Oregon Financial Planning Newsroom

The Portland District Again Broke Records For Loan Approvals

In spite of a year that presented many challenges, including a weak economy, high unemployment, and reduced staffing and budgets, we were still able to achieve record levels of activity in virtually all program categories. The Portland District again broke records for loan approvals. In the past year, a record 1,162 loans were approved for over $262 million in small business loans. This represented an increase of 15.7% over fiscal year 2003 approvals. In Entrepreneurial Development activities, the Portland District and our resource partners counseled or trained 31,675 clients, and our 8(a) Business Development staff set up government contracting matchmaking appointments for 1,320 small businesses. In addition, 200 federal contracts were awarded under the 8(a) program for over $56.5 million in federal contracts to disadvantaged firms in Oregon and Eastern Washington.

None of this could have been achieved without the dedication and hard work of our district staff, who have been asked to do more with less due to staff reductions that have occurred over the past years. We also acknowledge and thank our many resource partners upon whom we continue to rely to do the bulk of the training and counseling and our participating lenders and certified development companies who market, package and close SBA loans. In fiscal year 2005 our objective is to increase all levels of activity. As we continue to transform our loan activities to central processing centers, we will have an opportunity to devote more staff to marketing and outreach functions which will result in higher SBA visibility in all parts of our state. We will also be able to devote more time to training our resource partners and lenders on SBA programs and services so that they can assist us in ensuring that small businesses have access to the help they need to start and grow their businesses.

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