Opinion: SBA extends aid to military veterans

Every year, almost 200,000 active duty personnel and 100,000 Reservists and National Guard members are honorably discharged. There are nearly 25 million veterans in America today.

Veterans represent a very important part of America’s small-business success. About 15 percent are self-employed, and about the same percentage of small-businesspeople are veterans.

When you consider half of the nation’s gross domestic product comes from nonfarm small businesses and that small business accounts for two-thirds of all new jobs, the drive and persistence of veterans make a huge economic contribution.

The U.S. Small Business Administration has been active on many fronts to support America’s veterans.

We work with various federal agencies to increase contracting opportunities for service-disabled and other veterans, and we have increased our surety bond guarantee for veterans.

Our resource partners – Small Business Development Centers, Score and Veterans’ Business Outreach Centers – have targeted veterans, service-disabled veterans and reservists in their counseling programs.

SBA offers low-interest, long-term disaster loans to small businesses owned by activated reservists and those that employ reservists.

We guarantee approximately 8,000 veterans’ business loans totaling more than $1 billion annually.

SBA has redirected funds to expand our outreach to veterans, and the President’s 2008 budget requests additional funds for veterans’ outreach and counseling assistance.

Local efforts

The SBA has expanded our local outreach efforts through district offices to coordinate more effectively with state and local groups serving veterans. We’ve also increased our outreach through third parties, such as Buzgate and Military.com, and through conducting meetings with military organizations.

We’ve increased the size of the Office of Veterans’ Business Development by 50 percent. We’re working with a major corporate co-sponsor to set up veterans’ business matchmaking events.

Across the rest of the year, we will be participating in more than 100 Department of Labor job fairs for veterans.

In March, President Bush established a Task Force on Returning Global War on Terror Heroes, in which SBA participated. Chaired by the U.S. secretary of veterans affairs, the task force was charged with improving the delivery of federal services and programs to service members and veterans.

The SBA has announced the Patriot Express Loan Initiative as its key part of our augmented support of those communities.

Patriot Express

Veterans, active duty personnel who are in the military’s transition assistance program, and all reservists and National Guard members, are eligible for Patriot Express, which launched June 28. So are current spouses of any of the above members or widowed spouses of a service member who died while in service or of a service-connected disability.

We have put together the best parts of our 7(a) loan program (a higher guarantee and maximum interest rate) and our SBA Express product (simplified processing and greater availability), to create the most compelling and attractive product we have available.

Patriot Express loans can go up to $500,000 – compared to the SBA Express maximum of $350,000.

Lenders and borrowers benefit from expedited and streamlined processing, usually returning answers in a day or so.

The loans will carry the full 75-85 guaranty: an 85 percent SBA guaranty for loan amounts up to $150,000 and a 75 percent guaranty from $150,000 to $500,000.

The nearly 2,000 SBA-designated Express lenders with satisfactory loan performance are eligible to participate in the Patriot Express Pilot Loan Initiative.

Sam Jones is the Region VII SBA Administrator, serving Missouri, Kansas, Iowa and Nebraska.