The Utah Assistive Technology Foundation
(UATF) is an initiative of the Utah Assistive
Technology Program
No matter how
we travel,
we are all
on the same
journey.
Utah Assistive
Technology
Program
Goal
Our goal is to help people
use technology to be more
independent in education,
employment, and
community settings.
Mission
The Utah Assistive
Technology Program (UATP)
gets assistive technology
(AT) into the hands of
people who need it.
Location
We are located at the Center
for Persons with Disabilities
(CPD) on the Utah State
University (USU) campus.
Utah Assistive
Technology
Foundation (UATF)
UATF is a private, non-profit foundation
which provides low-interest loans to
qualified Utah residents with disabilities to
purchase assistive technology devices,
modified vans, and home modifications, in
collaboration with Zion’s Bank of Utah. Loan
minimum is $500.
UATF 1-800-524-5152
www.uatf.org
Utah Assistive
Technology
Foundation
UATF has helped more than
1,600 individuals with
disabilities obtain AT devices
worth over $9 million.
What Loan Recipients Say:
“Without your program, we
wouldn’t have been able to
buy the Braille note. Our
daughter has gone back to
school and is doing very
well.”
“It would be the only way we
could receive any equipment
we might need. It’s a great
program. You know someone
cares.”
Telework Loans
1st Telework Partner
Zions Bank
Struggled to find
applicants
Advertised through
different means, but
generally people with
disabilities called to
ask if we knew of or
could offer telework
jobs
 Approached Utah Microenterprise
Loan Fund about a possible
partnership.
 Beneficial for us to partner with
good microenterprise bank that
had established clientele,
marketing strategies, and small
business expertise that could offer
small business loans to people
with disabilities with low to
moderate credit scores and
income.
 Beneficial for UMLF to receive
partial guarantee of loans
 New market (People with
disabilities)
 Additional funding
UATF
Small
Business
Loans
• Available to Utahns
with disabilities who
want to start their own
business.
• Loans available from
$500 up to $25,000.
• Simple process: to
apply visit uatf.org or
call 1-800-524-5152
Above: Gerald Larsen, a left-leg
amputee, used a small business
loan to purchase an automatic
semi-truck and now successfully
contracts with a large company
delivering loads regionally.
Utah Microenterprise Loan Fund
Who We Are:
The Utah Microenterprise
Loan Fund is a private, nonprofit, multi-bank
community development
financial institution, (CDFI),
whose mission is to provide
financing and management
support to entrepreneurs in
start-up and existing firms
that do not have access to
traditional funding sources.
How we’re
helping:
Over the past eighteen
years, the Utah
Microenterprise Loan
Fund has worked in
partnership with
members of Utah’s
financial banking
community to help
launch or expand more
than 760 small
businesses across the
state.
 Through our loans ($1,000$25,000), we’ve been able to
help people with low to
moderate incomes supplement
their earnings.
 We’ve helped women find the
flexibility they need to balance
their work and families.
 We’ve also helped minorities,
immigrants and people who
have been injured in the
workplace find economic
security through ownership and
operation of their own small
businesses.
Application
Process
Goal is to increase
employment
opportunities and
positive outcomes
for Utahns with
disabilities.
 No application or loan
origination fees
 Length of loan is determined on
a case-by-case basis, but
maximum is five years
 Loans offered at prime rate
fixed
 May apply to start or expand a
small business, including a farm
 Any adult with a disability may
apply. Must verify disability
through letter from a medical
professional or VR counselor or
proof of enrollment in SSI or
SSDI.
Our application includes:
1) Applicant information
UATF Application
UATF determines if the
applicant is qualified
though our program.
2) Verified disability
3) Employment status
4) Monthly income
5) Employment barriers, including
fatigue, lack of transportation, lack of
job opportunities, inaccessible
environments, demanding work
schedule, personal assistance, other)
6) Amount and purpose
7) Type of device or equipment seeking
funding for
8) Employment goals
9) Any other funding sources
10) Signature/date
Utah
Microenterprise
Loan Fund
Application
UMLF loan requirements:
 Detailed loan application
 Business Plan
 3 years tax returns
 Applications are presented in
person.
