Penn State has received federal funding to open a Veterans Business Assistance Center to help veterans and their spouses looking to start or operate a business across the state.
Penn State will receive $340,000 per year for five years from a grant from the U.S. Small Business Administration.
Veterans Business Assistance Centers are located throughout the country and offer services such as business planning, financing, government contracting guidance, marketing and training. Entrepreneurship development programs include Boots to Business and the Military Spouse Pathway to Business program.
In a letter of support, U.S. Reps. Glenn “GT” Thompson (R-Centre County) and Chrissy Houlahan (D-Chester County) noted that Pennsylvania is home to more than 720,000 veterans, making it the fifth-largest veteran population in the nation. They wrote that Penn State’s center will “provide the resources and expertise needed to effectively transition military members into business owners and increase the success rates of new businesses across Pennsylvania.”
The center will be based in Innovation Park on the University Park campus and will implement programs to support veterans across the state.
Robert Yannuzzi, deputy administrator of the Small Business Administration’s Veterans Business Development Office, noted in a news release that veterans own about 55,000 businesses in Pennsylvania.
“We chose Penn State for our Veterans Business Outreach Center because of its existing connections to the veteran community and strong entrepreneurial support throughout the state,” he said. “Penn State’s VBOC will further the overall SBA VBOC mission of being a one-stop shop for veteran and military spouse entrepreneurs regardless of their stage of business ownership.”