mark. what impact will be cuts in the sba budget have on the sba program? it seems the small business committee is try to make drastic cuts. from our perspective, the new majority leadership is looking to make drastic cuts, many of the program will hold near and dear to our hearts. the question the leader is continually asking is, show me the jobs. she wants to see house bills come to the floor that create economic opportunity for middle- class -- all of americans. if the small business committee is looking to cut funds from the sba, we see that as a detriment. we do not believe in cutting to create more jobs. we agree with the idea of the recovery act, putting more

money out there to get people employed. >> on congressional action, that is not my role. in san francisco, we have been the beneficiary. all small businesses should be aware that we have been the beneficiary of a lot of good resources for small businesses. we have more nonprofits that are funded through micro lending here in the city from sba programs. some are expected to be looked at for budget cuts. some will continue. but we have more of those programs in san francisco, really, in any other city in california. we also have a small business commission. that is unique. the folks who are here, who have been supporting small business for many years are the reasons why san francisco's small business community has a voice

in ways that other cities and businesses in those cities do not. i think we have, in san francisco, the benefit of a lot of good resources here, some of which are here because of federal funds, some of which because folks in this room have been an advocate for small business. we are hoping the impact of tight budgets all levels still allows us to have the tools we have been able to use for small business. it is an important piece. >> [inaudible] >> there have been a cut in the budget. he wanted to know how that would cut the sba program. >> now we are getting into arcane budget discussions. the 2012 budget does slate a

couple of sba programs for cutting. it also talks about cuts comparing next year to prior years, when we were the beneficiaries of stimulus funds, jobs act funds. one time-type things are being set as benchmarks. a cut from those one time- funding pieces that were not expected to be continued. in some ways, we do not see it as big as a cut. speaker pelosi was important to us in the jobs act in getting a lot of money put into the sba program. it allowed california to be the beneficiary of having hired guarantees for banks, no sba loans fees. in the first quarter of the year, lending in california was the most we ever did. we did $1 billion worth of small

business loans in december, for example. that is something we have never done before. but that was a one time funding piece. going forward, on the loan side, we are not going to see the cuts have an impact on sba lending. the big issue we see are two issues. the value of california real- estate, stability of businesses in california, and the confidence of our workers looking for credit. those are variables that would be important. >> thank you. we have a question in the back. >> good afternoon. thank you to nancy pelosi and for you panelists for providing this informative seminars. for our young company, we are a distribution company. i just heard you mention that

you do not loan for the sale of alcohol. is that separate from distribution of wine? >> s.p.a. -- sba makes loans to winery's, stores that sell wine. i am not exactly sure what role you play in distribution. the federal government ought -- got out of prohibiting alcohol and long time ago. we are not in the business of regulating all bohol, beverage distribution or sale. we make loans to businesses who sell alcoholic beverages, restaurants, stores. so is not an sp a prohibition. it is regulated on a local level. we have made loans to a lot of

businesses that have some degree of an alcoholic beverages, one distribution. >> terrific. following up to that, can you give any advice on particular resources that would speak perhaps to any tax benefits, subsidies in place for both domestic distribution of wine, as well as exports? >> why don't we take it off line. i think what is the case, there is a lot of complexity to the incentives that were put into the jobs act for small businesses to take advantage of on expensing equipment, investments and their businesses, as far as the tax treatment of those activities. obviously, as a small-business person, each of you needs to understand, it is complex, but there are a lot of tax

incentives and investment in business that you should take aware -- advantage of. >> we have two questions in the back. just to be mindful for everyone's time, we will go for about five more minutes. >> my name is david. i am an internet or entrepreneurs. in general, to the lenders, what type of vanity do you traditionally see approach you for loans, an llc, corp., and who is liable, for whose borrowing the money? >> as a micro lender, we expect the principles, the corporate form, to provide guarantees. >> personal guarantees.

