Help for small businesses focus of Extension programs

Approaching the year’s final quarter, many small businesses across the state are still in need of COVID-19 relief funds, and each month there are new grant opportunities. University of Nevada, Reno Extension continues its online town hall and webinar series this week to assist small-business owners, with Wednesday’s town hall providing information on nine different small-business grant and loan programs. Participants will learn about what assistance the programs provide, the program deadlines, who qualifies, and how to apply.

“We don’t want our small-business owners to miss out,” said Buddy Borden, economic development specialist with Extension’s Business Development Program. “While it’s great that assistance is available through various programs, having so much information constantly rolling in from multiple sources can be overwhelming. At this town hall, we’ll help business owners sort it all out and answer their questions.”

Friday’s webinar will help small-business owners with the bookkeeping aspect of receiving assistance funds, as well as running their business overall and preparing for end-of-year reporting and transitions. It will cover bookkeeping concepts and software and include a refresher on balancing the books, tracking the cash flow and keeping clean records for easy end-of-year transitions.

Both the town hall and the webinar are free, and there will be English-language and Spanish-language sessions. The events are part of a series of town halls and webinars for small businesses, “Coping With COVID-19,” that Extension has been offering weekly since April.

The town hall, “Current Small-Business Grants and Loans” is 9 a.m. Wednesday, Oct. 7 for English speakers and at 2 p.m. for Spanish speakers. Panelists include Small Business Administration Deputy District Director Saul Ramos (9 a.m.) and SBA outreach/marketing specialist Alfred Cedeno (2 p.m.); UNR Extension business development instructors Reyna Mendez and Juan Salas and research associate Mike Bindrup.

The webinar, “Bookkeeping Concepts and Software” is 9 a.m. Friday, Oct. 9 for English speakers and at 11:30 a.m. for Spanish speakers. Salas will discuss the relationship between assets, liabilities and owner’s equity; accounting principles and the chart of accounts; practical examples, looking at financial statements; and the advantages and limitations of different bookkeeping software.

Both the town halls and the webinars usually run about an hour.

To register for the Oct. 7 English-language town hall, go to https://unrextension.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_OYCjZwggSAGeZLwaBz8E2A

For the Oct. 7 Spanish-language town hall, go to https://unrextension.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_MFtAKI_1Tb6ssnVgX0FNMg

For the Oct. 9 English-language webinar, go to https://unrextension.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_ySRHH3WtQ26VSbw-bfxMmw

For the Oct. 9 Spanish-language webinar, go to https://unrextension.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_20JOQkafQVGcGfLdgN5dyA

For more information, go to the Extension Business Development Program website at extension.unr.edu/busdev

There are other resources at the website to assist businesses during the COVID-19 crisis. For more information, email Borden at bordenb@unr.edu