Mission Community Services Corporation and the

Women's Business Center

MCSC OVERVIEW

Mission Community Services Corporation (MCSC) is a 501(c)3 and has been host to the Small Business Administration (SBA) Women's Business Center (WBC) since October 2006. We are proud to say we are in our 17th year of providing technical assistance services and enhancing local economic development. We are now providing services in three Central California counties. We are headquartered in San Luis Obispo and have served Kern County remotely for over eight years, opening a Women's Center in February 2019. On January 1, 2021 we were awarded official SBA Women's Business Center Status for our Kern office. We are currently providing services in Monterey County remotely and have plans for further expansion in 2023 and 2024.

We are happy to share that MCSC was chosen 2020 Women’s Business Center of the Year, by the Fresno Small Business Administration (SBA) District Office.

We deliver business training courses, financial literacy classes, business consulting, as well as current business topic educational workshops. We are committed to supporting diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives for our clients and our communities.

In 2022 alone, MSCS and its WBCs have provided technical assistance to 1,217 small businesses over the course of 2,949 hours of programming. We helped preserve 746 small businesses and assisted in the creation of 62 new businesses.  We worked with 211 businesses to navigate federal, state, and local financing. We were also able to assist with 161 new jobs being created and 3,872 jobs being retained. We are especially proud that of the jobs we helped create or retain, 4,033 included health care benefits.  

Of the 1,363 clients we worked with in 2022, 736 were women, 424 were Hispanic and 595 fall into the low-wealth category.  In 2022 our clients increased sales by $1,081,573 and received loans totaling $2,900,936.  We accomplished these goals with 3,057 counseling hours and 7,395 training outreach hours.  

MCSC raises the economic, educational, and social levels of entrepreneurs, with a focus on women, low-income individuals, and minorities. Every year we average 80% of our clients being women. While our services assist all women to start and grow a business, one third of our programs are specifically designed to help Hispanic women in three counties. Our services are focused on women who are underemployed, unemployed and/or whose income is in the low to moderate income levels. We have bilingual staff and consultants to onboard and service Spanish and English speaking clients.

Welcome to Mission Community Services Corporation (MCSC) and the Women’s Business Center (WBC). 

MCSC and the WBC offer support to individuals looking at self-employment as a viable option for their next career. Our business center works with start-up and existing businesses too. The services offered include one-on-one private consulting, and business related training classes in both English and Spanish. Many of our services have been pre-paid by your tax dollars.

Many individuals start or acquire businesses with little or no business knowledge, training, or technical advice, and insufficient capital. Before you start or buy a business, please contact us. We can provide you information in regards to developing a business plan, creating an effective marketing strategy, help you with loan packaging, discuss the pros and cons of how to structure or buy your business legally, and a variety of other business related topics.

MCSC is especially interested in helping low-income, minority women and economic development non-profit organizations to improve their business knowledge and get the capital they need. The WBC has a service territory of San Luis Obispo, Kern, and Monterey Counties.

At the same time, the WBC is available to assist lenders and investors with managing the risk with their loan clients, by providing your small business clients with technical assistance, education and support.

MCSC offers weekly e-newsletters to keep our clients, resource partners and supporters informed of upcoming activities and classes, as well as other programs that will be beneficial to any entrepreneur, regardless of where they are in regards to their business maturity.  To sign up for our e-newsletter click here. 

Please feel free to contact us to discuss your business needs and business dreams. From there, together, we can map your path and then be here for you as you bring your dreams to success.

We are “Partners For The Life of Your Business!”

Sincerely,
Maxine Kozler
Executive Director
Mission Community Services Corporation
maxine@mcscorp.org

MCSC History

The idea for MCSC was visualized in 1996 by the organizers of Mission Community Bank.  The organization was chartered to provide specific loan products and small business community development services to low and moderate-income individuals and other entities.
 

Mission Community Bank saw the potential in strengthening entrepreneur success rates through education, training and outreach. It was an opportunity to offer public, non-benefit services to women and low or moderate income individuals who were interested in starting their own businesses, while reassuring banking industry concerns for loan risk reduction.
 

In late 2002, MCSC entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with the Cuesta Small Business Development Center (SBDC) and co-located its office with the SBDC in San Luis Obispo, California.  In March of 2003, MCSC and the SBDC entered into another Memorandum of Understanding with Women’s Economic Ventures (WEV) of Santa Barbara to expand WEV’s 14-week Self-Employment Training (SET) program to San Luis Obispo County.  In May 2003, 27 individuals completed this class in the Mission Business Information Center, in San Luis Obispo.  In December 2003, 23 individuals completed the SET class in San Luis Obispo, and another 15 completed in the spring of 2004. Several of these graduates have subsequently availed themselves of MCSC and SBDC services to continue growth and development of their small business.
 

The Mission Business Information Center, a co-sponsored program by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), MCSC and the SBDC, held its grand opening showcasing many clients and introducing valuable resources to the community.

In August of 2003, the IRS granted approval for MCSC’s 501 (c)3 tax exemption status. In 2006, the Women’s Business Center serving SLO County was formed. In 2021, the WBC serving Kern County was awarded funding from the SBA and MCSC is host to a virtual WBC for the Monterey County region.