Kaiser Permanente Offers Free Training, Coaching and Connection to Capital to Small Businesses Recovering From Pandemic

As many small business owners in underserved communities are still struggling from the economic fallout due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there’s a significant need for additional support to help them rebuild and recover.

Kaiser Permanente is partnering with the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City (ICIC) on a virtual program that offers small businesses, including in Pasadena, a tuition-free 40-hour mini-MBA program that combines executive education, webinars, coaching and connection to capital to spur business recovery.

Kaiser Permanente’s Southern California Regional headquarters are located in Pasadena

The Inner City Capital Connections program (ICCC) will assist small businesses in underserved communities to build the capacity they need to grow and create new jobs in the post-pandemic world. Kaiser Permanente has partnered with ICIC since 2016, providing support to more than 1,700 businesses and creating more than 2,000 jobs. Of the 1,786 businesses that have participated in the program, 66% were minority-owned and 58% were owned by women.

Businesses selected to participate in this program will complete a training and coaching program. Kaiser Permanente Southern California, headquartered in Pasadena, is sponsoring the ICCC program to support small businesses, spur job growth and improve the health of the communities we serve.

The ICCC program includes an interactive virtual two-day seminar series that focuses on business recovery strategies and information on capital and technical assistance resources. The program also includes webinars, one-on-one coaching with distinguished business leaders, and culminates with a conference for program graduates. Participants leave the program with tools they need to help their businesses survive, recover and grow.

Nominations are open for the first cohort of the virtual program, which will be held Aug. 10 and 12. The program is open to businesses throughout Southern California that meet program qualifications and are selected following an application process. The deadline to apply or nominate a small business is July 16.

In 2020, ICCC served 1,220 businesses in 17 markets with 74% identifying as minority-owned business owners and 61% as women-owned businesses. A 2020 Health Crisis survey conducted by ICIC found 71% of business owners who responded experienced revenue loss, 33% laid off employees and 90% received some type of government financial assistance due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“For small businesses in our communities across Southern California, particularly those in historically under-resourced areas, the COVID-19 pandemic has presented many daunting challenges,” said John Yamamoto, vice president, Community Health and Government Relations, Kaiser Permanente. “We support the ICCC program because small businesses are drivers of inclusive economic vitality in the communities we serve, and because greater economic opportunity contributes to better health for the people who live in these communities.”