with loan packaging assistance, disaster readiness and relief assistance, procurement assistance, export assistance, startup and business planning assistance, financial literacy and credit counseling.

Korean Association of Ft Worth will be supporting Asian American small businesses in the Dallas and Ft Worth area providing in-language training to build management, financial and technological capacities as well as provide counseling services for loans and grants and disaster preparedness and recovery.

The Law Office of Lauren J Kwon which is a business immigration law firm and with bi-lingual capabilities will support the Dallas Ft Worth small business community with counseling and application support for loans, grants, loan forgiveness and financial literacy.

USPAACC is excited to embark on a journey in collaboration with the SBA and our Spoke partners to better connect the Pan Asian American/AAPI community with critical services and assistance. The goal of the Community Navigator Pilot Program is to even out the playing field for American entrepreneurs who are at a disadvantage. The program puts an emphasis on helping small businesses including women-owned businesses in the minority community who have not, in the past, received the services the federal government offers. This aligns with the mission and values of USPAACC and all of our Spoke partners.

“These distinguished grantees will help supercharge our U.S. small business recovery. Simultaneously, they will help close historic and current resource gaps and advance equity,” Isabella Guzman, Administrator, U.S. Small Business Administration.