Job Creation & Business Development
Creating New, Sustainable Jobs in Puerto Rico
Partners for Community is undertaking an innovative job creation initiative in the "Porta del Sol" region of Western Puerto Rico. This most recent project on the island is aimed at providing training and business counseling to small enterprises in order to enable them to expand their businesses. This exciting and much-needed project has been named "Crece tu Empresa" (Grow your Enterprise) and is part of the Job Opportunities for Low-Income Individuals (JOLI) Program of the Department of Health and Human Services (HSS).
"Crece tu Empresa" is a joint effort of Partners for Community and two experienced and well-known organizations which provide economic development assistance; the Puerto Rico Technological Corridor (PRTEC) and the Economic Development Center of the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez (EDA-UPRM). Together, we will help, at no cost, 40 enterprises to develop their business expansion plans.
- Capacity building seminars to the participants to help them handle most of the activities required for carrying out a business expansion. The participants will end up with a complete business expansion plan. Capacity building will include areas such as:
- Market Analysis
- Permits, licenses and other requirements from government agencies
- Technology and equipment requirements
- Financial Planning
- Human Resources
- Other areas according to the participant needs
- One-to-one business counseling to managers and business owners to help them undertake the activities inherent of their business expansion.
- Assistance in how to identify and evaluate financing products and sources.
- Access to cash grants to qualified participants.
- Assistance to help identify qualified employees who will fill the new job positions related to the business expansions.
- Access to the Business Resource Center at PRTEC for carrying out activities such as meetings, trainings, interviews inherent of the business expansion.
One of the main goals of "Crece tu Empresa" is to help participating enterprises to find the appropriate personnel for their business expansion. It is expected that the initiative will result in the creation of 76 new, full-time, sustainable jobs occupied by TANF recipients and other low-income individuals that will lead to economic self-sufficiency and reduced welfare dependence for beneficiaries and their families.