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Public: Recent News

Years of hard work and fundraising will come to fruition here on Monday, June 4, when NC LEAP becomes a reality for low-income entrepreneurs of North Carolina.

The official ribbon-cutting will transpire at 10:30 a.m. at the Nussbaum Center for Entrepreneurship. Shortly thereafter, beginning at 12:30 p.m., small business owners will receive free legal audits from NC LEAP volunteer attorneys.

A project of the North Carolina Bar Association and the NCBA Foundation, working in conjunction with the NCBA’s Business Law and Corporate Counsel sections, NC LEAP stands for North Carolina Lawyers for Entrepreneurs Assistance Program.

“NC LEAP will provide low wealth, small business owners with legal assistance in starting or growing their businesses through by matching clients with a pro bono attorney,” said NC LEAP’s founding director, Milan Pham. “NC LEAP will also provide regional legal clinics and seminars and develop self-help legal materials to educate small business owners on specific legal issues.”

Clients must apply for NC LEAP services and must meet the income and asset guidelines. While the legal services will be delivered free of cost, clients will need to pay the cost of any filing fees or administrative costs associated with their legal issue.  Individuals must make no more than 80% of the state median income for a family of their size and must generally have less than $8,000 in savings.

The regional rollout of the statewide pro bono business and transactional law program for low-wealth, small business owners is big news to a number of Triad-area business owners. From June 4 forward, NC LEAP will accept clients who have existing businesses or who plan to open businesses in Alamance, Caswell, Davidson, Davie, Forsyth, Guilford, Randolph, Rockingham and Stokes counties.

Volunteer attorneys, who have already donated some 2,800 pro bono hours to this project throughout North Carolina, will be on duty to assist the small business owners.

Space is limited and first-come, first-serve reservations are encouraged through the offices of the NC LEAP director at the N.C. Bar Center in Cary; please contact Pham via 1-800-662-7407 or 919-677-0561.

The Nussbaum Center is located at 2007 Yanceyville St. in Greensboro.

Establishment of NC LEAP is built upon the belief that entrepreneurship is a key to North Carolina’s economic future because traditional North Carolina businesses are declining as the state grows. In addition, despite the state’s anticipated growth, rural areas of the state continue to have high concentrations of poverty.

Thus, entrepreneurship may indeed be the key to North Carolina’s continued economic growth and to assisting individuals or families in improving their economic reality.  North Carolina’s economy is changing. As more and more traditional North Carolina businesses down-size or close, the employment base in many rural counties has been decimated.

According to the North Carolina Institute for Rural Entrepreneurship, entrepreneurs play a powerful role in the economic well-being of rural communities. Today 95% of all rural establishments have fewer that 50 employees. According to the N.C. Rural Center, small firms in North Carolina account for nearly all net job growth.

The Triad and surrounding counties have been hard hit by the decline in furniture manufacturing, textiles and the loss of family farms, making the location of the NC LEAP rollout all the more important.