Pasadena-based Kaiser Permanente Southern California is sponsoring, for the third year in a row, Inner City Capital Connections (ICCC), a program run by the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City, a national non-profit based near Boston that provides free training, education and mentorship to small businesses located in economically under-resourced areas.
Business owners who participate in the program will receive free in-person coaching and learn how to access capital. Each participant will undergo a 40-hour business training course that runs between three and six months and includes seminars and webinars with coaches and mentors from banking and consulting firms.
The overall goal of the ICCC is to reduce income disparity and improve lives by promoting local micro-economies.
Interested business owners need to be able to submit their applications for this year’s program on or before Tuesday, July 24.
The free opening seminar for the Los Angeles/San Bernardino group will take place on August 1 at the Hilton Hotel in San Gabriel.
“Kaiser Permanente’s mission is to improve the health of the communities we serve,” said John Yamamoto, Vice President for community health and government relations at Kaiser Permanente Southern California. “Kaiser Permanente promotes local economic vitality in under-resourced areas because the social and economic conditions in our communities have a profound influence on the health of people who live, work and play there.”
The ICCC program was launched in Los Angeles in 2005 and has raised $166 million in debt and equity capital from its nearly 200 L.A. alumni, according to the ICIC website. The alumni have also averaged 52 percent growth in revenue and created more than 1,200 jobs in their communities.
Among the beneficiaries of previous ICCC batches are Nora Saca and Vanessa Fagiolly, mother and daughter, who own Americal LLC, a food distribution company in Los Angeles.
“ICCC had such a big influence on me,” says Fagiolly, who’s chief financial officer at Amerisal. “When we first started our business we only had four products for distribution. Now we have more than 50 and we’re growing every day. I am so thankful to Kaiser Permanente for its vision to help small business owners succeed.”
Business owners interested in learning more about the program are advised to visit http://icic.org.
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