The Small Business Development Center is the largest management and technical assistance program for small businesses in the United States. Enacted by the U. S. Congress in 1980, the program is administered by the U. S. Small Business Administration (SBA) and is supported by Congressional Appropriations. The program is operated by state governments and hosted by universities and colleges under cooperative agreement. The purpose of the program is to enhance the development of small business enterprises through counseling, technical assistance and training services. Today, there are over 1,100 service centers throughout the United States and Puerto Rico.
SBDCs offer free help in the following areas:
- Business Start-Up
- Capital Formation
- Business Planning
- Business Analyses
- SBA Financing Programs
- Sales and Marketing
- Financial Forecasting
- Minority Enterprise Certifications
- Government Contracting
- International Trade
- Manufacturing
- Product Development & Commercialization
- Research
- Training
El Paso County Community College District became a member of the South West Texas Border Small Business Development Center Regional Network August, 1985. The college district signed a cooperative agreement with the University of Texas at San Antonio and the U. S. Small Business Administration to serve 8 counties in the Big Bend Region of Texas including El Paso county.
In 1992, El Paso Community College in collaboration with Sul Ross State University moved to establish a SBDC satellite office in Alpine, Texas to serve the adjacent rural communities including Van Horn, Pecos, Ft. Stockton, Marathon, Fort Davis, Alpine, Marfa, and Presidio.
In 1994, Sul Ross State University arranged to apply for a full service SBDC and became a member of the South West Texas Border SBDC Network.
Today, both the El Paso and Sul Ross SBDC service centers serve under the El Paso U. S. Small Business Administration (SBA) District providing small businesses with business development and training services in their respective service delivery areas.
The El Paso SBDC service delivery area consist of El Paso and Hudspeth counties and the office is located at El Paso Community College, Administrative Services Center, 9050 Viscount Blvd., Suite B520, El Paso, TX 79925.
The Sul Ross -Big Bend SBDC serves Culberson, Pecos, Reeves, Brewster, Jeff-Davis, and Presidio counties and the office is located at Sul Ross State University, 500 West Ave. H., Alpine, TX 79832.
