Coastal Community Bank launched the Coastal Business Resources online Portal, created to help local businesses easily find help, resources, and tips wherever they are in their business journey. The Portal will continue to be updated and changed, reflecting the growing needs of the local business community.

“Coastal Bankers are regularly asked for business resources and support outside of lending and banking,” said Koren Smith, SVP Regional Manager/Retail Innovation Manager. “We wanted to provide an all-inclusive place for local businesses to turn to for tips, local events, resources like chambers and business associations, and other resources that can help them from startup to growth mode. If you’re new to business or already established, the Portal can help.”

Smith explained that the Bank has been asking and surveying businesses for the past year about their business concerns, needs, and how they prefer to receive information. The Portal is a result of those conversations and surveys. As business needs change, the Portal will continue to add new resources and support and is available to all businesses to use, she said.

“For 25 years, Coastal has been helping businesses fight to win. We’re always looking for new ways to help, and we think this will,” she said

Businesses can benefit from the local event calendar that includes Coastal and local community business events, helpful videos, articles for all business stages, and many other resources.

“We have many great business associations, chambers, groups, and state and local sources available to help businesses. Finding and sifting through all the different websites can be overwhelming. We wanted to help make things a little easier by putting them in one place so that businesses can get back to business,” Smith said.

The Portal includes the following resources:

• Local event calendar for businesses
• People and Hiring resources
• Marketing and Industry Research Tools
• Chambers of Commerce
• Snohomish Business Associations
• Washington State Business Resources
• Federal Government Business Resources
• Trade and Niche Business Resources
• Articles for all stages of business
• Fraud and Security Resources

Businesses and organizations can also submit business resources or business event items they would like included through a form on the Portal. Visitors can also sign up to be notified by email of local business events, new resources, and news.

“We wanted to make it easy for the local business community to receive and submit resources so others can benefit,” Smith said.

Koren Smith is an SVP, Regional Manager/Retail Innovation Manager at Coastal Community Bank. For more information, contact Koren or a lender at one of Coastal’s 14 local branches. www.coastalbank.com Member FDIC. Equal Housing Lender.