The Orange County/Inland Empire Small Business Development Center at California State University-Fullerton plans to focus on Latino-American business owners with its third site here.
It has two other sites in the county now—one in Santa Ana, hosted by Rancho Santiago Community College, and one in Aliso Viejo, hosted by Octane. The group also runs centers in Riverside, San Bernardino and Palm Springs.
The group issued a request for proposals to find a host site for the Latino-focused center that it hopes to start this summer.
Applications are due by April 6 with a decision expected by the end of April, said Katrina Payne Smith, interim regional director of the group.
“We’d like the center to be open by July 1,” Payne Smith said, though she conceded that might be an “aggressive” timeframe.
The new site would get $25,000 from the Fullerton SBDC, which handles administration for the other sites, and must provide a like amount from its own resources, she said.
It’s expected to “better align our services and help promote further growth in our region,” said Dr. Anil Puri, CSUF dean of business and economics, in a statement.
The Fullerton SBDC’s operations are funded by $2.2 million from the U.S. Small Business Administration, which is matched by host institutions, corporate donors and others, Payne Smith said.
