Excerpted from the United States Career Guide

Business associations throughout the United States offer services that strengthen the business community and help professionals achieve success. These groups create professional networking opportunities, provide press coverage and membership directories, facilitate contact with potential customers and often offer connections to peers in other regions of the United States and other countries.

Business Organizations

The National Urban League of Young Professionals (NULYP)
http://www.nul.org/content/national-urban-league-young-professionals-nulyp
The National Urban League Young Professionals (NULYP) is a National Urban League volunteer auxiliary that encourages young professionals between the ages of 21 and 40 to empower their communities and change lives through the Urban League movement. The NULYP supports emerging local leaders by providing opportunities for personal and professional development, networking, volunteering and leadership. As one component of the National Urban League, Young Professional Chapters across the country focus on increasing civil engagement and leadership, civil rights and racial justice, economic and youth empowerment, health and quality of life for members of their communities. Chapters offer workshops and seminars that empower their members, develop members’ leadership abilities and foster legislative lobbying. The National Urban League website offers a comprehensive list of local chapters at http://www.nul.org/content/nulyp-local-chapters.

NULYP
The National Urban League
120 Wall Street
New York, NY 10005
USA
Tel: +1 (212) 558-5300
Fax: +1 (212) 344-5332

Industry Organizations and Councils

US Small Business Administration (SBA)
http://www.sba.gov/
The US Small Business Administration (SBA) is an independent agency of the US federal government that counsels, assists and protects the interests of small businesses, encourages the establishment of new businesses, preserves free competitive enterprise, and seeks to maintain and strengthen the US economy. Over the past 61 years, SBA has provided an array of programs to protect and encourage small businesses, including financial and federal contract procurement assistance, management assistance, and specialized outreach to women, minorities and armed forces veterans. The SBA provides free Entrepreneurial Development counseling for small businesses, and low-cost training to nascent entrepreneurs and established small businesses in over 1,800 locations throughout the United States and US territories. The SBA conducts a vast array of research on American small businesses and the small business environment, assesses the impact of the regulatory burden on behalf of small businesses and testifies on behalf of small business interests before Congress. The SBA also provides specialized advice and assistance in international trade. The SBA's Small Business Planner, Small Business Development Centers, Women's Business Ownership Office, US Export Assistance Centers, counseling services, funding programs, extensive network of field offices, online training programs, regulatory information and resource library are designed to enhance the capabilities of small business owners.

US Small Business Administration
409 3rd Street, Southwest
Washington, DC 20416
USA
Tel: +1 (800) 827-5722
Email: answerdesk@sba.gov

Networking Groups

Lions Clubs
http://www.lionsclubs.org/EN/index.php
Lions Clubs empower volunteers to serve their communities, meet humanitarian needs, encourage peace and promote international understanding. Today, with more than 1.3 million members in 206 countries and geographical areas, the Lions Clubs have expanded their focus to help meet the ever-increasing needs of the global community. Lions Clubs programs include health initiatives, community and environmental programs, international relations projects, youth mentoring activities, literacy projects, and disaster preparedness and relief programs.

Lions Clubs
300 West 22nd Street
Oak Brook, IL 60523-8842
Tel: +1 (630) 571-5466
Fax: +1 (630) 571-8890
Email: extension@lionsclubs.org

Chambers of Commerce

Many cities and towns have chambers of commerce that are dedicated to increasing local economic performance and that can provide information about local employers, industries and economic conditions. Meetings are excellent opportunities to network with area business leaders and learn about business topics of local concern. To find state and local chamber of commerce groups, search the US Chamber’s online directory by state, city or zip code. (http://www.uschamber.com/chambers/directory/default.htm).

Chamber of Commerce of the United States
http://www.uschamber.com/
1615 H Street, Northwest
Washington, DC 20062-2000
USA
Tel: +1 (202) 659-6000

Telephone Directories

WhitePages
http://www.whitepages.com/
WhitePages is the leading provider of contact information for people and businesses in the US, powering over two billion searches on over 1,500 sites. WhitePages offers a free, searchable database of telephone numbers and address information for more than 200 million US adults. This user-friendly website allows the seeker to enter specific information about a person or business and receive a list of possible matches. WhitePages also helps users find street addresses and has a reverse telephone number index and a zip code database. It allows users to anonymously send an email or text message to a contact. WhitePages offers several mobile products, including a mobile website and popular iPhone, Android, HP webOS and BlackBerry applications that provide users with robust people and business search capabilities, integrated GPS for maps and directions and reverse phone lookup.

White Pages
1301 Fifth Avenue, Suite 1600
Seattle, WA 98101
USA
Tel: +1 (206) 973-5100
Fax: +1 (206) 621-1375

Major Trade Publications

National Trade and Professional Associations Directory
http://www.columbiabooks.com
The National Trade and Professional Associations Directory provides information about 7,800 national and more than 8,000 state/regional associations, professional societies, trade groups and labor unions and their 20,000 executives. Each directory entry lists the year the company was founded, historical notes, member fees, headquarters contact information, staff and membership size, operating budget range, key executives or officers, upcoming meetings and serial publications. This resource is also available online at http://www.associationexecs.com/.

Publisher: Columbia Books, Inc.
8120 Woodmont Avenue, Suite 110
Bethesda, MD 20814
USA
Tel: +1 (202) 464-1662
Fax: +1 (202) 464-1775 
Email: info@columbiabooks.com

This is just a short sample of what you’ll find in over 100 pages of information in the complete United States Guide.