 Decisions are made within two
business days.
Loans are funded 50 –
50 or 40 - 60, between
UATF and UMLF,
depending on the
amount. UMLF makes
the loan determinations
and services the loans.
 Loan decisions are based on
your business plan that shows
you understand your proposed
business, know your customers
and know how to sell enough to
make your business successful
as well as your experience,
talent and dedication.
 Loans include:
Telework/Small
Business Loans
23 loans total worth
$273,929. Some
recipients have received
more than one loan.
First loan was made in
August of 2011 for
$7,500, most recent
2013
 trucking,
 piano teaching;
 gluten-free, sweetish delights, and
sweet potato bakeries;
 custom leather shop;
 auto diagnostics;
 powder coating;
 marriage and personal counseling;
 catering;
 gourmet foods;
 cleaning;
 livestock;
 hot chocolate;
 welding;
 handy-man services;
 tree/brush removal;
 consignment company;
 music amplification.
Marketing UATF Small Business Loans
• Brochures
• Presentations
• Social
Networking
• News Media
• Conferences
• Trainings
• Fairs
• Online Resources
Notes & Tips
 Coordinated effort
 UATF is generally marketed in the same way/time as UATP’s
other programs.
 Branding, branding, branding…..
 Colors, logos, messaging, etc. should be the same across all
mediums
 Get personal quotes & take photos
 Show success stories!
 Info/photo release of loan recipients
 Keep them in one place.
 Track referrals
 Provide questionnaires to recipients
 Track online mentions
 Use Google alerts
 Make it a staff effort!
Verbiage….
 Don’t only use the term ‘telework’.
 Misconceptions
 Limiting
 Include small business in your terminology, if applicable.
 Help people understand that disability qualification can
include things they may not realize.
 Get a motto!
 UATF: Independence is priceless, we can help!
Brochure Dissemination
 Where:
 Small Business
Development Centers in
Utah
 Vocational Rehabilitation
 Agrability
 Transition Fairs
 Centers for Independent
Living
 Disability Organizations
 Chambers of Commerce
 Local Libraries
 How:
 Snail Mail
 Email
 In-person
 Brochures Tips:
 Include a QR code
 Create a Spanish version
 Make an electronic
version
Presentations, Conferences,
Fairs and Trainings
 What to attend/present:
 Health Fairs
 Transition Student Fairs
 Community events
 Disability agency fairs
 Senior conventions
 Voc Rehab
 Centers for Independent Living
 How to present:
 Make it a point to add in a bit about the program if it is during a
training or conference. Ask the presenter if you can take a
minute.
 Include large posters with program info & pictures of previous
recipients.
 Bring an email listserv sign-up sheet.
News Media
 Public Service Announcements
 Check with your local TV & Radio Stations
 Press Releases
 Send 1-page success stories to local media
 Include data and program info.
 If your program is located in a college town, utilize
student mediums. The USU Statesman has a 12,000
person circulation.
Social Networking
 Blog: www.utahatprogram.blogspot.com
 Stories & photos
 Resources
 Email subscription widget
 Facebook:
facebook.com/UtahAssistiveTechnologyProgram
 Pinterest: Utah AT Program
 Twitter: @utahATprogram
 Youtube: utahATprogram
Tips:
• Include tags on posts.
• Include pictures
whenever possible.
• Be consistent. Don’t go
for weeks without
posting.
• Videos & posts don’t
have to be perfect, but
rather include good
content.
Online Resources
 Start a listserv of interested and relevant people to send
emails to, like:
 eNewsletters
 Blog posts
 News updates
 Ask other related agencies, bloggers, etc. to put up info
about your program. Do the same for them.
 Website
 Branding!
