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UK receives grant to help veterans

November 12, 2008

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Small Business Administration has awarded more than $450,000 in veterans assistance and services grants to fund programs that promote business ownership for veterans and services to small businesses, including those dealing with deployment of key personnel overseas.

The veterans grant award recipients are all SBA Small Business Development centers and were competitively selected based on their range of services provided to veterans. The successful grantees are the University of Kentucky Research Foundation in Lexington, Research Foundation at the State University of New York, the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, the University of Texas at San Antonio and George Mason University in Virginia.

Among the services provided by the grantees are the expanded delivery of services to the nation's 23.8 million veterans by the use of multimedia tools to connect veterans through distance learning and online business counseling. These grants also will help to increase coordination between organizations assisting veterans and promoting services already available to them.

Each center will provide customized services to reach out to the veteran business community.

Another goal of the Veterans Assistance and Services Grants is helping small businesses handle the deployment of key personnel. For states like Kentucky where approximately 350 Reserve and National Guard units have deployed every year for the past three years, it is crucial.

In economic terms, the Kentucky deployments represent more than 2,000 military service men and women across the state absent from their businesses and jobs.

"Kentucky is fortunate to have a large population of active duty, reserve and retired members of the armed forces," said Becky Naugle, Kentucky Small Business Development Center state director. "The Kentucky Small Business Development Center is excited about our opportunity to serve these individuals and their employers by providing essential assistance needed to start, maintain or expand their small business."

Extending services to these small businesses and individuals is an essential objective of the grant awards.

The grant recipients will use technology including social networking sites, blogs, Webcasts and streaming video to reach active duty military personnel, veterans living in rural areas, and the growing number of younger veterans.

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