SAN DIEGO – Mayoral candidate Bonnie Dumanis announced today plans to open a satellite Small Business Administration Veterans Business Outreach Center (VBOC) in San Diego. Each year more than 28,000 veterans are discharged from the military in San Diego, more than anywhere in the nation. The Small Business Administration helps fund several VBOCs nationally, but only one is located in California: 475 miles away in Sacramento. Currently, San Diego veterans have to phone or email this center to access information about starting a business.
“We need to bring these important services to our veterans and reservists. Just like our Family Justice Center where a victim receives all the help in one stop, I want to do the same for veterans who are returning and need help reintegrating into the community. This will include a Veterans Business Outreach Center to help service men and women start their own businesses. I have been in contact with the SBA in San Diego and the VBOC in Sacramento and we are all on the same page,” said Dumanis.
Dumanis will leverage San Diego’s existing veterans network to create the Veterans Business Outreach Center. This would include working with the district office of the Small Business Administration, the Sacramento’s VBOC, Vietnam Veterans of San Diego, San Diego’s REBOOT, Workforce Partnership, Economic Development Corporation, Balboa Naval Medical Facility and the VA Hospital.
“With thousands of veterans returning to San Diego every month, we need to build upon the already established network and make the next big move by opening a Business Center to get these men and women back to work,” added Dumanis.