Farmingdale small business center gets grant to help develop government contractors

The Small Business Development Center at Farmingdale State College will split $125,000 with nine other centers across the state to help minority- and women-owned businesses to become government contractors.

The board of directors of Empire State Development, the state's primary business-aid agency, approved the grants last week.

The money will pay for 35-hour training program and one-on-one counseling for qualified businesses seeking to obtain the surety bonds necessary to vie for government work, said Huey-Min Chuang, a senior program director at Empire State Development.

She said about 200 companies across the state will be helped.