SECOND STOP FOR CITY OF CHICAGO’S ‘SMALL BUSINESS CENTER ON THE ROAD’ IS THE ARTURO VELASQUEZ INSTITUTE ON MAY 9
Free Neighborhood Expo Offers Resources for Burgeoning Entrepreneurs and Established Businesses
May 8, 2015
The City of Chicago Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection (BACP) is bringing its free “Small Business Center on the Road” business expo series to Daley College’s Arturo Velasquez Institute, 2800 S. Western Ave., Chicago, on Saturday, May 9, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Educator, writer and small business owner Dr. Aida Giachello is scheduled as event’s special keynote speaker.
“Bringing the City’s Small Business Center into Chicago’s neighborhoods is one of the many ways we are reaching out to established business owners and burgeoning entrepreneurs,” said Maria Guerra Lapacek, Commissioner of BACP. “Help entrepreneurs get their businesses off the ground and established businesses grow is good for the neighborhoods and the City.”
The expo offers entrepreneurs and business owners the opportunity to consult, network and gather information from approximately 40 government and non-profit agencies including the City of Chicago Department of Public Health, Illinois State Treasurer’s Office, and the Women’s Business Development Center, that will provide information about licensing, financing, business planning and much more.
Business consultants from the Small Business Center will be on hand to help attendees apply or renew for a business license, walk people through the steps of obtaining a business license, and make an appointment for additional counseling at City Hall. The Center for Economic Progress will provide a free tax clinic with representatives providing 20-minute consultations, and a professional photographer will take free headshots for attendees to use on their social media sites, marketing materials and more.
At noon, the Illinois Hispanic Chamber of Commerce will present the workshop “How to Start a Business: Strategize, Visualize, and Implement,” and the Latin American Chamber of Commerce will present the workshop “A Practical Approach to Small Business Financing in Today’s Market Place.”
The expo will feature keynote speaker Dr. Aida Giachello who is currently establishing a real estate business venture in Puerto Rico to provide lodging and promote tourism. Giachello, a professor at the Department of Preventive Medicine at Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University-Chicago, also established Giachello Consulting Group, a women and minority-owned firm that conducts research, training and policy work in the area of health and human services.
The Small Business Center on the Road series is partnership between BACP, the Office of New Americans (ONA) and Western Union and all of the events are free and open to the public. Additional dates and locations for the series are:
- July 18 at the South Shore Cultural Center, 7059 S. South Shore Drive
- September 19 at 1871, 222 W. Merchandise Mart Plaza
- November 14 at Wilbur Wright College, 4300 N. Narragansett Ave.
For more information about the City of Chicago’s Small Business Center and the business expo series, visit www.cityofchicago.org/sbc.
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