NH Small Business Development Center Partners With State to Create ‘Pathway to Work’ Program

Thursday, July 25, 2013

governor hassan signing bill to create pathways to work program

Gov. Maggie Hassan recently signed SB 143, which created the Pathway to Work program. Celebrating the creation of the program with Hassan (center) are, from left to right, Rep. Sally Kelly; Sen. David Watters; Sen. Sylvia Larsen; Sen. Jeff Woodburn; Sen. Peggy Gilmour; Mary Collins, state director of the NH SBDC; George Copadis, commissioner of New Hampshire Employment Security; and Sen. Donna Soucy (hidden).

The New Hampshire Small Business Development Center (NH SBDC) has partnered with New Hampshire Employment Security to assist laid-off workers participating in the new statewide program Pathway to Work.

The NH SBDC will conduct entrepreneurial training, business advising, and technical assistance. NH SBDC is an outreach program of the University of New Hampshire’s Peter T. Paul College of Business and Economics, and a cooperative venture of the U.S. Small Business Administration, the State of New Hampshire, Department of Resources and Economic Development, the University System of New Hampshire, and the private sector. A part of 64 SBDC programs nationwide, the NH SBDC has advised businesses for 29 years, helping 8,000 businesses create and retain more than 4,300 jobs and raise $200 million in capital over the last decade.

New Hampshire Gov. Maggie Hassan recently signed SB 143, which created the Pathway to Work program. It is designed to encourage and support efforts of unemployed workers to create their own jobs by starting their own small businesses.

"With this new law, we are able to expand the successful New Hampshire Working program by creating an innovative, no-cost program designed to encourage and enable unemployed workers to create their own jobs and perhaps provide jobs for others by starting their own small businesses," Hassan said.

“New Hampshire will now provide the pathway for unemployed participants to work with our state's Small Business Development Center to engage in entrepreneurial training, business counseling and technical assistance. This will allow workers who are likely to exhaust their benefits to have access to the resources and training they need to establish a business and become self-employed," she said.

According to Mary Collins, state director of the NH SBDC, the Pathway to Work program is similar to a statewide program she directed at the NH SBDC 20 years ago. Of the 63 people who participated in that program, two-thirds started their own business and the remainder returned to the workforce.

In describing people who start their own businesses, Collins said, “they are innovative, creative, and risk-takers. They are passionate, they have energy, they are the idea people, and they don’t sleep. Because of all of this kinetic energy, they need a business coach – a business advisor to help them stay the course, focus, and meet their goals. The Pathway to Work program puts all of that into place.” “Pathway to Work is not only innovative but should be seen as a stimulus to the New Hampshire economy as startups lead to job creation and the generation of revenue back to the state,” she said.

To participate in the Pathway to Work program, an unemployed worker must be eligible to receive regular unemployment compensation; permanently laid off from his or her previous job; identified as likely to exhaust regular unemployment compensation; and a participant in activities such as entrepreneurial training, business counseling and technical assistance while engaged on a full-time basis in activities relating to the establishment of a business and becoming self-employed. For more information visit the Pathway to Work program. Visit NH SBDC for more information.