Merchants Invited to Business Aid Center

The North East Valley Business Assistance Center will hold an open house today to introduce area merchants to its new, larger facilities.

Opened in 1993 and expanded after the 1994 Northridge earthquake, the center provides free technical and financial assistance to merchants who need help arranging loans or developing business strategies.

The business center is one of several operated by the nonprofit Valley Economic Development Center, a consortium of Valley business groups. It is currently in the second year of a three-year funding contract with the city’s Community Development Department, said program manager Daniel Morales.

“Initially we only covered the Pacoima area,” Morales said. “Now we are covering the whole northeast Valley.

“Due to the increased demand and presence in the community, our prior location was not adequate to handle the volume of clients who demanded our services,” he said.

In the past year, the center has assisted 284 clients and helped get more than 100 small businesses off the ground, officials said.

The majority of those businesses are in the service, retail and manufacturing areas.

The center’s new location is at 12502 Van Nuys Blvd. in Pacoima, about half a mile from its former site.

“At our new location, we will have a larger training facility, plenty of parking and additional space for a new computer room,” Morales said.

Today’s open house will begin at 5:30 p.m.