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Resource Guide for Chittenden County Employers & Employees - Business Consulting, Counseling & Classes

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Champlain Valley Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE)
Description: SCORE is a network of experienced businesspeople, sponsored by the U.S. Small Business Administration, who can provide small business owners with advice on business planning and management.  Through the case manager, a client is matched with a SCORE counselor, whose experience matches a business owners' needs. All counseling is free of charge.
Address: Winston Prouty Federal Building
11 Lincoln Street, Room 106
Essex Jct., VT 05452
Phone: (802) 951-6762
Fax: (802) 951-6764
Micro Business Development Program (MBDP)
Description: MBDP is a statewide non-profit program of the five Vermont Community Action Agencies, and offers low-and moderate-income entrepreneurs technical assistance for starting, expanding, or improving their businesses. Services include: one-on-one business counseling, classroom business training; facilitated peer support groups; workshops on special topics; and loan application assistance.  MBDP now has special programs to assist Vermont's refugees to start businesses and to help low income individuals start child care businesses.  Call for details.  Some business funding assistance is available directly from MBDP through Individual Development Accounts or matched savings programs.  Each MBDP office also has a computer lab with high-speed internet connection and business resource materials for client use.  All services are free of charge to low- and moderate-income Vermonters.  Please call to set up an initial interview. 
Address: 431 Pine Street, Suite 2
Burlington, VT 05401
Phone: (802) 860-1417, (800) 287-7971
Fax: (802) 860-1387
Contact: Jim White
New England Trade Adjustment Assistance Center (NETAAC)
Description: The Trade Adjustment Assistance Program, funded by the United States Department of Commerce, helps American manufacturers who are hurt by import competition by providing them with consulting services at reduced costs. The New England division, NETAAC, an assist New England manufacturers who have experienced a decline in sales or production and a decline in employment due to increasing imports of directly competitive products.  NETACC staff, or its network of private consultants, provides clients with top-notch business services and tailors business strategies to each client's specific needs.  NETAAC pays up to 50% of the total cost of all services, and in some cases as much as 75%.  NETAAC has assisted over 1,000 New England manufacturers in a broad variety of industries. This assistance has been instrumental in reversing sales and employment declines and in improving productivity.
Address: 600 Suffolk Street, 5th Floor North
Lowell, MA 01854
Phone: (978) 446-9870
Fax: (978) 446-9820
Email info@netaac.org
Northeast Center for Food Entrepreneurship Center (NECFE)
Description: The Northeast Center for Food Entrepreneurship (NECFE) provides comprehensive assistance to beginning and established food entrepreneurs in dairy, meat, fruit and vegetable, brewing and vinification operations.  The Center offers services, outreach, research and development opportunities in five critical areas:  business development; product process development; product safety; process/product technology transfer; and product commercialization. 

NECFE is a joint effort to expand the activities of the Food Venture Center at Cornell University and the Center for Food Science at the University of Vermont, and is funded in part by the Fund for Rural America.

Address: University of Vermont
Nutrition & Food Sciences Department/NECFE
200 Carrigan Hall
536 Main Street
Burlington, VT 05405-0044
www.uvm.edu/viac
Phone: (802) 656-8300
Contact Name:

Pamela Clark or J. Farnham

Small Business Development Center (SBDC)
Description: SBDC is a partnership between the Small Business Administration and the Vermont colleges and universities to provide management assistance to meet the needs of small business people.  SBDC works to improve the economic climate through the promotion and development of small businesses.  Business Specialists offer free business counseling, strategic analysis, and financial analysis for people with questions about starting a new business, acquisition of a business, creating a business plan, marketing, expansion, finance, etc.

SBDC also offers FastTrac, an entrepreneurial classroom training for start-up and existing businesses.

Address: PO Box 786 (60 Main Street)
Burlington, VT 05402
Phone: (802) 658-9228
Fax: (802) 860-1899
Contact Name: Derek Cohen
The Vermont Employee Ownership Center (VEOC)
Description: The Vermont Employee Ownership Center is a statewide non-profit organization whose mission is to promote and foster employee ownership in order to broaden capital ownership, deepen employee participation, retain jobs, increase living standards for working families, and stabilize communities.  We provide information, referrals and technical assistance on employee ownership of all kinds - from Employee Stock Ownership Plans to worker cooperatives - to business owners, employees, entrepreneurs and the general public.
Address: 33 Main Street (upstairs)
PO Box 546
Burlington, VT 05402
Phone: (802) 861-6611
Contact Names: Don Jamison & Patty Wood  
Email: info@veoc.org
Vermont Manufacturing Extension Center (VMEC)
Description: VMEC is a not-for-profit center that assists small and medium size Vermont manufacturers (under 500 employees). VMEC's mission is to improve manufacturing in Vermont. This is done through direct one-on-one assistance and training to help manufacturers improve overall operations, modernize processes, increase productivity, introduce new technologies, reduce costs, and become more competitive.

