Small Business Development Counselor

The IRC’s Center for Financial Opportunity (CFO) helps newly arrived refugees and other low-income individuals reach self-sufficiency by finding entry-level employment and progress to living wage jobs, learn basic financial management skills and build assets, and start small businesses. The IRC's Center of Financial Opportunity hosts a Small Business Development Center, the IRC SBDC, helping small business owners and entrepreneurs prosper by delivering in-language and no-cost business assistance. The small business development team offer loans and technical assistance to help CDBG, ORR, and SBDC eligible San Diego County residents start or grow a small business.

Job Overview:

The Small Business Counselor will support the continued development of the IRC Small Business Development Program with a strong focus on supporting the Small Business Administration Community Navigator Program. The SBA’s Community Navigator Program, a federally funded program, focuses on providing targeted outreach for small businesses in underserved communities through leveraging partnerships with local and ethnic community-based organizations (ECBOs) who will connect to specific sectors of the entrepreneurial community to provide assistance during economic recovery, including:

• financial assistance and access to capital
• contracting and procurement
• marketing, operations, business development, and exporting
• industry-specific training

Major Responsibilities:

• Assist in the outreach and recruitment of program participants; screen and assess interested County of San Diego residents for program eligibility and participation;
• Connect with ECBOs and provide assistance with coordination of technical assistance and trainings, data collection, and other administrative tasks as needed;
• Assist with identifying potential partners and resources available to program participants;
• Assist coordinating ECBOs partner meetings and developing an agenda and materials for distribution during meetings;
• Ensure that information required for program eligibility and reporting purposes is collected and that accurate records are maintained, including case files and client data entry across multiple data bases;
• Ensure necessary steps are taken to obtain relevant data in a timely fashion; follow-up with all clients and partners regularly and record all contacts with case notes;
• Provide one-on-one business counseling and management assistance to new and existing San Diego county residents owned-businesses in all areas of business start-up and expansion;
• Assist entrepreneurs to become ready for business financing through preparation of loan applications, business plans, and financial statements;
• Underwrite and package loan applications, and present for review to the IRC’s CDFI;
• Proactively facilitate referrals to outside service providers as necessary to meet the diverse needs of the program participants;
• Assist participants accessing COVID 19 related funding such as grants and loans;
• Assist in the planning and coordination of training activities and special events;
• Develop outreach materials and assist with communication to partners;
• Attend regularly scheduled meetings with other IRC staff and volunteers as part of the review, evaluation and program maintenance process;
• Other duties as assigned.