Hofstra, SCCC share $116,300 in grants to help entrepreneurs

Programs at Hofstra University and Suffolk County Community College will share grants of nearly $163,000 to help aspiring small-business owners, officials said.

Each school’s Entrepreneurial Assistance Program will receive $81,465 from Empire State Development, New York’s primary business-aid agency.

The funds will pay for counselors and others who aid people interested in starting a small business. Counselors provide training on how to write a business plan, obtain loans and other financing, and manage a company.

Hofstra secured its first state grant for this purpose in 1990, SCCC in 1994. To date, Hofstra has received $2.7 million for its entrepreneur program; SCCC $866,400, records show.

Bette Yee, statewide director of the Entrepreneurial Assistance Program, said last week the program also helps minority- and women-owned businesses become certified to compete for government contracts and veterans wanting to start businesses.

The program “is especially important to the economically distressed areas where there are high levels of unemployment,” she said.