The Wyoming Community Navigator Program
The program mobilizes and leverages the Wyoming entrepreneurial support network to reduce barriers all small businesses, including those owned by groups such as veterans, women, and those from rural communities and communities of color often face in accessing capital and technical assistance.
The Wyoming Community Navigator Program uses a hub and spoke model to pursue its goals, where the Wyoming Small Business Development Center acts as the central hub, coordinating efforts of the spokes, to target outreach and services to business communities in need throughout the state.
Through their collective efforts, the hub and spokes provide training, mentorship, access to capital, and access to other resources to help business owners build resiliency, and ultimately be the driving force behind Wyoming’s economic recovery.
The Wyoming Community Navigator Hub
The Wyoming Small Business Development Center (SBDC) Network will directly assist traditionally underserved clients to prepare financial statements and loan applications to obtain commercial and SBA loan products to increase access to capital, as well as provide technical assistance, business advising, and training on various business topics.
The Wyoming Community Navigator Spokes
Wyoming Library to Business (WL2B)
Wyoming Library to Business will expand its network of business stations and portable video production studios to public libraries, providing technology and support for library to business outreach in any of the 23 county public library systems.
The Local Crowd
The Local Crowd will provide community-based access to a crowdfunding platform and provide training for businesses to successfully raise funds on the online platform through ongoing marketing strategy development and deployment.
University of Wyoming Extension
UW Extension will develop a virtual Rural Business Innovation Resource Center to provide rural business owners education, peer-to-peer business owner networking, access to their educators and experts, and referral information to the Spokes to access assistance with capital formation and to receive technical assistance.
Wind River Development Fund
The Wind River Development Fund (WRDF) will provide direct outreach and financial opportunities to stimulate economic development on the Wind River Indian Reservation and enhance the accessibility and quality of capital products to assist local small businesses who would otherwise lack access to capital.
Wyoming Smart Capital Network
The Wyoming Smart Capital Network (WSCN) will contribute its credit support products and relationships with commercial lenders to increase access to capital for traditionally underserved small businesses.
Wyoming Women’s Business Center
The Wyoming Women’s Business Center (WWBC) will perform outreach and financial education to woman- and minority-owned businesses to provide access to their microloan program to increase access to capital. The WWBC will also provide marketing education and direct assistance to help clients undertake multimedia projects and subscribe to a template-driven email platform.
About the Community Navigator Program
The Wyoming SBDC Network was selected by the U.S. Small Business Administration to operate this $2.5 million program, chosen from more than 700 nationwide applicants. The Community Navigator Pilot Program was created by the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 and the funding will be utilized over the course of two years.
Economic diversification can’t happen without diversity of ideas, diversity of business owners, and diversity of entrepreneurial activity. This program provides a unique opportunity to not only assist the amazing members of these underrepresented communities, but also help them drive Wyoming’s economic growth through the 21st century.
What People are Saying About the Program
“The Community Navigator Pilot Program will bring much-needed assistance and resources to all small-business owners throughout the state, aligning perfectly with the efforts of the university’s Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation.”
— Steve Farkas, Associate Vice President for Economic Development, University of Wyoming’s Office of Research and Economic Development.
“The unprecedented hyperlocal and national coalition-building approach of the Community Navigator Pilot Program will catalyze small businesses. These distinguished grantees will help supercharge our U.S. small business recovery.”
— Mark Madrid, Associate Administrator for the Office of Entrepreneurial Development, U.S. Small Business Administration.
“The Wyoming SBDC is honored to serve as a Community Navigator hub, joining SBA’s effort to build bridges to these local communities and connect them with resources to help them recover from the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.”
— Nicholas Giraldo, Community Navigator Pilot Program Manager