>> the same. 20% ownership in the company. [inaudible] >> [inaudible] >> i heard something about sba guaranteed loans. maybe i missed something. does that have to do with the sba guaranteeing the entity? >> the question on the sba guaranteeing a entity as the order of the business, whether it is a corporation or partnership, for any small business lending, you should expect to be guaranteeing that long personally. as a small-business owner, from a lender's point of view, we want to see that you are as invested in the business as you are asking the bank to be.

the idea that non recourse loans, the way you describe it, loans that you get without having yourself personally liable is not the way it works. you should assume you will guarantee the loan regardless of the structure of your business. the good news, though, for businesses like you are describing, internet business, is that the capital requirements for that type of business is generally small. you are able to get yourself further along and share in revenues with a smaller amount of credit need. that is where we see a lot of businesses and personal service or internet business get started, and generate revenues and be able to show growth without needing any capital, like a brick and mortar business might. >> my name is terry said.

i have a retail business in san francisco for 22 years. i have a 5 04 -- 504 loan. it took me three years to get. we need more capital. i tried to get a line of credit from wells capital. i was decline. where does someone like myself go? i have a loan, i need additional funding. >> did you try through the sba? >> i already have an sba loan. i went to wells fargo for a line of credit and they would not give me one. >> i can speak to you about it. when we look at funds that are needed, the biggest thing we look at our cash flow. i can address that with you.

unless there is an issue, at that point -- [inaudible] >> let's talk, ok. >> i have a couple of more questions. i know that the panelists have agreed to stay after for those who have specific questions. i do have one question for wells fargo. what are the typical rules for applying for sba loan of less than $50,000? how much money do we need to have in your bank to apply for a loan? >> i am on the smaller side of the bank. i am a transaction guy. i do not technically require one to have an account to do a loan with.

what i look for, i generally start at 100,000 and up. when it is a requirement of 50,000 or less, i tend to call of the micro guys to help me out. that is right in their box. for us, the capacity for us to do the smaller side is not there as much as it is for them. on getting a loan through my side of the bank, i do not require an account to do that. we would like to have it, but i do not require it. >> last question for the opportunity fund and a critic representative. are you a cdfi? is san francisco and s.p.a. in support of cdfi's being

established in san francisco? >> yes, we are. we were founded in 1999 with a small business loan. that is how we started our tenderloin office. >> opportunity fund is a certified cdfi, so we are providing a benefit to low and moderate-income communities. he is the city establishing support for new cdfi's? >> mark wanted to address that, in support of cdfi's in the city. >> we have a wealth of partners in the city. s.p.a. is just now rolling out a

program for r -- will be the case by the summer. let me get one last point and on the question about relationships to lenders. the question was, do have to have an account with a bank in order to get a loan? may answer is no, but the real answer to it is certainly want to do that. one of the things we see as an important thing for you, as a small-business person to establish a relationship with a lender on a variety of levels before you look for funding. part of that is opening an account with them, letting a lender know about your business, understand your business, talk to them as you are growing your business. when the economy is strong, all lenders are shopping for transactions. in times are tough on credit, you want to rely on those deeper

liberation ships with your lender. you want to develop a relationship with a lender. it is the case where you want to open up an account, while to have another bank services that you want to have a relationship with your lender with it because when you go to them for any loan requests, you want them to know about your business and feel like they are a partner of yours, not just that you are shopping them. if you are shopping, you are just looking for the best deal from them, rather than a long- term relationship. >> i want to thank everyone for coming. hopefully, you have all signed up for our updates. we are going to be hosting these on a regular basis. the next two coming up will focus on becoming a government contractor, how your small business can partner with the government. the next one will also be on how to grain your business, with tax

-- green your business, tax credits available with that. for non-profit, charitable organizations, we have a workshop coming up. that is helpful for those of you who are looking to access the committee on a durable basis. >> also, on behalf of leader pelosi, i want to thank our panel and her staff. we are tenants in this building. i apologize for the security situation that happened upstairs. if you have concerns about it, please come and see me. i would like to convey those to the landlord here so that it does not happen again. thank you.

