History
The Alaska Business Development Center, Inc. originated in 1978 with a mission to assist Alaska entrepreneurs and small business owners. In 1980, the center received it's nonprofit status and turned a focus to the commercial fishing industry. This industry evolved to be ABDC's niche market and a synergy was created among contracts that were awarded. ABDC focused on assisting those facing financial obstacles and those seeking ways to improve their operations through expanding employment opportunities as well as ones that promoted value-added processing or improved product quality.
In addition to providing assistance specifically to commercial harvesters and other small businesses within the seafood industry, and as a result of the nature of the industry, ABDC's focus narrowed to assisting those residing in the rural areas of Alaska who did not have direct access to professionals. Through various contracts with state and private organizations, ABDC's staff have routinely traveled to all parts of the state to assist with outreach efforts, loan packaging, training, etc.
As a result of working in the individual rural communities, ABDC realized there was a large problem of non-compliance with the IRS among the residents, which resulted in major issues for the individuals who were trying to start or expand their business. In an effort to assist with the problem, the center created ABDC's Volunteer Tax & Loan Program (VTLP), which units teams of volunteers that travel to the communities to prepare tax returns for the individual residents at no charge to the taxpayer. The taxpayer becomes compliant with the IRS and the volunteer receives hands-on experience as well as a life experience of traveling to rural Alaska and meeting wonderful people.
In more recent years, the VTLP program has evolved to include not only tax preparation but also education on specific tax topics and assistance with IRS controversy issues for low income and English-as-a-second language taxpayers.
The newest addition to the services and programs that ABDC manages is a Individual Development Account (IDA) program. Individuals who qualify are enrolled into a matched savings program where they are able to save for predetermined assets such as a house, small business or higher education. The program is currently being developed and will be rolled out in 2008.