Bank of America and the Florida SBDC Network
Partner to Provide Needed Rural Financial Training to
Small Business Owners and Entrepreneurs

Pensacola, FL: Bank of America and the Florida Small Business Development Center Network (FSBDCN) today announced a partnership to bring capital access and financial training to eight select rural markets throughout Florida.

Funded by a $20,000 grant from the Bank of America Charitable Foundation, the free workshops will target entrepreneurs and small business owners with training and technical information needed to launch or expand their businesses. The tour will be supported by a 38-foot RV dubbed the SBDC Mobile Assistance Center.

“Capital access is a critical issue for Florida’s small business community, particularly those in rural and secondary markets,” said Jerry Cartwright, State Director, Florida SBDC Network. “With more than 1.9 million small businesses in Florida, their growth is largely dependent on knowledge of how lenders make credit decisions and familiarity with the vast array of products and services available to meet credit needs.”

“At Bank of America, we realize a key element to the health and growth of small business is knowledge of the resources available,” said Jim Mitchell, Florida Panhandle Market President, Bank of America. “We’re pleased to partner with the FSBDCN as they make their successful curriculum available to rural small businesses in our state.”

The partnership supports the development, delivery and marketing of the eight targeted access to capital workshops by leveraging FSBDCN existing resources. The free three-hour workshops will be offered in the evening by SBDC business analysts and are suitable for businesses seeking capital and for pre-venture entrepreneurs in need of startup funding. Each workshop will cover small business financing—the process, business plan, lending options, financial statements and document preparation. While dates for the workshops have not been finalized, the locations were chosen from towns designated as Enterprise Zones or from a predominantly rural county—one with less than 100 people per square mile. The rural locations are:

• DeFuniak Springs
• Palatka
• St. Augustine
• Quincy/Blountstown
• Sebring
• Okeechobee
• Immokalee
• Florida Keys

The FSBDCN’s Business Continuity and Risk Management Mobile Business Assistance Centers will be at each location prior to each workshop. For further information, contact Paymon Shokoohi at the FSBDCN State Director's Office at 850.473.7820.

The FSBDCN currently provides training to over 27,000 attendees annually and offers free one-on-one business consulting to more than 14,000 business owners and entrepreneurs. Approximately 95% of the SBDC clients have less than 15 employees and gross sales of less than $1 million annually.

The Florida Small Business Development Foundation, Inc. provides a vehicle for charitable and corporate philanthropy to support and enhance FSBDCN activities. Charged to further the business technical assistance mission of the FSBDCN through support for training, conferences, communications, counseling and other consistent activities, the partnership also seeks to strengthen the operations of the Foundation.

Bank of America Corporate Philanthropy

Building on a long-standing tradition of investing in the communities it serves, Bank of America is in its fourth year of achieving an unprecedented 10-year goal to donate $1.5 billion to nonprofit organizations engaged in improving the health and vitality of their neighborhoods. Funded by Bank of America, the Bank of America Charitable Foundation will give more than $225 million in 2008, making the bank the most generous financial institution in the world and the second largest donor of all U.S. corporations in cash contributions. Bank of America approaches giving through a national strategy called "neighborhood excellence" under which it works with local leaders to identify and meet the most pressing needs of individual communities. Through Team Bank of America, bank associate volunteers contributed more than 650,000 hours in 2007 to enhance the quality of life in their communities nationwide. For more information about Bank of America Corporate Philanthropy, please visit www.bankofamerica.com/foundation.

The Florida Small Business Development Center Network is a statewide partnership between higher education and economic development organizations dedicated to providing emerging and established business owners with assistance enabling overall growth and increased profitability that contributes to the economic prosperity of the state. For more information about the FSBDCN, call 1.866.737.7232 or visit our website at www.FloridaSBDC.com.

The FSBDCN is funded in part through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. SBA.