When we think of the effects of flooding and natural disasters, we immediately think of the homes and personal property that were wiped out. But we must also consider the impact of the loss to businesses. After all, if a community is going to recover, the regrowth of the business sector is critical.

This week in our Community Matters program, our guest is Kelly Manning, State Director of the Small Business Development Center, which has programs available to help businesses recover.

Because the state of Colorado was so to obtain Federal Disaster declaration, assistance became available soon after the flooding. Which also means that businesses have to move quickly to apply for funding. The deadline is 60 days after a disaster declaration, in this case November 14^th, for businesses that have been physically devastated by flooding to submit their applications.

The SBDC has consulting services available to help those businesses with the process – go to their website at www.coloradosbdc.org/consulting/disaster-relief

There are also Economic Injury Disaster loans (EIDL) available to businesses that suffer indirect impacts of the flooding, such as loss of customers or business, rather than physical damage. Of course, that impact may take some time to determine, which is why the due date for that application is June 16, 2014. Again, SBDC can help with the application process as well.

In the second half of our program, our guest is Sondra Smith of Level (3) Cares, a corporate social responsibility program that has provided assistance to Colorado flooding victims, Hurricane Sandy and the tornado in Moore, Oklahoma.

Sondra explains the various social responsibility strategies that Level (3) employs, including collecting and matching donations, delivering needed supplies and providing volunteer opportunities for their employees that make a difference in the community.

Learn more about recovery efforts - Listen Saturday at 10:00 AM on KNUS 710 – Please let us know what you think of our program, either by commenting here or on Facebook at Connect & Collaborate with ICOSA or join the discussion on Twitter @ICOSAMagazine.

Community Matters is a monthly feature on Connect and Collaborate with Cristin Tarr, the Managing Director, and Co-Founder of Business Service Corps. Her company works with corporations on community and employee engagement strategy, offering educational workshops to build, support and measure Corporate Social Responsibility practices in the workplace.