Iowa Center for Economic Success
About
Strong small businesses support strong communities. They create jobs and opportunity, drive innovation, and deliver economic growth. Small businesses are community connectors who make our cities and towns livable, flavorful, and fun! But managing a small business is complicated...
The Iowa Center empowers Iowans to launch and grow small businesses with three lines of direct service: Business Coaching, Credit + Lending, and Tax Services.
Business Coaching:
Entrepreneurs are experts in their products and services, but often they need help managing their financial "back of the house". The Iowa Center provides skill-based coaching resources in the classroom and the 1:1 settings to build our clients’ knowledge, skills and confidence across the five fundamentals: strategy, financials, compliance, marketing, and human resources.
The Iowa Center is home to The Iowa Center Women\'s Business Center (WBC), serving female and male entrepreneurs throughout Iowa. Our goal is to help female entrepreneurs develop the skills and resources they need to be successful. We offer services in person and virtually on a schedule that accommodates the needs of working women and their families. The WBC is funded in part through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration. Some of our services are available in Spanish.
Credit + Lending:
Access to capital fuels growth for small business. But assuming small business debt without proper preparation only creates risk and widens the wealth gap for disadvantaged communities.
The Iowa Center prepares small businesses for responsible access to capital. We educate clients on responsible credit use, and provides credit repair coaching, technical assistance, loan document preparation support, and assistance navigating the loan process. Small businesses in need of more flexible underwriting can apply for loans through our SBA Microlending program and The Iowa Center Loan Fund CDFI.
We counsel our clients that debt should be undertaken for business growth, not to sustain operations. Our commitment to financial education is building a future economy of more sophisticated consumers of financial services.
Tax Services:
Failure to file and pay complete, correct, and timely tax returns creates legal and financial obstacles to financial security, stability and success. The Iowa Center helps Iowans restore order to their financial house, and provides small businesses with tax preparation and planning support. As the leader of the statewide coalition for the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program, The Iowa Center provides thousands of low-income Iowans with access to income tax return preparation services. Every client receives tax and financial education during the preparation of their tax return.
Services Provided
Public Policy and Government Relations
- Business Issues Related to a Specific City
- Community Involvement
- Issues of the African American Business Community
- Issues of the Hispanic Business Community
- Small Business Issues
- State Business Issues
- Women's Business Issues
Business Planning
- Business Plan Consulting, Development and Review (Specialty)
- Business Plan Training (Specialty)
- Census Data
- Market Plan Development
Management Issues and Training
- General Employment Law Advice
- Human Resources
- Insurance Information
- Leadership/Professional Development
- Mentoring
Financial Resources and Assistance
- Assistance in Finding Debt Funding (Specialty)
- Assistance in Finding Equity Funding
- Bookkeeping/Accounting Software Training (Specialty)
- Consulting
- Insurance Information
- Loan Packaging (Specialty)
- Loan Providers (Specialty)
- Tax Credit Assistance
Marketing/Sales
- Advertising
- E-Commerce
- Market Plan Development
- Web Site Development
Networking Organizations
- Small Business/General (Specialty)
Tax Services
- Assistance (Specialty)
Training
- Annual Budget (Specialty)
- Bookkeeping (Specialty)
- Business Management (Specialty)
- Business Plan (Specialty)
- Cash Flow Projections (Specialty)
- E-Commerce: Doing Business on the Web
- Financial Resources for Non-Retail Business
- Financial Statements (Specialty)
- Home-Based Business (Specialty)
- Marketing Plan (Specialty)
- Pre-Business Planning (Specialty)
- Topics Related to Developing & Maintaining a Small Business (Specialty)
Starting a Business
- Business Research (Specialty)
- Forming a Business (Specialty)
- Registration, Licenses and Permits (Specialty)
- Startup Business Counseling (Specialty)
Mentoring
- Mentoring Program
Internship Programs & Student Services
- Internship Programs
Certifications
- Targeted Small Business Certification (Specialty)
Sierra Smith
2210 Grand Ave
Des Moines, IA 50312
(515) 283-0940
http://www.theiowacenter.org
[email protected]