The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS” mentioning the U.S. Dept of Agriculture was published in the Senate section on pages S1701-S1702 on March 6, 2008.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS
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CELEBRATING 10 YEARS OF ALT.CONSULTING
Mrs. LINCOLN. Mr. President, I wish to recognize a nonprofit organization that has been making a difference in the lives of Mid-
South and Delta small business men and women for the last 10 years, alt.Consulting. Founded in 1998, alt.Consulting has been providing small business owners and entrepreneurs with the tools and advice needed to build their businesses and provide jobs in a region of the country in need of a boost.
When one reads their mission statement, you quickly gets a sense of what makes alt.Consulting different. It reads as follows:
alt.Consulting works with local business owners and entrepreneurs in rural Delta and minority communities to examine, diagnose, start and rebuild businesses. We provide tailored support, skill building, and access to capital to enhance business performance leading to growth and self-defined success.
We act on our ethical and social principles, empowering entrepreneurs to overcome racial, gender, socioeconomic and geographic barriers. We believe this leads to vibrant, entrepreneur friendly and just communities.
Through its comprehensive, affordable assistance to small businesses, alt.Consulting raises the standard of living by enabling profitability for new and growing businesses and preventing business failures. We demonstrate the contributions of healthy small businesses to growing communities with more jobs, wealth building opportunities and a stronger tax base.
With offices in Pine Bluff, AR, and Memphis, TN, alt.Consulting has gone into some of the most impoverished communities in Arkansas, Mississippi, and Tennessee and provided the support and assistance needed to get businesses off the ground. The average poverty rate in their target market is a staggering 24 percent. Average unemployment is 8 percent. Even more daunting is that less than 13 percent of the population has a bachelor's degree in the areas they work.
Due to their methodology, though, alt.Consulting has been making a big difference in the Mid-South and the Delta since its inception. In 2006, 195 businesses received one-on-one assistance. As a result, alt.Consulting was responsible for 75 new jobs in a region of the country that had been experiencing negative growth. Moreover, 10 businesses on the verge of failure were saved which protected 700 existing jobs. The sales growth of companies they assisted resulted in
$12.7 million in new economic activity. And their technical assistance resulted in $430,000 in SBA community express loans to 39 businesses. This gave those existing businesses the working capital to grow and reach new customers.
alt.Consulting is also working with selected communities to train business specialists to replicate their services at the local level. Thanks to support from U.S. Department of Agriculture, the rural community development initiative program, and the Enterprise Corporation of the Delta, they have launched new, nonprofit microenterprise programs to provide continuous resources to rural communities throughout the Mid-South.
One such effort, the Pine Bluff Entrepreneurship Collaborative, was started in June 2006 and was comprised of 47 community leaders. Their goals were to create an equity pool to start and expand businesses, identify local resources for small businesses, make health insurance affordable for small businesses, and develop marketing and training workshops.
Youth is also a major focus for alt.Consulting. Recognizing that youth entrepreneurship builds a lifetime of opportunities, alt.Consulting works with partners to help ``at-risk'' youth start and build their own small businesses. Through one-on-one mentoring and assistance, alt.Consulting has worked to turn their young ideas into a reality.
As a native of Helena, AR, who grew up in the heart of the Delta, I am proud of the impact that alt.Consulting is making in communities throughout my State. They serve as an example of what we can do when we focus on what we can be, not what we don't have. This program, and others like it, allows us to build on our strengths, to enable our citizens to make a decent living, to encourage our young people to stay at home, and to ultimately build the tax base and enhance the quality of life for us all.
I commend alt.Consulting on their vision and hard work. I am honored to recognize them on 10 great years, and I look forward to seeing the fruits of their labor for years to come.
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