WASHINGTON – The U.S. Small Business Administration’s Interagency Task Force on Veterans Small Business Development (IATF) and Advisory Committee on Veterans Business Affairs (ACVBA) will hold quarterly public meetings on Sept. 6 and 7, 2017, at SBA headquarters in Washington, D.C.
The IATF meeting Sept. 6 is from 1 to 4 p.m. The Sept. 7 ACVBA meeting runs from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Both federal advisory committee meetings will address the current state of veteran-owned small businesses and provide updates on progress made in support areas for veteran entrepreneurship.
“The Veterans Advisory committees have accomplished a great deal in reducing barriers to small business ownership and expanding resources available to veteran business owners,” said Barb Carson, Associate Administrator, SBA Office of Veterans Business Development.
The IATF members will pay particular attention to topics related to federal procurement and access to capital in the September meeting.
This quarter’s ACVBA meeting will include a discussion on women veteran entrepreneurship featuring all three SBA Women Veteran Entrepreneurship Training Program (WVETP) grantees: Bunker Labs, Syracuse University’s Institute for Veterans and Military Families, and LiftFund.
Additionally, the National Women’s Business Council will preview the findings of a research project related to women veteran business ownership. In 2012, there were more than 383,302 veteran women-owned businesses in the United States, a number that has continued to rise. Further, veteran women-owned businesses experienced a 300 percent growth between 2007 and 2012.
The ACVBA will also feature a presentation on commercial supply chain opportunities from a veteran business owner’s perspective, updates on SBA veterans programs, and a briefing from SBA’s Office of Economic Opportunity regarding the Community Advantage initiative and Microloan Program. The ACVBA will conclude with a Veterans Service Organizations (VSO) roundtable.
Both IATF and ACVBA public meetings are held quarterly in Washington, D.C. at SBA Headquarters, 409 Third Street SW.
If you can’t attend in person, here’s how you can participate in the committee meetings:
Teleconference: Dial in: 888-858-2144. Access code: 780598
Webinar: For IATF Sept. 6: https://connect16.uc.att.com/sba/meet/?ExEventID=87805798
For ACVBA Sept. 7: https://connect16.uc.att.com/sba/meet/?ExEventID=87805798&CT=M
The public meeting transcripts may also be found at www.sba.gov/ovbd, under “Policy Formulation Committees,” after each meeting.
Please email any questions to veteransbusiness@sba.gov or call (202) 205-6337.
About the U.S. Small Business Administration
The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) was created in 1953 and since January 13, 2012, has served as a Cabinet-level agency of the federal government to aid, counsel, assist and protect the interests of small business concerns, to preserve free competitive enterprise and to maintain and strengthen the overall economy of our nation. The SBA helps Americans start, build and grow businesses. Through an extensive network of field offices and partnerships with public and private organizations, the SBA delivers its services to people throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Guam. Visit the website at www.sba.gov.
About Advisory Committee on Veterans Business Affairs
Public Law 106-50, the Veterans Entrepreneurship and Small Business Development Act of 1999 established the ACVBA to serve as an independent source of advice and policy recommendations to the SBA Administrator, the Associate Administrator for Veterans Business Development, the Congress, the President and other U.S. Policy Makers.
About SBA’s Interagency Task Force on Veterans Small Business Development
The IATF, established February 14, 2008 by Public Law 110-186 and executed by Executive Order, coordinates federal efforts to increase and improve veterans small business development. This includes increasing access to capital, improving business development opportunities, and meeting federal contracting goals for veteran-owned small businesses and service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses.