BILL WOULD AID SMALLEST OF FIRMS.Byline: Brent Brent, outer borough (1991 pop. 226,100) of Greater London, SE England. The area is a rail and industrial center. Its manufactures include automobile parts, clocks and watches, and electrical equipment. Hopkins Staff Writer BURBANK - State Sen. Richard Alarcon and economic development groups unveiled a bill Wednesday to help the smallest of California's small businesses and encourage local development agencies to provide training and loan opportunities. Alarcon, D-Sylmar, spoke passionately about the need to recognize small companies with fewer than five employees, which he said have historically accounted for a significant portion of California's job growth. ``We need to refocus Verb 1. refocus - focus once again; The physicist refocused the light beam" focus - cause to converge on or toward a central point; "Focus the light on this image" 2. on what helped build America,'' Alarcon said at a press conference touting touting the making of personal representations by a veterinarian to persons who are not clients in an attempt to solicit their business. the bill, SB 1156. ``The entrepreneurial spirit gave people the hope they could succeed as individuals.'' He acknowledged that the companies could face a tough road in coming years, as the Bush administration plans to eliminate funding for the Small Business Administration's microenterprise loan program in 2005. The loans have been a major part of local economic assistance packages, with the Valley Economic Development Center lending out $2.9 million to 210 borrowers, mostly minority- and women-owned companies unable to qualify for traditional bank loans since the program began in 1998. ``It's dug deep to the trenches,'' said Vladimir Victorio, director of lending for the Van Nuys-based nonprofit A corporation or an association that conducts business for the benefit of the general public without shareholders and without a profit motive. Nonprofits are also called not-for-profit corporations. Nonprofit corporations are created according to state law. . ``It goes to the people who've been traditionally ignored in their attempts to find capital. Traci Lewis received several such loans after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks forced her to close her business providing makeovers to flight attendants. Armed with the capital, she was able to remake re·make tr.v. re·made , re·mak·ing, re·makes To make again or anew. n. 1. The act of remaking. 2. Something in remade form, especially a new version of an earlier movie or song. the company into a spa and beauty lounge, opening today in Burbank. ``The criteria for a bank loan is crazy,'' Lewis said. ``The microloan mi·cro·loan n. A very small, often short-term loan made to an impoverished entrepreneur, as in an underdeveloped country. lets you have access without having to go through all the other steps.'' Brent Hopkins, (818) 713-3738 brent.hopkins(at)dailynews.com |
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