DC Health Link business partners, the DC Chamber of Commerce (DCCC), the Greater Washington Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (GWHCC) and the Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington (RAMW) will host a small business summit,  “POWER UP DC 2016: Get Money, Get Movin’… Accessing Capital to Start and Grow Your Business With Non-Traditional Funding Resources.” The forum is being held in honor of National Small Business Week and will focus on one of the greatest needs of small business owners, access to capital. Three powerful workshops with expert panelists who will share information to enhance business growth through non-traditional funding streams and creative financing options will be featured.  A Matchmaking Meet-up with Business Resources session will follow where business owners can meet one-on-one with lenders and other resource representatives.  Business resource vendors, lenders and others will exhibit during the event. Additionally, DC Health Link will be onsite with licensed /certified brokers who will share information about how the Affordable Care Act can benefit small business owners and their employees and provide enrollment assistance in quality affordable health insurance through DC Health Link. Best of all, registration is FREE for all attendees.

• Track One: “Preparing to Launch Your Business: Jumpstarting Your Business With Non-Traditional Funding” - This session, developed specifically for small business start-ups, will present  information about  access to non-traditional financial resources such as community banking institutions, crowd funding, peer-to-peer lending, factoring, micro-loans, Internet-based lending, and other creative opportunities. 


• Track Two: Preparing to Grow Your Business: Don’t Stop Now, Keep It Moving - During this session, the participants will learn about traditional and non-traditional funding sources such as lines of credit, venture capital, angel funding, quasi-factoring, middle market bankers, federal credit unions, gap loans, SBA Guaranteed 7(A) loans, as well as niche marketing, technical assistance, regulatory updates, etc. 


• Track Three: Nonprofits: Financial Capacity Building - In this session, participants of the non-profit community will learn about financial resources such as grant opportunities in the local and federal government, corporate funding, gifts/donations, and loan financing.

Among the participating resource partners are the U.S. Women’s Chamber of Commerce, U.S. Small Business Administration, DC Small Business Development Center at Howard University, DC Department of Consumer & Regulatory Affairs, Coalition for Non-Profit Housing and Economic Development, DC Department of Small and Local Business Development, Washington DC Economic Partnership the Latino Economic Development Corporation and the Congress Height Training and Development Corporation. Space is limited so please register before April 22, 2016. To register, please visit, DCHealthLink.com/powerupdc2016/registration.  For more information about the event, contact Linda Currie at (202) 638-7337 or at [email protected]. For more information about DC Health Link and to get a copy of the enrollment checklist, please visit DCHealthLink.com/checklist. Follow us on FB, Twitter and Instagram @DCHealthLink.