NEWS INFORMATION FROM

THE OFFICE OF MAYOR STEPHEN R. REED
City of Harrisburg
King City Government Center
Harrisburg, PA 17101-1678
Telephone: 717.255.3040

FOR IMMEDIATE USE
18 May 2004

CITY & COMMUNITY FIRST FUND TEAM UP AGAIN TO OFFER HIGHLY ACCLAIMED LOW-COST SMALL BUSINESS START-UP CLASSES; SESSIONS BEGIN JULY 20

Harrisburg, PA—Mayor Stephen R. Reed today announced that the City of Harrisburg and the Community First Fund(CFF) will again offer low-cost business planning classes for persons planning to start or who are already operating a small business. The highly-acclaimed CORE-FOUR certified course runs eight conseccutive weeks and will again be taught by noted midstate financial expert and CFF Capital Region Director John Sider, along with other financial, tax, insurance and small business professionals, and is designed to provide budding entrepreneurs with the skills, knowledge and understanding of successful small business operations and dynamics.

The Mayor said the city and CFF first offered the course in the Spring of 2003, which was immediately sold out and a waiting list was established. “We have had great success with the start-up of small businesses in Harrisburg, and are proud of the fact that the number of businesses on the city’s taxrolls has grown from only businesses in the early 1980’s, to more than 6,900 businesses today.”

“The inaugural course obviously struck a chord and we are pleased that, through the good work of John Sider and the CFF, we are able to again offer this unique and valuable small business training.”

Reed said that although the course is taught in other areas of the country for up to $295.00 per person, all course materials and the full eight weeks of instruction will be offered for a small registration fee of just $25 for city residents, and $55 for non-city residents. Some tuition assistance may also be possible for persons interested in attending, but still unable to afford the low-cost registration fee.

The Mayor said that once the course is completed, the City and CFF will work closely with the course graduates to further develop their businesses. Course teachers will guide students through all aspects of small business start-up and operations, with course subjects including marketing, cash-flow planning, operations and much more. The highly regarded course was first developed by the Minneapolis-based Northeast Entrepreneur Fund, and is being used around the country by Community Development Financial institutions.

“We believe that small businesses are a fundamental element of our ongoing economic development efforts in Harrisburg,” said Reed. “Small businesses provide jobs, tax-base revenues, neighborhood stability and the promise of a better life. They are the lifeblood of America’s and our city’s economic strength and vitality, and it is important that we do all we can to both sustain and enhance our existing small businesses, as well as provide the tools and impetus for the creation of more.

Sider said the Harrisburg based course will be held in the Chapel of the Harrisburg Y.W.C.A., 1101 Market Street, each Tuesday night beginning July 20, and concluding on September 7. The course is limited to the first 50 participants on a first-come, first-serve basis. Interested persons should contact the Community First Fund at (717) 920.1520 for more information or to register.

Additional instructors for this year’s course include Brian Carey, CPA, Carey and Associates; David J. Hagenbuch, Marketing Department for Messiah College; Samuel T. Cooper III, Attorney at Law, Eckert Seamans; Cynthia A. Williams, Asst. Vice President for Wachovia Bank; and David L. Pugh, State Farm Insurance.

The Community First Fund is a non-profit community development corporation established in Lancaster in 1992. The Fund provides one-on-one business counseling, business training programs and loans in Central Pennsylvania, with the downtown Harrisburg office responsible for the four-county midstate area of Dauphin, Cumberland, Perry and Franklin Counties.

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