Brigitte Ortiz | THE RIDER
The UTRGV Center for Innovation and Commercialization has received a CARES Act grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration to offer free marketing and social media professional services to businesses affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Laurie Simmons, director of entrepreneurship, innovation and commercialization at the center, said she hopes that by providing these programs, the businesses will overcome the difficulties of the previous year and be stronger than before.
“Presently, if you are a startup company or an existing business that has been impacted by the pandemic, we have two programs to be able to help support you,” Simmons said.
The center received the $300,000 grant last summer to provide COVID-19 business assistance.
In the Workspace Program, selected businesses that have lost their workspace or cannot afford office rent and utilities will have access to the center, located at 307 E. Railroad St. in Weslaco, until August 2022.
The businesses will have access to co-working spaces up to 20 hours per week, small meeting rooms, classrooms, reserve conference rooms up to four times a month, 100 print credits a month, access to Wi-Fi and the Center for Innovation and Commercialization programming and mentors.
“So, what we are providing up to 20 businesses that have been affected by the pandemic, or who have, you know, lost their space, they can’t pay their rent or their business closed and they need a place to work, they’re eligible to apply,” she said.
Simmons said the Marketing and Social Media Program will help businesses transition their operations to online and earn a social media presence. Local businesses and startup companies that do not have an online presence and have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic are eligible to apply. Selected businesses will receive pro-bono professional marketing and social media services to be able to transition their operations to online.
“For example, if they were a store front and they had to close their store and now they need to be online to sell things, you know, this is the perfect type of program to be able to help those businesses,” she said. “If they have a little bit of web presence or they have a website or [they’ve] been kind of doing social media but they don’t really know how to do it, this is a program where we can help them expand their presence online. And they’ll actually get professionals working with them to do this, you know. We are working with a local media company, or digital media company, and they will be providing the services pro-bono.”
To apply to the workspace program, interested business owners must submit a completed application, provide professional references and upload a completed background check.
The requirements for the Marketing & Social Media Program are a completed application and professional references.
Applicants will be screened and selected by a university and community selection committee.
Simmons said the center has received 39 inquiries for the Marketing and Social Media Program and 30 for the Workspace Program.
“By the number of applications received, we can tell there is a great need for the services our program offers,” she said. “ If our programming can help small businesses remain open and overcome many of the obstacles caused by the pandemic, I feel this initiative will be a success. I am eager to see if we can make a difference.”
The application deadline is Feb. 15.
“So once we receive all the applications, they will be reviewed and the 20 companies for workspace and the 20 companies [for marketing and social media], these are different companies, will be reviewed and we will let them know if they have been accepted to our program. So, potentially, up to 40 companies can receive resources from our center, free.”
Any company or startup company that has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic can apply at https://www.utrgv.edu/cic/covid-19-business-support/index.htm.
