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The University of Arkansas 鈥� Fort Smith Center for Economic Development celebrated another milestone on Wednesday (Aug. 13). The Arkansas Small Business and Technology Development Center (ASBTDC), a free resource for new and existing small businesses, housed inside the CED鈥檚 Bakery District location in Fort Smith, opened a new office in Van Buren. 

Ty Barrett was named the new director of the ASBTDC regional office in March. Now, he is continuing his efforts to meet clients where they are. 

Barrett鈥檚 area spans from Mountainburg to Mena. However, he said an office only in Fort Smith can create challenges for clients when accessing services such as one-on-one consultations, training, marketing, and market data collection. His second office, located in the new building at 111 N. 12^th St., helps reduce that barrier. 

鈥淚 cover a four-county region [Crawford, Sebastian, Scott, and Polk] so this helps me serve clients in Crawford County a lot easier versus having them travel to Fort Smith,鈥� Barrett said. 鈥淲hen someone is getting a new business started and they have another job they鈥檙e attending, this location makes it easier for them to access our services.鈥� 

Lacy Gasparotto worked with the ASBTDC when she was getting her business, , off the ground, and was in attendance for the opening of the secondary location. She will celebrate the first anniversary of her business at the end of August and highly recommends others use the ASBTDC tools and services to start their own small business.  

鈥淕et into the ASBTDC as soon as possible, even if you just have an inkling of maybe what you want to start, even if it鈥檚 five or 10 years down the road, but it鈥檚 an idea right now,鈥� she said. 鈥淭alking and learning about it now might mean it鈥檚 done sooner than you expect because they have a lot of guidance and information that, prior to starting your business, is important.鈥�  

Barrett will be at the Van Buren location weekly on Wednesdays from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.  

 For information about the ASBTDC, visit https://uafs.edu/ced/asbtdc/index.php.