Ask the Small Business Administration to help Small Businesses Go Green!
Thanks to the visionary leadership of Van Jones, founder of Green For All and author of The Green Collar Economy, the argument of jobs versus the environment is coming to a decisive end: they can both win! With the appointment of Jones to a green jobs czar position by President Obama, there is tremendous hope and opportunity for millions of Americans out of work to get the training they need to return to an economy that they themselves will help to make sustainable and healthy for themselves and their children.
A vital piece of the equation is missing, however! With almost 75% of new job creation in the U.S. coming from the small business community, the Small Business Administration will play a vital role in maintaining the momentum generated by the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act, also known as the stimulus package. Currently the SBA has no programs to help small businesses go green or to help aspiring entrepreneurs start a green business. That means no advisory boards, no specific guideline documents, no sustainability training tools, no sustainability consulting, and no loan specialists experienced in green business, making it harder for aspiring social entrepreneurs to get the funding they need to start businesses and create jobs!
Help us collect 500,000 signatures. That is one for every one of the half million Americans who will start a business this year in the U.S. so that the SBA will work with Van Jones to ensure that every entrepreneur has the tools and guidance to go green and be successful!
Dear Mrs. Mills,
We the Undersigned respectfully ask you to work with Van Jones to continue the momentum generated by the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act by creating all the tools needed by small business owners to help them go green. This includes, but is not limited to:
- Advisory Boards knowledgeable about green business that can assist business owners with questions about how to go green
- Downloadable documents about green business practices, ways to save energy, water, and other resources, product life cycle analysis, and eco-friendly alternatives for just about any kind of business someone would want to start
- Loan specialists knowledgeable about the green economy to make sure green entrepreneurs get the funding they need to create green jobs
- Sustainability consulting resources including information about all the tax credits and other incentives for efficiency upgrades for appliances, irrigation systems, lighting, HVAC and weatherization, as well as for solar, wind, geothermal and other alternative energy systems
- A green business section on the SBA website, with a resource page that includes books, DVDs, podcasts and other resources that a small business owner might find helpful
Many thanks for all you do,
Scott Cooney
Author of Build a Green Small Business: Profitable Ways to Become an Ecopreneur (McGraw-Hill)