aye been in san francisco 20 years. i'm homeless. i got a good cup of coffee. i got a number. today i'm 359. >> you try to do the right thing and make a point to do what you have to to be at one

place. they have all the services at one building. i can spend 4 hours touching each table ask and getting the information i need to get back on my feet. they are providing the services under one roof. you don't have to go here or there or wait until next week. >> at the time we opened we have folks waiting outside to come in. >> good morning. >> what we are doing is trying to find out what they want and need and getting them to their services as fast as possible. >> i came to the eye glasses program. making a couple of phone calls to my family at home. >> some housing, i'm here for employment. may be see about -- i've never been to one of these. i have not been homeless before. >> the scareiest are the people who are recently homeless who

look like me. look like they could be my friend or family member. a few wrong choices and bad luck got them here. >> i was laid off 2-1/2 weeks ago and came to the project to -- >> i've been married to the same man, my childhood sweetheart he started doing drugs. we went from a nice out in texas to nothing. the next step in the process is they get linked up with a volunteer. this is the heart and soul of the public connect. we greet clients. shake their hands. ask them to follow us and talk to them as we bring them to the hall and lead them to the first station. you find they are humbling on both sides. humbling for me.

it's a great opportunity to give the folks the respect they deserve and don't get enough of. >> these are the people we step over on the way to our jobs. i was thankful to the mayor. our jobs are about helping people. this is another way for us to give back to our community that treats us very well. i like the way they take you around to get you started. that's nice. they let you go and thoser the different things you need. >> are you with a program, now? >> i was a long time -- >> you want a job search? >> career planning [inaudible]. you are interested in getting into the trades? and that is where they will

double check your trading skills you got and put you on a crew and you can do construction work or any kind of construction. >> okay. >> good. are you receiving food stamps? >> no. >> not medical or nothing. >> no. >> we got to get you hooked up. >> this the department of human searchss this is the benefit's section much the beauty on coming here today is that we brought all of our requirements to this place, this station. the assessment. the orientation, we have the screening propose, the finger imaging this helps people who are unable to tolerate going to different appointments on several days. >> i want to talk to people from housing and shelter. there are several jobs i have been given it's a matter of

following up. >> i'm going to get my eye glasses, try to. when i got here they said 60 people. not everybody will get a pair. 8 million people in san francisco who are homeless. >> i volunteered for the eye screening. they are appreciative, they tell us that. and they have come back to say, thank you very much. we appreciate this. it's made a difference in my life. there was a guy today that couldn't see so near sighted he couldn't seebeyond 2 or 3 inches. everything is a blur. it's a miracle for him. >> they are not doing anymore screening for the day. i will go to health care, next. >> this is the medical section where they come and give us

their names and we ask them to have a seat with the rn. there are 6 rn's that will find out what they need. it could be just to see a doctor. they will sit here, write an assessment and someone will escourt them to where the doctors are. we have 2 if not more licensed dentests that look at people's mouth. they get a card to a drop-in clinic. the only thing that holds us back is we don't have enough dentists to treat the number of people. we would treat more people. >> this is not an area that people deal with. it can be a significant barrier. we see 185 to 200 clients. in the dmv area we see 300 to

350. >> it's overwhelming but helpful. there are a lot of people willing to help. >> at cafe connect we have volunteers that work as waiters. everyone who come here experiences a surprise that it's such an easy thing to relate to this group of people. when you are out of the street you ignore them. when you are here you treat them like human beings. people are gratified. >> you give back to people. you give back to our community and it makes the world a little less cruel. >> i heard people in line talking about the donation when they walked out. it was nice to see people come and get the things they want and leave. it's rewarding for our employees to help out. >> the feedback i have gotten

from the employees today has been positive. they are encouraged that the fact the city is doing something like this for the homeless. >> i got involved, my son adam who's a teacher in san francisco participated and invited me. >> i got involved with a friend. i came a couple months ago and wanted to make it a priority to come again and invite my family and more friends. >> it's well organized. i'm impressed how organized it is. it feels wonderful to be a part of it. >> affords dignity to the people who affords the services. >> every service you can need or get you started is here under one roof. if you leave here you should have [inaudible]. the bottom line is you make