[nabentre] startup info

[David Evans]

Dear Gary and all,

It is possible to get a grant from the government to start up a business, 
but it is not as easy now as it once was.
The important thing , for the government to see, is that you are going to 
employ disadvantaged people and put them to work.
You will need a good business plan above all in order to get any grant or 
business loans you will need.  The government wants to see you generate a 
F.I.C.A., from which they will get taxes.
When I learned about grant writing, there were a couple of stories that were 
related to me about some people who wanted to start their own businesses.
There was a lady in East LA, who was a single mother of 4 and living on 
Public assistance.
She found a part time job working in a Public Library, putting books away on 
the shelves.
One day she was putting books away and a book fell on the floor.  The book 
was half open and as she picked it up, something caught her eye on one of 
the pages.
She read it and was so interested that she checked the book out herself , 
took it home and read it.
It had some references in the book and she contacted one of them with the 
S.B.A.
The man at the SBA liked her brass and offered to help her through the 
process of applying for a grant .  Her original idea was to get $25,000 to 
buy a "roach coach" sandwich truck and drive around and sell products to 
construction workers at their job sites.
After talking to the guy with SBA, she changed her mind.
He told her to show a grant for a business that would employ disadvantaged 
people in a hard hit community and she could ask for more than just $25,000. 
She did this.
She got a grant for something like $330,000 and committed to employing more 
than 15 people.
As part of the grant, funds were supplied for her to go to a special school 
to learn how to run the business, pay for someone to take care of her kids 
while she was away and cover her bills.
She bought a franchise of a well established company, which came in and 
found a suitable location for her business and constructed a building on the 
site.  They installed all of the business equipment so that all she had to 
do was put the key in the door and turn on the lights.
She began hiring local people to work in her business and before long she 
was very successful.
The business she bought into was McDonald's.
She wisely reinvested her money into opening 3 other stores and today is 
retired, but her businesses are still pumping money into her bank account 
and many of the people she helped in East LA are better for it today.
There was also another story about a lady who had a couple of horses and 
liked treating disable children to rides on the horses from which she found 
there was a real physical and psychological benefit to the children.
She wanted a grant for some saddles, bridals and to cover food and lodging 
for her horses.
The SBA guy got her to hire 6 wranglers, hire a vet and get more horses with 
a $250,000 grant.
This provided her with space for exercising the horses and the children, 
lodging, food, insurance, saddles and other special equipment to do her 
brand of therapy for the children, who were mostly autistic or suffered from 
physical and emotional disabilities.
the organization she founded is now called Horses for the Handicapped and 
has a yearly budget of over $20 million a year.

These things have really happened and I have even eaten in the first ladies 
store in LA, next to USC.

You can go to such web sites as www.foundationcenters.org or 
www.grantstation.org or www.grants.gov.
Your area likely has a Community Foundation or Community Chest organization 
that can help you find grants for a start up business.
If you have more questions, I will be glad to answer what I can as I can.
I have written grants for my NFB chapter , our state affiliate and other 
organizations in the past.
I hope this helps.

David Evans, NFBF and GD Jack.



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "gary lemberg" <lemberg7 at optonline.net>
To: <nabentre at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Friday, March 16, 2012 5:33 AM
Subject: [nabentre] startup info


> hello everyone
>
> I wanted to know how someone goes about obtaining money to open up a 
> franchise if their only source of income is from the government?  Does 
> anyone know of any agency, or organization that offers special loans to 
> help people with disabilities start a business financially?  I hope that 
> someone can assist me with this problem.
>
> Sincerely Gary Lemberg
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