WATERTOWN — The Watertown Small Business Development Center (SBDC) has combined with the Onondaga SBDC as part of a pilot program. The effort seeks to “increase shared resources and opportunities” for small businesses in the Central New York region, per an SBDC announcement. Under the program the Watertown SBDC is now the Watertown Outreach Center, […]
WATERTOWN — The Watertown Small Business Development Center (SBDC) has combined with the Onondaga SBDC as part of a pilot program.
The effort seeks to “increase shared resources and opportunities” for small businesses in the Central New York region, per an SBDC announcement.
Under the program the Watertown SBDC is now the Watertown Outreach Center, Kevin McGoldrick, director of marketing and communications with the New York SBDC, tells CNYBJ in an email.
The Onondaga SBDC operates at Onondaga Community College, and the Watertown Outreach Center is run from Jefferson Community College.
The partnership and the combined regional center “leverage the collective expertise” of both advisory teams to boost support for small-business clients throughout the region, New York SBDC said.
The locations and service footprint for each of the Watertown and Onondaga locations, as well as outreach centers and satellite locations, will remain the same. However, Robert Griffin, director of the Onondaga SBDC, will lead the combined team of advisors, the New York SBDC said.
The Watertown SBDC director position “had been vacant for several months,” according to McGoldrick. The combination didn’t lead to any layoffs, and the New York SBDC hopes that it may lead to additional staffing growth moving forward, he adds.
“I couldn’t be more thrilled to help lead this effort and drive new opportunities, programming, and possibilities for small business owners across the Central New York region,” Griffin said. “The combined team of advisors from Watertown to Onondaga bring an incredible wealth of experience to the table.”
As of now, the Onondaga SBDC has five full-time business advisors and one open coordinator position, and the Watertown Outreach Center has two full-time business advisors, McGoldrick tells CNYBJ.
The combined advisory team has more than 250 years of collective business ownership and management experience, with backgrounds ranging from agriculture, manufacturing, human resources, marketing, international trade, energy, retail, and hospitality, among others.
Both the Watertown and Onondaga Small Business Development Centers started in 1986 and, with their combined experience, have served over 70,000 businesses across the region. Those efforts helped the companies invest more than $935 million in the area’s economy and creating or saving over 34,000 jobs, per the announcement.
The combined group of small business advisors will primarily serve Jefferson, Lewis, Cayuga, Onondaga, Oswego, and Seneca counties, the New York SBDC said.