West Roxbury
Main Streets
Boston's Destination Neighborhood

  

New Business Resources

Guide for Starting a Business
The Office of Business Development has created the Boston Business Resource Guide to help individuals who wish to start, expand, or relocate a business in Boston.

Business Assistance Center
The Boston Business Assistance Center (BBAC) was established in 1998 to provide Free access to technical, financial, and administrative resources for entrepreneurs, neighborhood small business owners, and business owners interested in expanding or relocating to Boston

Financing

  • Boston Loan Development Corporation
    The BLDC provides loans of up to $150,000 for businesses in, or relocating to, the City of Boston. These loans can be used when buying a new business property, purchasing equipment and machinery, constructing an addition to an existing plant, making leasehold improvements or providing working capital to grow your business.

  • Boston Industrial Development Financing Authority
    BIDFA promotes economic growth and increased employment in the City of Boston by issuing bonds that finance the capital needs of the city's businesses and institutions. The credit of the borrower, and not that of the City of Boston, BIDFA, or the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is pledged to repay the bonds.

  • Restore Boston
    ReStore Boston is a city wide program that provides grants and loans up to $7,000 per storefront to help neighborhood business and property owners complete storefront renovation projects. In addition to funding, ReStore Boston provides professional architectural design services at no cost to the business to ensure improvements are well planned and of the highest quality.

  • Partners with Nonprofits
    Partners with Nonprofits provides matching grants up to $25,000 to help nonprofit organizations enhance the infrastructure of facilities that serve the immediate community. Awards are made annually based upon a competitive Request-for-Proposal process.

Technical Assistance

Center for Women & Enterprise (CWE)
Renaissance Park
24 School Street, Suite 700
Boston 02108

Tel: 617.536.0700 Fax: 617.536.7373
Email: info@cweboston.org Web: www.cweonline.org

Founded in 1995, the Center for Women & Enterprise (CWE) is the largest regional entrepreneurial training organization in Boston and Worcester, Massachusetts and Providence, Rhode Island. CWE's mission is to empower women to become economically self-sufficient and prosperous through entrepreneurship. CWE offers education, training, technical assistance, women's business enterprise certification and access to both debt and equity capital to entrepreneurs at every stage of business development. The Center's clients span the range from women who may want to start home-based or small retail businesses to women running fast growth, multi-million dollar technology businesses. As a non-profit, charitable organization, CWE provides its services on a sliding-scale basis in order to serve all women, regardless of their ability to pay. Since its founding in 1995, CWE has served over 5,000 aspiring and established entrepreneurs.
Languages: English
Fee for Service (sliding scale fees apply to all programs)


 

UMASS Boston Small Business Development Center & Minority Business Center (SBDC)
College of Management
100 Morrissey Blvd. 5-403
Boston, MA 02125
Tel: 617.287.7750 Fax: 617.287.7767
Email: margaret.somer@umb.edu
Web: www.sbdc.umb.edu
Contact: Margaret Somer, Director

The UMASS Boston Small Business Development Center (SBDC) provides services to small and minority businesses in Greater Boston. The SBDC provides free one-to-one management counseling and low-cost workshops to prospective and existing firms on topics such as: business startup, business plan development, finance, cash flow management, human resource issues, marketing, international trade and government procurement. In addition, the SBDC provides brokering services to assist both procurement and EEO officials to find qualified minority vendors who can fill their contract and company needs and bid requirements.

Languages: English. Counseling by appointment.

Nominal Fee for Workshops.

Community Business Network (CBN)/Massachusetts Association of CDCs
99 Chauncy Street
Boston, MA 02111
Tel: 617.426.0303 Fax: 617.426.0344

CBN is a collaborative of 12 Community Development Corporations (CDCs). It provides customized one-on-one technical assistance to new and emerging businesses and helps package loans for entrepreneurs. The CBN provides access to banks, public agencies, and non-profit lenders.
Languages: Chinese (several dialects), English, French, Haitian Creole, Portuguese, Spanish, Vietnamese
Walk-in Service No Fee for Service

U.S. General Services Administration (GSA)O’Neill Federal Building
10 Causeway Street
Boston, MA 02222

Tel: (617) 565-8100 Fax: 617.565.8101

Email: deborah.tarleton@gsa.gov Web: n/a

Contact: Deborah R. Tarleton

The U.S. GSA advocates for small, disadvantaged, and women-owned businesses in New England seeking federal contracting opportunities.

Languages: English Walk-In Service No Fee for Service

Jewish Vocational Services (JVS)
—Neighborhood Business Builders29 Winter Street
Boston, MA

Tel: 617-399-3307
Email: amccabe@jvs-boston.org Web: www.businesslinkboston.com/etp.php

Contact: Angela McCabe, Micro Enterprise Director

Through its Business Builders Program, JVS offers long-term business consulting services, loans, and mentors for small businesses within the City of Boston. The program provides business counseling and loans to women, low income and minority entrepreneurs, business owners, and other qualified individuals. The program focuses on pre- and post-loan technical assistance to borrowers and loan packaging for business loans from $500 to $25,000. Business Builders offers training to all entrepreneurs and micro enterprise training to eligible candidates who are legal refugees or who have very low incomes.

Languages: English and Spanish Walk-In Service - Some Fee for Service

(workshops also offered in Vietnamese)

Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE) [score.org]

ACCION USA, Inc

56 Roland Street, Suite 300
Boston, MA 02139

Tel: 617.625.7080
Email: eeurkus@accion.org Web: www.accion.org

Contact: Erika Eurkus, Senior Load Officer/Program Director

ACCION USA is a nonprofit community development financial institution that provides business loads to self-employed individuals and micro entrepreneurs of limited means. Loans range from $500 to $25,000. ACCION also provides business education, training, and networking opportunities and referrals to its clients. Working Capital, which has served as a microentrerprise organization in New England since 1990, merged with ACCION USA in October 2001.

Languages: English, Spanish
No Membership Dues
Call for schedule of orientation sessions.

 

 

  

Boston Community Change

Merchant rebates on your every day transactions generate cash rebates for YOU and local nonprofits. Boston Community Change is changing our communities for the better by changing the way we shop, changing the way we do business, and changing the way we support the causes we care about. Local Businesses Participating include: C & C Cleaning Service, Ferns by Sheila Cobb, Gentle Spirit, Himalayan Bistro, HolliBalance Well Being Center, Law Offices of Christopher Lang, Masona Grill, Muscular Therapy of West Roxbury, The Real Deal, Sharper Enterprises,Sugar Bakery, Watershed Media & West Roxbury Framing.





View our Business Directory

 

  

Pitching In

Thank you for your support of Pitching In ~ WRMS on the Mound to Support Community Revitalization & Strike Out Cancer.  With the help of so many great people, over $15,000 was raised to help support WRMS and The Jimmy Fund.