By: Ashmar Mandou

Rogers Park Business Alliance excitedly announces a new State of Illinois Economic Empowerment Center will be opening their doors to the community, among other expansions of its no-cost bilingual business assistance program, Grow/Progresando. The announcement comes at the fifth anniversary of the Progresando program. Grow/Progresando is biannual entrepreneurial business program that provides services in both English and Spanish and equips participants with entrepreneurial knowledge, expert technical assistance, resource referral, and specialty support.

“I wanted to open my business but did not know how to start. Via PROGRESANDO, I gained everything that I needed, from a business plan, a budget, marketing strategies, the right location, and business licenses, to an accountant, a business banking account, a website, and much more. RPBA is always looking for ways to help entrepreneurs, and having learned about PROGRESANDO before opening my beauty salon made all the difference. Thank you, PROGRESANDO,” said Ana Coronel, owner of Identity Salon.

Services provided include business assistance via a new State of Illinois Economic Empowerment Center with an emphasis on historically marginalized communities, biannual entrepreneurial training cohorts every Spring and Fall with an expanded curriculum, new webinars and workshops based on suggestions from business owners, Business Accessibility Toolkit (BAT) small business assistance program, and an RPBA Help Desk.

“The GROW program helped me move from an idea to a concrete understanding of what is needed in order to launch my business. Program facilitators were both encouraging and realistic about the challenges involved, and it was great to connect with other participants and learn from their experiences. Whether you need some structure, camaraderie, or information to make progress on your small business, I encourage everyone to sign up,” said former participant Emma Rubin, an aspiring business owner.

The new Economic Empowerment Center will provide no-cost business assistance to minorities, women, and individuals with a disability, dislocated workers, veterans, and youth entrepreneurs. The next Spanish session PROGRESANDO will run from February 3 to March 24, on Mondays from 6 – 8 p.m. The deadline to register for PRGRESANDO is January 31. The next English session GROW runs 8 weeks from February 6 to March 27, on Thursdays from 6 – 8 p.m. The registration for GROW is full with a deadline to register for the waitlist being January 31. For more information on the small business assistance provided by RPBA and to sign up, visit businesssupport.rpba.org. For more information, visit RPBA.org.

Photo Caption (Left to Right) GROW/PROGRESANDO training sessions; participant Michelle Moore vending her products at Glenwood Sunday Market. Photos courtesy of Rogers Park Business Alliance.

Photo Credit: Rogers Park Business Alliance