Starting a business is never easy but now San Diego veterans have a new resource to help them become entrepreneurs. It veterans business outreach Center opens today at MiraCosta college in Carlsbad. The first such center in California. Among other services of a coordinate the boots to business courses on local military bases. ________________________________________ The center itself will coordinate workshops as well as training with business counseling and financing it will be at the counseling Center in Carlsbad and they will be offering the boots to business and a two day training program at the Air Force bases and military installation all along the Southern California region. ________________________________________ They are looking to work with veterans I understand. This is the kind of opportunity you are trying to help them seas? ________________________________________ We will be certifying them so they qualify for government contract jobs and to -- ________________________________________ MiraCosta has been offering very resources to veterans for years now. What do you think they bring to the effort of starting their own business. ________________________________________ We are proud to serve the veterans that we do and our territory is North coastal San Diego County. And runs all the way to camp Pendleton. As you know there are 245 veterans held in San Diego County alone and plus the Navy and Marine personnel that are in the region. The degree transfer and credit side of Mira Costa college Weser probably 80% of veterans and their families. They get the opportunities to go ahead and transfer the community. We also have one of three regions of the nation that offer security training that takes personnel that are retiring our transitioning and they have to really put them in high threat security jobs in the political arena that they have used our graduates and they can move around in the protective services of either celebrities or political personnel and that outreach Center provides the workshops in individual counseling and individual training they are looking forward to. ________________________________________ When it comes to business training itself what challenges do veterans face when it comes -- and they may have the skills, the desire, what kind of actual training to they need to run a successful business. ________________________________________ The challenges are no more significant than anyone that is trying to start a business. Usually they have a great idea and it's the business plan -- the development of the plan and certification for contracting and developing the financing and that you need to invest in the seed money those things are traditionally challenges for all and is the business expands the HR aspects of hiring personnel becoming a training opportunity. ________________________________________ What parts of this program will veterans who are not enrolled in miracles to college be able to take part in. They will be able to take part in any of the services so some people will be able to start with the today is to dismiss and that tells them about what it is like to be an entrepreneur. And then there is more training to get the personalized services are developing a business when and develop the financing. The services are all free to veterans whether or not they are currently affiliated with mere custom or not. ________________________________________ Let me go back to the government grant and contracts that we talked about a moment ago. ________________________________________ In the last 18 months Mayor Custer college has helped businesses get about $35 million worth of government contracts. Based on that house successful Dierks Rector veteran work will be. ________________________________________ The veterans have already a sense of what it is like to operate within the government environment and I think we are going to significantly improve the ability of our community and specifically our veterans to access these kinds of opportunities in government contracting. We hope to double line that number. We have had great success already. Etiquette will significantly improve the ability of our North County residence in Southern California residents in general to attract these kinds of contracts. ________________________________________ The outreach Center opens today. I have been speaking with Sonny Cook president of MiraCosta college.
Veterans who want to start their own business now have a new resource to help them navigate the paperwork to win government contracts. MiraCosta College on Tuesday is opening the Veterans Business Outreach Center in Carlsbad, the first center of its kind in Southern California.
Sunny Cooke, president of MiraCosta College, said many veterans are uniquely qualified to offer contract services being sought by governmental agencies such as the Department of Defense.
“Our job is to help them navigate the process,” Cooke said. “So this is a way to help these veterans to become well positioned to become vendors for these organizations that are looking to do business with veteran-owned organizations.”
The new outreach center is based in MiraCosta’s North San Diego Small Business Development Center at 2075 Las Palmas Drive.
In the past 18 months, Cooke said, the college has helped North County businesses get $35 million worth of government contracts. That track record likely helped MiraCosta win a highly competitive $250,000 federal grant to focus on veterans.
“It was a very competitive process and only six awards were made around the United States,” Cooke said. “We think it’s going to be a great resource.”
Two staffers have been hired for the center. They will organize two-day free trainings on Southern California military bases, including Vandenberg Air Force Base, Twentynine Palms, Camp Pendleton and Miramar. The center will also offer individual counseling to veterans who want to start their own businesses.
About 236,000 veterans live in San Diego, and 10 percent of MiraCosta’s student population is made up of veterans, active duty military or their dependents, according to the latest economic report from the San Diego Military Advisory Council.
