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# New business center one of 36 in California
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/new-business-center-one-of-36-in-california/
- Published: 2006-02-08T16:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T17:11:55.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Business, Santa Monica Airport, #archive-import

where it offers limited services while the center’s staff surveys the business community to see which services are desired most. There are plans to move to a permanent location, 3400 Airport Ave., which City Hall is providing free of charge, Cajayon said.

WHY BOTHER? Assistance is critical when starting a business, said Sandra Buck of the Small Business Administration.

“The first year, even the first three or four, can be very difficult without having the proper planning in place,” Buck said. “With these centers, we have been helping businesses through those rough times for 25 years now.” Since 1980, small-business development centers have met the needs of more than 11 million start-up and existing businesses, Buck said.

Between 2002 and 2003, clients who received assistance started 15,000 businesses. In fiscal year 2003, clients of the centers generated approximately $4 in new federal tax revenues for every federal dollar spent on program funding, generating an estimated $351.8 million in taxes in return for $88 million in funding for the program, Buck said.

SMC’s center is one of 10 in Los Angeles, Ventura and Santa Barbara counties. Each is governed by the lead center, located this year at Long Beach Community College.

SATISFIED CUSTOMERS Although it just opened, the center at SMC has received positive feedback from the few who have used its services, Cajayon said.

One of those is Jackie Stasi, who runs a furniture design company with her husband. Stasi said she visited with a counselor from a center in Glendale last year to learn about obtaining a small business loan. She was dissatisfied with her experience and was not expecting much when she visited SMC’s center. But after working with the staff there, Stasi’s outlook improved. “(Counselor Max) Dylan was unbelievably generous with his time and shared with me a wealth of information without hesitation,” said Stasi, who was looking for guidance on writing a five-year business plan. “He was very patient, pleasant, friendly and easy to talk to … and now my husband and I are inspired to draft our business plan, which we thought would be a horribly daunting project.

“Kudos to your office for getting off to such a great start,” she wrote to Cajayon in an e-mail.

Kathy Dodson, president of the Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce, said that while Santa Monica did have a center in years past, it was never staffed properly. She is hopeful that with a strong base at SMC the new center will thrive.

“It is being run through the workforce development program at the college, and they have worked with so many businesses in the past and they are really committed to this community,” Dodson said. “Because of that, I think it will be a much stronger organization … I’m thrilled.”

SMC’s center is offering free counseling services and will hold its first workshop March 2, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. The focus will be on launching an apparel business.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on February 8, 2006.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/020806.pdf?ref=smdp.com)