Chafee Center to Lead Effort to Grow Exports and Jobs in RI

Chafee Center to Lead Effort to Grow Exports and Jobs in RI

The John H. Chafee Center for International Trade will serve as the point to nearly $500,000 in federal grants to grow export jobs in Rhode Island. The initiative was announced today in conjunction with the RI Congressional Delegation and the federal Small business Administration.

The announcement was a proverbial who's who of elected and appointed federal and state officials.  The group included: U.S. Senators Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse, U.S. Rep. David Cicilline, Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation (RIEDC) Executive Director Keith Stokes, R.I. Senate President M. Teresa Paiva-Weed, SBA R.I. District Director Mark Hayward (sitting in for SBA Regional Administrator Jeanne Hulit, who was stuck in Maine due the weekend’s snowstorm), Bryant University Vice President for Academic Affairs José-Marie Griffiths, and Raymond Fogarty, director of Bryant's Chafee Center for International Business. (Quotes and statements included below.)

The trade initiative was established by the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010  and provide $30 million in grants across the country to help small and medium-sized businesses identify new export opportunities.

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The Chafee Center will provide a range of services to any Rhode Island business interested in exporting. "The program (State Trade and Export Promotion or STEP grant) is expected to be especially valuable for companies that have some export experience and want to explore new markets. Working with the RIEDC, the Chafee Center team will take companies through a comprehensive export readiness assessment process, provide one-on-one counseling, and offer a menu of training, trade missions and trade shows to help companies move along the path to new export opportunities."

For small and medium-sized Rhode Island businesses who are interested in participating in the program should contact the STEP program manager at the Chafee Center: 401-232-6407.

According to the Chafee Center, "Rhode Island's top current export markets are Canada, Mexico, Germany, Turkey and China, and 20 additional countries where Rhode Island firms have sufficient exports to warrant closer examination for additional exports. The Ocean State ranked 14th among the 50 states through the first seven months of 2011 in export growth. Its overseas sales increased by an annual rate of 24.4 percent, seasonally adjusted."