BATON ROUGE, La. – TruFund Financial Services, Inc. a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI), announced on Wednesday, Feb. 6, a partnership with the United States Economic Development Administration, Louisiana Economic Development and JPMorgan Chase & Co. to provide business resiliency training to small businesses preparing them to be proactive in safeguarding their business from the negative and potentially long-lasting effects of business interruption. The program targets small, minority and women business owners in East Baton Rouge and surrounding parishes, located in disaster-prone areas and/or businesses previously impacted by a natural or man-made disaster.
Details were shared in a press release.
In 2016, the Louisiana flood caused an estimated $2 billion in damages to over 20,000 businesses. This natural disaster also disrupted business revenue streams for many of the affected companies. In the aftermath of this disaster, many business owners found they had not adequately prepared their business for such interruption.
TruFund has observed in its prior experiences working with small businesses in the wake of disasters, pressing needs such as access to affordable capital and technical assistance. RENEW – A Business Resiliency Program aims to address many of the expressed needs of businesses pre, during and post disaster.
"This program is a shining example of the power of a public/private partnership coming together to address a critical need for the businesses here in Louisiana," said Myla R. Poree, vice president and managing director for TruFund's Louisiana market.
The RENEW – A Business Resiliency Program will address a targeted set of disaster recovery and preparation-related needs such as understanding and mitigating risk, technology and records management and accessing capital for recovery.
"TruFund is no stranger to being on the front lines of disaster recovery, especially in the Gulf Coast Region," said Lashaunda P. René, Manager Program Development and Business Services. "Our innovative approach in preparing businesses to respond to disaster shows our commitment to bringing vital services to the Baton Rouge area."
Over the past 15 years, TruFund has operated six small business disaster recovery programs following natural and man-made disasters in New York City and Louisiana.
The RENEW – A Business Resiliency Training program is set to begin Feb. 21, and run through May 2. For more information contact LaShaunda P. René at LRene@trufund.org or (504) 293-5550.
Register for RENEW – A Business Resiliency Training Program through Friday, Feb. 15, 2019.
