Lina Mills remembers how she came to this country from Colombia at the age of 16 without having ever worked a day in her life.
Once he arrived, he found work in restaurants. “I had to support myself,” Mills told CalMatters recently. “I basically ran away from home.”
He knew some English, learned more and became a catering manager. Now, 36 years later, she owns two businesses in San Francisco.
He employed a dozen workers at Creative Ideas Catering and Creative Ideas Cafe, but “had to send everyone home” during the COVID closures and subsequent slowdown. Since then she has been able to rehire some; Now she has 10 workers again and hopes to hire more. “I don’t just want to offer jobs to people who used to work for me; I’m trying to create more jobs.”
Mills has relied on programs that help small business owners with financing, marketing, accounting and social media skills, which allowed him to participate in takeout pop-ups during the height of the pandemic. Acknowledging the free help she received from a Small Business Development Center and the Renaissance Entrepreneurship Center, she said, “I have no idea what I would do without them.”
But that aid to small businesses is now in jeopardy across California. The Renaissance center, which receives some state funding through the Small Business Technical Assistance Program, could see a drop in funding due to the state’s huge budget deficit. Since 2018, the program has supported centers that help low-income small businesses in rural, low-income and disaster-affected communities, and those owned by women, people of color and veterans. Now Governor Gavin Newsom is proposing to cut the program’s budget by 56%, or $13 million.
Mills recently testified urging state lawmakers not to cut funding for the program. Small business leaders and advocates traveled to Capitol Hill last week and, among other things, lobbied against the cuts. Last weekend, state lawmakers released their budget proposal, which rejects the governor’s cuts to the program and restores its full annual funding to $23 million.
The Legislature approved an interim budget Thursday. The governor and lawmakers are likely to debate their budget priorities through the end of the month.
Alex Stack, a spokesperson for the governor, told CalMatters that budget negotiations are ongoing, noting, “Governor Newsom has invested billions of dollars in small business grants, tax breaks and other incentives in recent years.”
When Newsom presented his revised budget proposal in early May, the governor said: “These are programs that I have been advancing for a long time, many of them. None of these are jobs that you enjoy doing, but you have to do them. We have to balance the budget.”
The staff of Assemblyman Jesse Gabriel, the Encino Democrat who chairs that chamber’s budget committee, did not respond to questions about this specific program. The California Small Business Advocate’s Office, which administers it, said it had no comment.
If the program’s funding is cut by more than half, it could “affect 75,000 small businesses per year that contribute to the state’s tax base,” said Catalina Martínez, executive director of CAMEO Network, a small business advocacy group. .
More than 90% of California businesses employ fewer than 10 employees, and 7% of the state’s businesses have between 20 and 100 employees, according to the Public Policy Institute of California.
“Capital alone is not enough,” Martinez said, adding that small business owners need “clear business plans and a clear idea of their value proposition, things that will allow them to succeed and grow.” Small business development centers and other organizations can help owners with that, which Martinez said is important for first-generation entrepreneurs and immigrants “who may not have the networks and experience” they need.
Ernesto Delgado is among business owners who praise the state’s technical assistance program and other small business programs.
“I was able to speak directly with accountants, lawyers and human resources,” Delgado said. “I didn’t have to pay for them. I couldn’t afford them.” Those professionals helped him see the importance of creating an “evolving business plan,” he said.
He started with one restaurant and now owns six in the Sacramento area, which during peak hours employ about 150 workers, he said. Delgado said attending a Small Business Management course for emerging leaders put him on the path to management and entrepreneurship classes, and then culinary school.
“I wouldn’t be where I am today without some of these programs and connections through relationship building,” said Delgado, whose restaurants include Mayahuel, his first, and Octopus Perú, one of his newest. “I don’t think I would have gotten over COVID.”
Further down the state is a different kind of example of the impact of that technical assistance. San Diego restaurant owner Rodnia Attiq is counting on the help she received from KeynoteUSAEX Accelerators, a small business accelerator that focuses on government contracts, to land a big client: the U.S. Coast Guard, which is looking for a small business to serve food. seven days a week at its San Diego station.
For El Borrego, which specializes in lamb tacos and is a family business with nine people on the payroll, applying for a government contract was no joke, Attiq said.
“You have no idea how difficult it was,” he said, adding that even with the help of KeynoteUSAEX, which receives some funding from the state’s technical assistance program, completing the 140-page proposal took “10 days, non-stop, until 11 of the night”. or midnight.”
But she felt that all the hard work was necessary. “Everything is changing for the restaurant business,” she said. “It’s not easy. You have to find every way to stay in business.”
Now, Attiq is waiting to find out if he won the contract. She is optimistic: “I already have my route defined and what time I’m going to wake up.”
This story was originally published by Levi Sumagaysay with CalMatters.
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