Cross-posted from the White House Blog by Valerie Jarrett 

As we implement the Affordable Care Act, we continue listening to the needs of the business community. Based on our many conversations with leaders of our nation’s businesses, large and small, today we are launching Business.USA.gov/healthcare, a one-stop-shop where employers of all sizes can go for information on the Affordable Care Act.

The new site includes a web-based tool that allows employers to get tailored information on how the health law may affect them based on their business’ size, location, and plans for offering health benefits to their workers next year. From tax credits for small businesses to help make coverage affordable, to measures to help slow the growth of health care costs, there are a variety of ways that the Affordable Care Act can help businesses expand health care coverage and compete.

The site leverages the resources of our partners across the federal government to ensure that business owners get comprehensive health care information and easy-to-use tools, such as a timeline of key implementation dates; information about the SHOP Marketplaces and small business tax credits; and resources to help calculate a firm’s number of full-time equivalent employees or determine if the coverage they already offer meets the law’s minimum value standards.

The administration is working with the employer community to ensure the site continues to be a helpful resource for businesses and their employees, including updating the site with additional, timely information, so stay tuned.

Since taking office two weeks ago, Secretary Penny Pritzker has made it clear that engaging with the business community is a top priority.  Her commitment to this effort is evidenced by recent calls to top CEOs: Jim McNerney, President and CEO of Boeing, and Ursula Burns, CEO of Xerox Corporation.

Given her extensive experience in the private sector, Secretary Pritzker understands not only the importance of the Department establishing close ties with the business community, but more importantly what can be learned from meeting with local business leaders (both large and small companies).  It is only through these intimate conversations, that one can adequately understand and further address the issues many businesses face.

During her conversations with CEOs, Secretary Pritzker asked what their biggest challenges were and what how she, as Commerce Secretary, could help companies become more competitive both in U.S and abroad.  The Secretary also established an open line of communication, welcoming feedback from CEOs and business leaders to help her develop strategic goals and her agenda over the next few months. 

Secretary Pritzker’s outreach to the business community is just beginning.  This week marks her first trip as part of an overall listening tour. Conversations such as these are part of her overall commitment to being a strong advocate for U.S businesses to help businesses grow and create jobs to strengthen our economy. 

Guest blog post by Matt Erskine, Acting Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development

Providing office space and support for budding entrepreneurs to develop and grow their businesses while boosting the synergies offered by their developing ideas, skills, and products is a critical economic development strategy.

This is exactly what I saw today in Philadelphia, when I attended the opening of the new Dorrance H. Hamilton Center for Culinary Enterprises (CCE), an innovative facility that will provide shared business space for food entrepreneurs from throughout the Philadelphia region. This center was developed by Philadelphia’s The Enterprise Center, a business accelerator that since 1989 has supported local entrepreneurs and spurred economic growth in Philadelphia, and the Economic Development Administration (EDA), which in 2010 provided $1.5 million to support the construction of the CCE.

The new CCE building contains 13,000 square feet of space, and includes four state-of-the-art commercial kitchens that will be available for rent to culinary entrepreneurs, an eKitchen Multimedia Learning Center, and retail space for tenants.

This morning, U.S. Commerce Secretary John Bryson delivered remarks at an upstate New York manufacturing summit hosted by U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) at RIT’s Center for Student Innovation. He delivered the keynote address, discussing the administration’s initiatives to help businesses “build it here and sell it everywhere” around the world. Rochester, New York, has a long tradition of leadership in manufacturing and technology. Fueled by a well-educated workforce and commitment to entrepreneurship, Rochester has provided a great example of what American innovation can bring to the U.S. economy.
 
While in Rochester, the Secretary had a chance to tour RIT’s construction of their brand new facility, where students will soon be performing cutting-edge research in sustainability. The Commerce Department helped make this facility possible through a $13.1 million grant from Commerce's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).
 
In the afternoon, the Secretary visited a business called Schlegel Systems, Inc., a company that specializes in seals, gaskets and brushes for the building products, automotive and copier industries. The Commerce Department’s Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) in New York is working with Schlegel Systems, Inc. to accelerate new products into the marketplace and expand their markets, along with many other companies. Recent annual data shows that businesses that teamed up with the New York MEP had over $400 million in sales, helping to keep or create nearly 4,000 jobs.