The Umatilla Electric Cooperative’s Business Resource Center (BRC) has received a $75,000 grant from Business Oregon to provide technical assistance to under-served and under-resourced small businesses in the UEC member service area.
The BRC will be able to increase advising resources with the development and delivery of multi-stage bilingual small business curriculum with a focus on women and minority-owned businesses, said Robert Echenrode, UEC general manager and CEO.
After a highly competitive evaluation process, Umatilla Electric was selected as one of 33 organizations to receive funds from this grant program and builds on a federally-funded pilot program to help businesses respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.
To date, UEC BRC has assisted business owners in receiving PPP and EIDL disaster funding in addition to business plan review and assistance, marketing, and access to capital among many other critical small business services.
Most recently the BRC hosted a live webinar for small businesses to learn about the “6 C’s of Borrowing” and the local lending programs available.
Greg Smith is the executive adviser of the Umatilla Electric Cooperative Business Resource Center, 1475 N. First St., Hermiston. If you are seeking free, confidential business advising, call 541-289-3000 or email uecbrc@gmail.com.
