Q. What is Project GATE?
A. The Employment and Training Administration of the U.S. Department of Labor has teamed with the Small Business Administration to create a microenterprise program that helps diverse urban and rural populations create, sustain, and expand small businesses.

Q. How is Project GATE being accomplished?
A.This is being accomplished through the combining of DOL microenterprise training and assistance in the One-Stop Center with microloans provided by the SBA. This exciting new partnership between DOL and SBA is energizing local small business formation through the teaming of workforce investment and economic development. By creating or expanding new businesses, jobs are created and our economic base is expanded.

Q. How long will Project GATE run?
A.Project Gate will run for five years and be divided into three phases. The project will be divided into three phases. The initial or design phase of the project ran through June 2003. During this phase, community outreach and participant screening began as well as the development of a detailed implementation plan. Phase two is the implementation phase of the project. Implementation took place over two years in the individual sites and ended in July 2005. The final phase of the project is the evaluation and follow-up phase, which currently is going on.

Q. What are the sites for the Project GATE demonstration?
A.Project GATE is operating in three sites in Maine (Portland, Bangor, and Lewiston), one site in Pennsylvania (Philadelphia), and two sites in Minnesota (Minneapolis-St. Paul and Duluth). The Philadelphia and Minneapolis-St. Paul sites are urban sites. The Maine sites and the Duluth site are rural sites.

Q. What is the funding level for Project GATE?
A.Project Gate is being funded for $9 million over 5 years.

Q. How is that $9 million being spent?
A.Project funds are allocated for technical assistance and training of Project GATE participants, administrative costs including training of dedicated one-stop center staff, community outreach and marketing, and data collection and evaluation.

Q. What other funding is available to Project GATE participants?
A.Under the Workforce Investment Act (WIA), needs-related payments and individual training accounts would be available in addition to the SBA Microloan Program. Another possible source of funding could be the self-employment assistance (SEA) program. The SEA program is currently running in the states of Pennsylvania and Maine. The state of Minnesota has passed the necessary legislation for the program but has not implemented it as of yet.

Q. How does Project GATE work in practice?
A.This project does not create any new programs or initiatives but brings together already existing microenterprise initiatives into one cohesive project. Component parts of the project include microloans through the SBA Microloan Program, and individual training accounts and needs-based payments established by the Workforce Investment Act. One-Stop Centers providing outreach and technical assistance and training from project funds are the hub for these components.

Q. Who is eligible to participate in Project GATE?
A.The project is designed to serve all those interested in pursuing the American dream of owning their own business. The project serves adult job seekers wanting career advancement and current small business owners who need help expanding or sustaining an already existing business.

Q.How many people are you serving
A.We project a minimum of 400 participants over two years in the Minneapolis-St. Paul and Philadelphia sites. We project a minimum of 300 participants in each of the rural sites over two years. We anticipate a great deal of interest in each of the sites, but realize that not all people interested in the project will elect to enter the project and/or complete the microenterprise training and loan application process. For evaluation purposes, our goal is to serve a minimum of 2000 total participants.

Q. How were these sites chosen?
A.In an effort to test this microenterprise model, we wished to examine how it would work in both urban and rural settings. Pennsylvania and Maine already had the self-employment assistance program in place. Minnesota has made the requisite changes to their unemployment insurance law and had explored SEA implementation previously.

Q. How can people sign up for the Project GATE program?
A.Unfortunately, the screening and enrollment phase of the project has ended, so we can no longer accept new participants.

Q.Does someone have to be unemployed to be eligible for participation in Project GATE?
A.No. Program participants have their particular microenterprise package molded to their particular needs.

Q.How are you addressing barriers to self-employment that often confront those interested in starting a new business?
A.We do so through community outreach (information) and local community members' participation, in addition to personnel and services offered through the workforce investment system.

Q.Are people of limited English proficiency able to participate in the program?
A.Yes. An important part of our community outreach plan is to help those potential entrepreneurs who have limited English proficiency realize the American dream of owning their own business.

Q. Why did it take a year to start the project?
A. While the participants directly benefit from this program, we wished to understand how a model like this should come together and work while being able to precisely measure the impacts of the program. Our hope is that by taking the essential steps to design the program, train the players, and collect the necessary data that we are able to identify a replicable microenterprise model that can be exported to other local areas.

