Conroe - Montgomery Edition | June 2021

Lone Star College Small Business Development Center to be dissolved

Lone Star College spring graduations up 5%from2020

BY EMILY JAROSZEWSKI

AIDING BUSINESSES

The Lone Star College Small Business Development Center will be dissolved July 31, but the SBDC will continue to provide its services to businesses in the Montgomery County and North Houston area, according to Steve Lawrence, executive director for the Texas Gulf Coast Network. “Despite the fact that we’re going to kind of go our separate paths, the SBDC services are all available and fully available to the small businesses, and they’ll continue to be so,” Lawrence said. The SBDC helped business owners adapt to new online business models amid the COVID-19 pandemic and provided additional marketing services, said Kyle Scott, Lone Star College vice chancellor of strategic priorities. “You need a business plan; you need to figure out your target market; you need to know how to identify the lease space or rent space to go through those contracts; ‘how do I get a loan from the bank?’” Scott said. “And [Lone Star College’s SBDC] pro- vides you with all of those services.” LSC has partnered with the SBDC for over 35 years and serves 800- 1,000 clients annually, Lawrence said. In the Houston area, there are 32 SBDCs that abide by an act of Con- gress known as the Small Business Development Center Act, according

BY EMILY JAROSZEWSKI

Although the Lone Star College Small Business Development Center will dissolve this summer, businesses can still receive services via nearby partners, such as the University of Houston and Sam Houston State University. The Lone Star College SBDC will dissolve JULY 31.

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Bachelor’s degrees awarded Among the 9,295 graduates at Lone Star College System this spring, the college awarded its first bachelor’s degrees. Officials said out of about 1,100 community colleges nationwide, LSCS ranked second in awarding associate degrees in 2018-19, the latest available data. • Bachelor of Science in nursing • Bachelor of Applied Technology in cybersecurity • Bachelor of Applied Science in energy, manufacturing and trades management SOURCE: LONE STAR COLLEGE SYSTEM/ COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER Degrees available: • Bachelor of Arts Lone Star College System saw a 5% increase in total graduates at its spring commencement compared to 2020, according to a release. “Despite the COVID-19 pan- demic, the winter storm and the general disruptions in their lives, Lone Star College students were able to remain focused and accomplish something that will change their lives for the better,” LSCS Chancellor Stephen Head said in the release. Additionally, LSCS awarded bachelor’s degrees for the first time.

LSC has partnered with the SBDC for more than 35 YEARS.

The center has serviced 800-1,000 CLIENTS annually in the Montgomery County and North Houston area. SOURCES: LONE STAR COLLEGE SYSTEM, TEXAS GULF COAST NETWORK/ COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER

withdrawal. Hardman said he believes the subsidence factor is not applicable to Montgomery County. He also said the county has limited subsidence monitoring equipment, and most of the equipment is located in the south of the county, which is experiencing more subsidence because of pumping fromHarris County. “Our metric would be artificially skewed higher and artificially restrict us in the future,” he said. “Think of an aquifer as a bathtub with a piece of string sitting over the center of it rep- resenting a county line. If you start to to Lawrence. SBDC programs within Texas are partially funded by state and federal dollars. After July 31, the University of Hous- ton, SamHouston State University and other nearby partners will split the Lone Star College SBDC services. “The Lone Star College team, the people who we’ve been working with for the last 35 years, as we get towards the end of July, they’ll tran- sition their clients to [other SBDCs],” he said. Businesses interested in receiving services from the SBDC can visit www.sbdc.uh.edu.

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LSGCD asks county commissioners to adopt resolution At the May 25 commissioners court meeting, Harry Hardman, president of the Lone Star Groundwater Conser- vation District, asked Montgomery remove water from one side, water on the other side goes down because aquifers don’t know or respect county lines.” BY EVA VIGH

However, many residents and stakeholders, particularly in The Woodlands, have pleaded with the LSGCD to keep a subsidence met- ric. Residents have cited property damage from shifting ground levels, and data from the Harris-Galveston Subsidence District shows subsidence occurring. Commissioners did not comment as to a resolution.

County commissioners to adopt a resolution supporting desired future conditions—or long-term goals—for the region’s aquifer system that excludes a subsidence metric. The LSGCD is the entity that regulates groundwater in Montgom- ery County, and subsidence is the gradual sinking of the earth that can be caused by excessive groundwater

CONROE - MONTGOMERY EDITION • JUNE 2021