By DYMPHNA CALICA-LA PUTT

Much like an engineer steering a train to its destination, so will small businesses help drive a lackluster local economy into its destined recovery.

This is what senior officials of the Obama administration indicated to hundreds of Nevadans who gathered at a town hall meeting in Henderson last Oct. 14.

"Small businesses are a real force in the economy. They create two-thirds of new jobs. (They also) employ half of Americans in the private sector," said Elizabeth Echols, regional administrator of the Small Business Administration.

Echols, along with members of the White House Initiative on Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders, spoke at the town hall meeting during a session on jobs.

The WHIAAPI, a federal interagency working group created to improve the quality of life of Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders, celebrated the two-year anniversary of its reauthorization with the Las Vegas town hall meeting.

At the event, Echols noted that small businesses -- or those firms with fewer than 500 employees -- contribute a significant share to a city's economic production and hiring and, thus, are a major influence to economic recovery.

"AAPI-owned small businesses, in particular, are a big force because they contributed $300 billion in sales and 2 million jobs last year," she said.

Indeed, records from the U.S. Census Bureau showed that businesses owned by Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders grew a massive 40 percent to 1.5 million from 2002-2007. The group's growth is more than twice the national rate in that period, signifying its growing importance to the national economy.

Census Bureau deputy director Thomas Mesenbourg in an earlier statement said Asian-owned businesses continued to be "one of the strongest segments of our nation's economy, bringing in more than half a trillion dollars in sales in 2007."

In Las Vegas, Asian businesses comprise a modest 10 percent of all businesses. But the group appears to be the most resilient sector as shown by the entry of several popular Asian markets even at the onset of the bleak economy.

It is for this reason that the WHIAAPI held the town hall meeting in Las Vegas where they pushed for President Barack Obama's American Jobs Act.

"Long-term unemployment remains the biggest problem and is the (Obama adminstration's) highest priority," Portia Wu, White House senior policy adviser, said at the town hall meeting session on jobs.

This is why the American Jobs Act is important given that at the core of this proposal are provisions that are expected to spur the growth of small businesses and, in effect, increase the hiring activity of these firms.

Among the plan's salient points is an immediate 100 percent expensing write-off into 2012 to encourage even more businesses to invest in more machinery and equipment.

It also includes increased guarantees for bonds to help small businesses compete for infrastructure projects as well as the removal of "burdensome withholding requirements that keep capital out of the hands of job creators."

In addition, the American Jobs Act also proposes a comprehensive review of securities regulations in order to reduce the regulatory burdens on small businesses.

Still, one of the most notable provisions for small businesses in the Jobs Act is the significant cut in payroll taxes that employers need to pay on the first $5 million in wages.

For example, if a small business -- which has 40 employees with an average salary of $40,000 a year or a total payroll of $1.6 million -- hires 20 employees, it will receive a $49,600 cut on the payroll taxes of its existing employees. Another $49,600 tax cut will also be received by the firm because of new employees it hired.

"These tax cuts will reduce employer payroll taxes in half for these businesses and provide them with an added bonus for increasing their (employees)," the WHIAAPI said in a statement.

Some measures in the proposal that is meant for small businesses, meanwhile, have a direct impact on job-seekers. Tax credits of up to $4,000 will be given to firms that hire workers who have been unemployed for six months. An even bigger $5,600 will be given to those that will hire unemployed veterans, while a massive $9,600 tax credit will be received by firms that will employ service-disabled veterans.

With these small business-friendly provisions, the WHIAAPI said the American Jobs Act is expected to help sustain and even help start operations of Asian-American and Pacific Islander-owned firms. This, in turn, will create new job opportunities in Asian-American and Pacific Islander communities.

"With nationwide unemployment at an unacceptably high rate and at least 235,000 Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders out of work for more than six months, the president believes that inaction is not an option," the group officials said.

Jobs for Asians are jobs for all

But the WHIAAPI also pointed out that the numerous job opportunities that will be created by small businesses are not limited to Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders.

Indeed, the Las Vegas town hall meeting, which aimed to listen to concerns of Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders, was also well-attended by members of various groups and communities in Las Vegas.

"We cannot think of a better place to do this than in Southern Nevada. You are at the forefront of a lot of what is happening in the country," WHIAAPI co-chair Chris Lu told members of the local press in between sessions of the all-day town hall meeting.

Indeed, Las Vegas seems to have received the biggest blow in the recent recession in the United States. The city is one of the hardest hit areas of the recession with a record 14.2 percent unemployment in August and with one in 39 homes under foreclosure. The city, the epicenter of the 2007 housing crisis, has the highest jobless rate in the United States and has the most number of foreclosure filings as well.

Although small businesses in Las Vegas already make up 95 percent of all businesses, government officials at the town hall meeting encouraged more to open in order to help the local economy recover.

"In order to get this economy started again, more small businesses are needed," Echols said, noting it is the Small Business Association's role to make this happen.

The Small Business Association was created in 1953 as an independent agency of the federal government to aid, counsel, assist and protect the interests of small businesses through its various programs summarized into three C's. That is capital, contracts and counseling.

First, the Small Business Association gives entrepreneurs access to capital to start or expand businesses. While the Small Business Association does not make direct loans to small businesses, it sets the guidelines for loans, which are then made by its lending partners.

