August/September 2021 - Economic Development News & Updates

Volume 17| August/September 2021

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT NEWS & INVESTOR UPDATES

Have exciting business information you want us to share? Email Us Here!

-FROM THE CEO'S DESK-

ORGANIZATIONAL UPDATES FROM

CEO, DAVE WHITE

Read Dave's Letter Here

- VOLT INSTITUTE UPDATES-

LEARN ABOUT THE NEW UPDATES AND ADDITIONS TO VOLT INSTITUTE

Learn More Here

CONGRATULATIONS TO O'DELL ENGINEERING

ON BEING NAMED A 2021 CIRCLE OF EXCELLENCE WINNER!

CA RELIEF GRANT UPDATES

Greetings Small Business owners - FINALLY we have some great news!

We have been waiting for months for an update about the California Relief Grant - Gov. Newsom had promised another $1.5 Billion would be added to the funding, allowing more grants to be paid (and new grants to be applied for!), but we haven't heard anything since my last update several months ago.

The CA Relief Grant is now going to be OPEN again. Grants (not loans, so they will not need to be paid back!) between $5,000 and $25,000 based upon your 2019 Gross Revenues will be available to eligible small businesses and non-profits affected by COVID-19 and the subsequent business shut-downs in 2020 and 2021. Please know that only 1 grant will be offered to an owner, even if the owner owns several businesses. Many businesses I know have already applied for this grant, but haven't been funded yet - they will receive priority in the first two weeks, and new applications will be allowed as well.

Here is the schedule:

Round 7: Waitlisted applicants from certain previous rounds:

Tuesday, August 3rd through Thursday, September 16th

Round 8: Nonprofit cultural institutions only:

Friday, August 27th through Wednesday, September 8th

Round 9: New Applicants and Waitlisted applicants from previous rounds:

Thursday, September 9th through Thursday, September 30th

The website to monitor applications already submitted, or to submit a new application during Round 9 is www.CAReliefGrant.com

If you have already submitted an application, there is nothing for you to do unless you want to log into your account and confirm that all the documentation requested has been submitted properly. This is the time to correct any errors in the submitted document to ensure you have a clean application.

New applicants can't submit anything until the New Applications window opens 9/9 through 9/30, but you should review the website to ensure that you obtain and prepare all the documents needed to apply when the window does open. This is likely the last time this grant opportunity will be offered, unless additional COVID-19 DELTA variant concerns cause additional business shut-downs in the coming months.

Best wishes to all small businesses!

Howard White

Small Business Consultant for the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) and SCORE

Mobile: 925.548.3674

Email: HowardSWhite@aol.com

HR CONCIERGE NEWS AND UPDATES

HR CONCIERGE PROGRAM GROWS TEAM AND OFFERINGS

In response to investor demand, the Talent Development team at Opportunity Stanislaus is growing its recruitment capabilities by hiring new staff. A Stanislaus County native, Amanda Martinez serves as a Human Resources Specialist and Recruiter for Opportunity Stanislaus. Amanda has over 10 years of HR experience to our organization, including many years serving the health care industry where she provided support in areas such as employee relations; performance management; policies and procedures; recruitment; and new hire onboarding.

The department announced its new guidelines earlier this month, which define the number of annual recruitments by investor level and which now offer help from placement agencies partners following the completion of 30-day recruitment windows.

The Hiring Head Start program, which began as a way to match investors with motivated jobseekers before unemployment runs out September 6, now has over 450 applicants. To receive an excel spreadsheet with applicant information contact Amber Edwards at:

aedwards@opportunitystanislaus.com

The program is expected to continue through the second week of September.

OPPORTUNITY STANISLAUS HOSTS CROWS LANDING PRESENTATION

Opportunity Stanislaus Board Members, Investors and guests gathered in-person at the OS Board Room on August 6th to hear a presentation by David Leamon and Keith Boggs on the Crow’s Landing industrial business park Update. Another 20 plus people attended the presentation via zoom. Stanislaus County continues to be proactive in meeting the needs of its residents and future development partners for the Crows Landing Industrial Business Park, a 1,528-acre site that will bring jobs to the county, development opportunities, and preserve agricultural land by reusing the former Crows Landing airfield. The presentation is attached.

To view the presentation, click here.

OPPORTUNITY STANISLAUS ATTENDS WESTPACK EVENT

Opportunity Stanislaus was represented at the annual Westpack Conference in Anaheim from August 10th through the 12th. Opportunity Stanislaus was part of the California Central Valley Economic Development Corporation coalition that sponsored a booth for the event. For the past 35 years, WestPack has continually united the entire packaging community from design engineers to distribution leaders to find the most creative packaging solutions and efficient automation systems. With over 70 countries represented, and over 1,400 exhibitors represented, over 13,000 attendees walked through the conference. The CCVEDC was able to generate over 20 new leads to contribute to economic development opportunities in the central valley.

RESOURCES

Need Help Recruiting?

Check out our

Selling Stanislaus

HR Recruitment Guide!