 Up-to-date info
 Email subscription widget
 Links to social media
 Check to make sure your info is right & included on referral
websites, from 211 to state agency lists.
 Use Alexa rankings to see referring sites.
Example
Don and Penny McMahon adopted Isaac 20 years ago. While
making Isaac part of the family was easy, transportation was
another story. Isaac's lack of mobility due to some disabilities
made it difficult for the family to take Isaac to appointments
and outings.
Don said, "In my own life as a caregiver for a wheelchair
bound 19-year old young man, Penny and I were becoming
trapped in our home along with Isaac because of lack of
transportation that was suited to him.“
The McMahons decided to apply for a low-interest loan from
the Utah Assistive Technology Foundation to purchase an
adapted van.
“Life is so much better because if we need to go somewhere
either one of us can just wheel Isaac into the van and take
off,” Don said.
The UATF is an initiative of the UATP that provides low-interest
loans to Utahns with disabilities to purchase assistive
technology.
“I have seen the Utah Assistive Technology Program make a
difference in people’s lives and give them to freedom to be
involved in the community and by providing technology that
changes people’s lives,” Don said. “I highly recommend this
program.”
Chynna’s
Kitchen
After 20-year-old Utahan, Chynna
Stanely, learned she had Celiac
Disease, her family realized that
finding and affording gluten-free
food was going to be a challenge.
Much of Steven’s family has gluten
intolerance or Celiac Disease,
making
family-get-togethers
difficult.
From these difficulties, Steven got
the idea to start a business to
create gluten-free convenience
foods. The first step was to finance
the business, and through the
Utah Microenterprise Loan Fund,
Steven received a loan from the
Utah
Assistive
Technology
Foundation.
The
UATF
is
a
nonprofit that provides smallbusiness loans to Utahan’s with
disabilities.
Thus was born Chynna’s Kitchen, named
for Steven’s daughter. The business,
located in Heber City, Utah; is a family
business and a work in progress, but is
officially producing gluten-free food for
distribution to grocery stores statewide.
Chynna’s Kitchen specializes in frozen
pizzas, corndogs, chicken nuggets, and
cookie dough among other convenience
foods. Some of their products are already
in some stories, like Day’s Market in Heber
City. More food will hit 22 store shelves in
Utah the first of 2012, which is being
distributed by Associated Foods.
Telework
Example
A self-described rugged individualist wasn’t sure
how he could continue to work after losing a leg
as a result of artery-clearing surgery.
Sixty-four-year-old Gerald Larsen said his work
ethic is part of his lifestyle, especially from living
in Alaska wilderness for 20 years on his own,
minus his team of sled dogs.
But after retiring from law enforcement and truck
driving, Larsen wasn’t sure what he could go back
to work doing. He spent a month working at the
Census, and decided he was not an office worker.
Larsen had driven semi-truck loads for 14 years
before his surgery, but since he had no left leg,
he couldn’t do the clutch. He decided to look for a
truck that operated on automatic so he could take
a required federal test to prove he could drive
and maintain a truck.
He had to look no further than Vocational Rehab
in Ogden, which had bought an automatic semitruck.
The loan for the truck came from the UATF, a private, non-profit organization
that works with the UMLF to provide low-interest loan to Utahns with
disabilities to purchase assistive technology to start or expand small
businesses.
Larsen said, “The folks at Microenterprise helped me develop my concept and
business plan. The experience of starting my own business was scary, but the
UATF and the Microenterprise Loan Fund helped me understand what to expect
when owning a small business,” Larsen said.
“You can think about things or do nothing but hang out, and I enjoy that time,”
Larsen said. “I’ve become a good driver, and it is nice to be good at what you
do. I will retire to part-time driving when I’m 70, and I will probably die driving
truck.”
Utah Assistive
Technology Program
For more information about
UATP, please call us at
800.524.5152 or
435.797.3824, or visit our
website www.uatpat.org
or blog
utahatprogram.blogspot.com
Find us on
Facebook,
YouTube, Pinterest
& Twitter!