Reaching out to Diverse Communities Across the Granite State with New Hampshire's Small Business Development Center

The NH Community Navigator Program (CNP)  is one way that the New Hampshire Small Business Development Center (SBDC) has built momentum to reach out to diverse businesses and entrepreneurs in the Granite State.

Andrea O'Brien is a long-time business advisor and the lead Inclusivity Commitment advisor in the Southern Region for the NH Small Business Development Center. The SBDC dedicates itself to highly individualized, expert confidential advising at no charge to enterprises across New Hampshire. O'Brien focuses her expertise on advising and educating within New Hampshire's communities of color as part of the NH Community Navigator Program, an American Rescue Plan initiative designed to reduce barriers that underrepresented and underserved entrepreneurs often face in accessing the programs they need to recover, grow, or start their businesses. 

We discussed the forward momentum of the partnership between CNP and SBDC with O'Brien along with Education & Communications Director Heidi Edwards Dunn. On the NH SBDC team since 2004, Dunn manages the statewide entrepreneurial education program, marketing, and public relations.

What aspects of the Community Navigator Pilot Program got the NH SBDC inspired to go "all in?" 

O'Brien: For years, we've had diverse clients, and for years, I took an interest in them. If there was a diverse client that maybe was having a difficult time in their business, I offered to work with them. So when we had the opportunity through this (Community Navigator) grant to deliver technical assistance to more diverse businesses, I was all in. 

Dunn: She's (O'Brien) got it right. The SBDC has been around for 39 years, and we have been here since the beginning for everyone who walked through our doors. The advantage of partnering with the Community Navigator Program was that it allowed us to reach into communities we didn't have access to before in our daily lives and normal organizational work. The funding provided permitted us the time and people to develop connections and partnerships, reaching into the businesses on the street and working with them because they were exposed to learned about us. 

How have your outreach efforts been impacted since the partnership?

O'Brien: One of the significant differences is that the older model might have focused on trying to get the word out: If you need us, here we are. But with this program, we have resources now to say, we know you're out there, and we're going to find you. We will take our time to develop this advising relationship with community members who wouldn't have known about us or thought, will the program be around long enough to help me? Because programs come and go, but we're here to stay.

Recently, SBDC signed a memorandum of understanding with the BAPOC (Business Alliance for People of Color), which we think cements our commitment to each other and shows that we want to be a part of their network. We want to be an active and helpful resource. And that is a legacy of this program.

Dunn: We were poised to be involved with Navigator, even changing the name of our program to the Inclusivity Commitment, focusing our outreach and program efforts in Southern NH communities to serve even more BIPOC and New American businesses through individualized business advising and education. It was just a program, and that's not what we want. We want to show that this is a fundamental part of our identity. We were already moving in this direction with our work through the CARES Act, and Community Navigator came along at the right time. And now that we're nearing the end of the program, we're trying to expand beyond what we were doing with Community Navigator to continue including BIPOC communities, but also to move toward more LGBTQIA+ business owners, veterans, and the neurodiverse population, etc., furthering our involvement with our Inclusivity Commitment Program.

Navigator has provided extra funding for different resources. What are some of the ones you feel have been the most impactful?

O'Brien: We hired two liaisons, and the liaisons have made an enormous difference. They are in the community, talking to their circle of friends, family, and businesses that they're in touch with. Where are all those social points of contact? Sometimes it's churches. Churches play a big role in the community. One of our bilingual liaisons will assist clients; that's built into the liaison role and can be invaluable when necessary.

Dunn: Piggybacking on that, the CDFA liked our liaison project so much that they gave us extra funding to continue it for a while. We're figuring out the best way to manage that over the next few months. It's encouraging that they felt it was valuable enough to extend funding so we can continue that part of the project.

On a practical note, we've used Community Navigator funds to develop and print postcards about Community Navigator clients, highlighting their forward momentum. We have two versions of each, English and the native language of the client, along with informational material geared toward the Inclusivity Commitment that can be distributed at festivals and other networking events. Hearing clients' testimonials and the possibility of a turnaround when hope may seem lost is so encouraging. 

SBDC’s dedicated team of certified business advisors delivers highly individualized, confidential advising at no charge to enterprises across New Hampshire, from the towns along the Connecticut River to the Seacoast to the North Country and every point in between. We offer entrepreneurial education through no-cost eCourses, live webinars, and other programs. The SBDC annually impacts more than 3,000 small businesses and 200 New Hampshire communities.

The Community Navigator Program is a statewide initiative to help coordinate efforts to reach out to small businesses that are owned or being started by historically underserved community members, specifically Black, Indigenous, and People of Color; immigrants and refugees; veterans; women; disabled, formerly incarcerated; and LGBTQ and gender non-conforming people. Through the Community Navigator Program, CDFA engages with resource partners and other organizations to support focused outreach for small businesses in underserved communities - building a new network and connections.

The support to these communities is made possible through a network of established microenterprise technical assistance providers, New Hampshire's Small Business Administration office, statewide training and language-access partners, and on-the-ground community partners. Funding for the program is provided by the U.S. Small Business Administration.