Each state has its own roster of Small Business Association local lending partners for the convenience of entrepreneurs. The agency guarantees that the loans will be repaid, thus eliminating some of the risk to the lending partners. Thus, when an entrepreneur applies for an Small Business Association loan, it is actually applying for a commercial loan, structured according to association requirements with an association guarantee.

Second, the Small Business Association works to help small businesses get contracts with the U.S. government.

Contracts with the federal, state and local governments are a very viable source of income for these businesses. The U.S. federal government is the world's largest purchaser of goods and services. For many small businesses, government contracts provide reliable, sustainable growth.

Finally, the Small Business Association offers free counseling to small business owners who need it in various aspects of the business. Its business development programs include mentoring, procurement assistance, training and management and technical assistance. It even advises future entrepreneurs about the ins and outs of starting a business.

"Talk to SBA officials if you want to create a business plan. We can help you. Best of all, it's free," urged Echols at the town hall event.

A few favored business owners

While anyone and everyone are urged to ask for information on how to establish or expand a small business, there are a few who already may be a step above the rest.

Veterans and members of the military community who want to start their own businesses can avail of the Small Business Association's Patriot Express Initiative.

The program includes the Patriot Express which is offered through Small Business Association's network of participating lend­ers nationwide.

"(It) features our fastest turnaround time for loan approvals. Loans are available up to $500,000 and qualify for SBA's maximum guar­anty. For loans above $350,000, lenders are required to take all available collateral," according to the Small Business Association.

The loan can be used for start-up, expansion, equipment purchases, working capital, inventory or business-occupied real-estate purchases. It features an interest rate of 2.25 percent to 4.75 percent over prime depending upon the size and maturity of the loan.

Eligible military community members include veterans, service-disabled veterans, active-duty service members eligible for the military's Transition Assistance Program, reservists and National Guard members.

Also eligible are current spouses of these military community members or the widowed spouse of a service member or veteran who died during service or of a service-connected disability.

Like members of the military community, women and members of ethnic minorities are "favored" as well in the sense that offices are created solely to give these groups assistance.

Unlike members of the military community, however, these groups do not get special consideration for funding.

"There are no special funding resources for minorities. That is information that people believe to be true," Janis Stevenson, business development advisor at the Nevada Small Business Development Center in Las Vegas, said.

But this group, aside from women, belongs to what the government refers to "disadvantaged business enterprises," Stevenson noted. As such, they receive preference and assistance when it comes to getting contracts with the government.

Stevenson explained that the federal government has set a goal of giving 23 percent of its contracts to small businesses. Of this number, it aims to allocate 5 percent to women-owned businesses and another 5 percent to firms owned by members of racial or ethnic minorities.

The government's Disadvantaged Business Enterprise, administered by the Department of Transportation, is a program for businesses looking to contract with state agencies.

"The goals of the program are to remedy past and current discrimination against disadvantaged business enterprises, ensure a level playing field in which Disadvantaged Business Enterprises can compete fairly for DOT-assisted contracts," the department said in its website.

The Disadvantaged Business Enterprise program is administered in each state by a local DOT office. In Nevada, the program is administered by the Nevada Department of Transportation office in Carson City.

The office offers information on how a small business can do business with the government. It also administers the Nevada Unified Certification Program a one-stop shop for Disadvantaged Business Enterprises to get accreditation to do business with the government.

The Nevada Unified Certification Program is comprised of the Regional Transportation Commissions for Washoe County and Clark County, the McCarran International Airport as well as the airport in Reno.

The Nevada Department of Transportation, as well as the two airports in the state, accept and process applications for certification. Once a Disadvantaged Business Enterprise is certified, the accreditation is valid for all of the agencies in the Unified Certification Program.

Locals' information source

Doing business with the government is a sure way to expand a small business, noted Nevada Small Business Development Center's Stevenson.

But just starting a business can be daunting. For this reason, the Nevada Small Business Development Center makes it its goal to assist individuals who are interested in being business owners.

The agency is a statewide resource that provides a unique array of services, expertise and training in all areas including the start up, growth and development of a small business.

"We are Nevada's premier economic development resource with a network of facilities throughout the state providing the expertise, knowledge and innovative training necessary to help start-up and ongoing businesses succeed," according to its website.

Nevada Small Business Development Center provides useful information and analysis of the economy, environment and demographic data to help businesses, government and other organizations promote economic growth in their communities.

The national agency recognizes Southern Nevada as among the nation's most popular destinations for start-up businesses because of its rapidly growing population. It has two offices in this area.

Its Henderson office serves existing and prospective business owners in Henderson, Green Valley and Boulder City. The office, located at the Henderson Business Resource Center on Water Street, offers one-on-one confidential, no-cost counseling every day.

The Las Vegas office where Stevenson is business adviser, meanwhile, is a partnership program between the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and the Small Business Association. It is located at the university's Campus Services Building.

Nevada Small Business Development Center in Las Vegas also offers free confidential business counseling in addition to a number of affordable seminars and classes such as the Entrepreneurial Education Program. This 10-week in-depth course, the only one of its kind in Nevada, is taught by experienced entrepreneurs and "takes small business owners from just managing their business to becoming their own chief executive officer."