The Small Business Development Center at College of the Canyons has entered into a new partnership with the University of Antelope Valley to establish a second full-time SBDC location on the UAV campus.

The new Antelope Valley Small Business & Entrepreneurship Center will officially open Thursday, January 5, 2012, following an 11 a.m. press conference to be held in the UAV Grand Ballroom, located at 44073 N. Sierra Highway, in the City of Lancaster.

This partnership will immediately provide a permanent location on the UAV campus for SBDC business advisors to meet with clients and begin conducting classroom and computer based training sessions and free business consulting services.

In addition to classroom based training sessions, SBDC business advisors will also be able to utilize UAV computer labs to offer different types of hands-on computer based training sessions. The new partnership will also allow the SBDC to begin hosting more large-scale, regional training events and seminars on the UAV campus.

“The opening of this center represents yet another significant step in our efforts to bring an expanded lineup of SBDC services to the Antelope Valley,” said SBDC director Steve Tannehill. “We are very appreciative of the support we have received from our partners in the Antelope Valley, including the cities of Lancaster and Palmdale, Wells Fargo Bank and now the University of Antelope Valley. With their support and partnership we have been able to substantially increase our presence in the Antelope Valley, resulting in an almost 60 percent increase in our services over the past year.”

In 2011, those increased services helped Antelope Valley small business owners raise more than $1.1 million in capital, while creating 157 new jobs and starting three new businesses.

“We are so excited about having the SBDC here at the University of Antelope Valley,” said Sandra Johnson, co-founder and CEO of UAV. “The SBDC provides excellent services in which Antelope Valley residents and our students alike can utilize in fulfilling their dreams of business ownership. This partnership aligns our goals as educators with the entrepreneurial spirit the Antelope Valley is known for, and we cannot wait to see the new businesses and jobs created from this opportunity.”

To help launch this new partnership the SBDC will host a series of free training sessions at its UAV location at the following dates and times:

How to Successfully Start Your New Business

10 a.m. to noon

Friday, Jan. 13, 2012

Essential Steps for Writing a Business Plan

10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Friday, Jan. 27, 2012

Finding Funding

10 a.m. to noon

Friday, Feb. 10, 2012

Persons interested in registering to attend one of these training sessions can find registration links on the SBDC calendar located at www.cocsbdc.org.

About the University of Antelope Valley

Located in the City of Lancaster, the University of Antelope Valley is a small, private university, founded in 1997. The mission of UAV is to offer higher education to the local community through the delivery of quality online and on-ground career specific certificate, undergraduate, graduate and continuing educational programs. The university’s website can be found at www.uav.edu.