VMEC provides services through its skilled, expert Manufacturing Business Advisors and additional technical resources as necessary.  Initial, confidential needs assessment is free of charge, with additional services on a reasonable fee basis.  VMEC also offers workshops on a wide range of industrial process, engineering and management topics.

VMEC is developing a new program to bring more Vermont businesses into the supply chain of the US Department of Defense.  This is part of a New England-wide, DOD-funded initiative which will afford Vermont manufacturers opportunities to match their capabilities with DOD procurement needs.

Burlington Address: 60 Main Street
Burlington, VT 05401
Phone: Phone: (800) MEP-4MFG or (802) 660-2737
Fax: Fax: (802) 658-1348
Contact Name: Paul Demers
Waterbury Address: 4 Union Street, Unit One
Waterbury, VT 05676
Phone: Phone: (800) MEP-4MFG or (802) 244-7667
Fax: Fax: (802) 244-7677
Contact Name: Paige Lowry
Vermont Women's Business Center
Description: The Vermont Women’s Business Center provides services throughout the state of Vermont through women’s business counselors, via the Internet, and new training opportunities. The Vermont Women’s Business Center, launched in 2002 in concert with the U.S. Small Business Administration and its resource partners, is administered by Central Vermont Community Action Council.  Its services are offered statewide through the Vermont Community Action Agencies.  Project partners include the Small Business Development Center, the Vermont Secretary of State, Woodbury College, and the Vermont Commission on Women.  Additional partners include the Women’s Agricultural Network (UVM Extension), the Vermont Job Start Program, the Vermont Community Loan Fund, and other members of the Technical Assistance Providers’ Association of Vermont (a network of service providers, lenders, and educators meeting the needs of emerging micro and small businesses).
Address: 660 Elm Street
Montpelier, VT 05602
Phone: Phone: (800) 226-4062 or (802) 229-2181
Contact Name: Linda Ingold
Vermont World Trade Office (VWTO)
Description: Thinking about going global?  Put the Vermont World Trade Office (VWTO) to work for you!  The VWTO was created to help you and your organization in the ever-expanding and constantly changing world of international business.  The VWTO provides customized services and program to companies that are currently doing business internationally, those interested in growing the international side of their business, and to those who wish to know more about the processes of engaging in international business.  The office also organized trade missions and educational seminars.

The VWTO is your one-stop-shop for reaching international markets.

Some of the services provided by the office include:

International Market Research - A broad look at the global markets that are most suited for a particular company.  VWTO analyzes regulatory, political, economic and social factors to recommend markets which have the greatest future potential for a particular product or service.

International Team Development Counseling - The VWTO will help bring together the various elements of your business and informally merge them into a cohesive and efficient team capable of handling all of your international needs.

Trade Inquiry Assistance Program - services include:

1)  Verifying the legitimacy of your international partners
2)  Finding freight forwarding or shipping services to export or import your product
3)  Assisting with Export Documentation
4)  Identifying distributors

Address: 60 Main Street, Suite 102
Burlington, VT 05401
Phone: (802) 865-0493
Fax: (802) 860-0091
Contact Name: Ingrid Pels
Women's Agricultural Network (WAgN)
Description: Women's Agricultural Network (WAgN) is a collaborative effort of the UVM Extension System and the United States Department of Agricultural.  They assist individuals starting or expending farms or agriculturally related businesses.  WAgN provides education, technical assistance, and networking opportunities, including the Growing Places workshop, which provides tools for evaluating and planning a farm business opportunity.
Address: UVM Extension, 617 Comstock Rd., Suite 5
Berlin, VT 05602
Phone: (802) 223-2389, 866-860-1382
Fax: (802) 223-6500
Contact Name: Mary Peabody
Women's Small Business Program (WSBP)
Description: Women's Small Business Program (WSBP) provides women with the opportunity to explore business ownership in a supportive environment and in the company of other women.  WSBP equips women with the business skills and support to start, operate, and expand micro enterprises.  Courses include Getting Serious, a day-long workshop designed for women to explore the possibilities and realities of business ownership; and Start Up, a fifteen week business skills training program for women who are starting, stabilizing or expanding a small business.  Participants write a complete business plan that is reviewed by area business professionals. 
Address: 346 Shelburne Road
Burlington, VT 05401
Phone: (802) 846-7338
Fax: (802) 846-7237
 

Page last updated March 31, 2008

 

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