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SEA Program

Q. What is the SEA Program?
A. Under the SEA program, states can pay a self-employment allowance instead of unemployment compensation to help unemployed workers while they are establishing businesses and becoming self-employed. Participants in state self-employment programs receive weekly allowances while they are getting their businesses off the ground. These payments are the same weekly amount as the workers’ regular Unemployment Insurance benefits, but participants can work full-time on starting their business instead of searching for wage and salary jobs.

Q. Under SEA participants receive unemployment insurance while they are starting a business. Will others receive monetary assistance while starting their business?
A.Non-SEA program participants will be eligible for needs-related payments and individual training accounts.

Q. Why isn't the SEA program available in all states?
A.The SEA implementing legislation includes a section permitting states to voluntarily adopt self-employment allowance provisions as part of their state unemployment insurance (UI) laws. Only eleven states have adopted this provision; seven have implemented the program. The State of Minnesota has adopted the SEA provision but has not implemented the program.

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SBA Microloan Program

Q.What is the SBA Microloan Program?
A.The Microloan Program provides small loans to start-up, newly established, or growing small business concerns.

Q. Who is eligible for the SBA Microloan Program?
A. Women, low-income, minority entrepreneurs, veterans, business owners and other individuals possessing the capability to operate successful business concerns; and small business concerns in those areas suffering from a lack of credit due to economic downturn.

Q.How do Project GATE participants apply for SBA microloans?
A.Each program participant is offered an SBA microloan as part of his or her microenterprise package. Application assistance is available for those with difficulties applying for the loan.

Q.What are the minimum and maximum loan amounts and what are the minimum loan eligibility requirements?
A.Loans are available in amounts up to a maximum of $35,000. The average loan size is about $10,500. Applications are submitted to the local intermediary and all credit decisions are made on the local level.

Q.How long do you have to repay an SBA microloan?
A. The term of an SBA microloan made by an intermediary may not exceed six years. The maximum rate an intermediary may charge an SBA microborrower will fluctuate based on the intermediary's cost of funds.

Q.How does the SBA Microloan Program fit into the GATE project?
A.The SBA Microloan Program is a critical component of the microenterprise package provided for GATE participants. GATE participants are receiving entrepreneurial technical assistance and training through local one-stop centers as well as small business loans through the Small Business Administration's Microloan Program. Project GATE creates a partnership between the SBA and the DOL that provides small business owners the support needed to get a successful start.

Q. How is the SBA Microloan Program administered?
A. Under this program, SBA makes funds available to nonprofit community-based lenders (intermediaries), which, in turn, make loans to eligible borrowers.

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Other Project Components

Q.What type of services are Project GATE participants receiving?
A.Participants receive general business training and graduate on to more specific training elements. Participants are assigned a business counselor and are offered multiple individual business counseling sessions.

Q.What topics are covered in the general training elements section?
A.Topics include marketing, business management, constructing a business plan, and business mindset.

Q.What topics are included in the specific training elements?
A.Topics include cash flow, financing, legal requirements, insurance, bookkeeping, and taxes.

Q. How do these training elements fit together?
A.All of these items culminate into the construct of a viable business plan. The business plan serves as the entrepreneur's roadmap to implementing and running his or her business. The business plan also serves as the primary document from which SBA loan decisions are made.

Q.What is an individual training account (ITA)?
A.An ITA is the method by which training funds are accessed in the one-stop center. Enterprise Training is an allowable training activity under the Workforce Investment Act.

Q. What are needs-related payments?
A.Needs-Related Payments are a permissible local employment and training activity. Eligibility for such payments is determined on a case-by-case basis. Needs-related payments are subsistence level payments to program participants while in training. We encourage the use of such payments for those who have not qualified for unemployment compensation and unemployment insurance (UI) exhaustees.

Q.What type of community outreach is taking place?
A.Community outreach includes public service and local media announcements, fliers, town-hall meetings, focus groups, community advisory panels, a toll-free number, brochures, and posters. We are exploring all avenues of community outreach, and through the town hall meetings, we are receiving feedback on the best ways to engage the local community.

Q. What is the toll free number for Project GATE information?
A. The number is 1-866-677-GATE (4283).