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Dear friends, stakeholders and supporters, It is the Thanksgiving season and an opportunity to formally express our deepest gratitude to all of you who make it possible for our nonprofit corporation to pursue its mission. Because of you, hundreds of small businesses served by our corporation, many of them in vulnerable communities and circumstances, have a strong chance to grow and achieve their goals and we are thankful. Practiced, intentional gratitude, experts tell us, can make us healthier and happier if it becomes a way of a life rather than simply a seasonal gesture. And so while economic uncertainty continues to swirl, worsened by a railroad workers’ strike and talks of a potential 2023 recession, we make any necessary plans for mitigating the resulting economic effects and we focus on the upside—that we live and work in a state that has actually performed very well during recent pandemic and inflationary crises with low unemployment and a Gross Domestic Product that a Bloomberg opinion piece predicts will overtake Germany as the fourth largest in the world; that even though wage increases have not kept pace with inflation in the Golden State, that significant income inequality persists and much work remains to be done in this arena, the Public Policy Institution of California says on the whole “California’s economy remains remarkably strong and dynamic” with strengths in many sectors that are providing opportunities. We witnessed the recent and disturbing round of layoffs endured by the technology sector including among California-based tech conglomerates and we can be grateful that according to some analysts, these large job losses are most likely industry-specific and that other industries are in need of workers. At Small Business Development Corporation of Orange County, we are grateful for our mission which benefits California small businesses and communities most at risk for suffering the worst effects of inflation and job loss, and for the resources available to us to carry it out. Most recently, some of these resources have come in the way of grants including a $125,000 Technical Assistance award in September from the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Community Financial Development Institution’s Fund. We were the only awardee of this grant in Orange County and we are grateful as our success positively impacts the small business and lending industries we serve. We are also looking forward to rolling out increased state loan guarantees resulting from the state’s approval in September to receive $1.1 billion in federal funds via the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. This approval will result in additional funding support for eligible small businesses who need state guarantees in order to secure loans. For many businesses, this opportunity couldn’t arrive at a better time. We are grateful to be able to offer this relief.
Sincerely,
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