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The partnership will provide unique training and technical assistance, job retention services, and individual coaching sessions directly to small business owners. Lake EDC is utilizing USDA grants to provide small business support to business owners.
“Lake EDC has a fundamental belief in securing and supporting our small businesses through retention, creation, and expansion,” said Nicole Flora, economic recovery coordinator at Lake EDC. “Our partnership with Downtown Strategies fulfills these initiatives by providing our community with direct, private consulting and small business support. We feel hopeful that through this direct approach and partnership, Lake County’s small businesses will flourish.”
“Our team has created practical training, tutorials, and unique opportunities for sharing and collaboration for communities to provide directly to their local businesses,” said Jenn Gregory, president of Downtown Strategies.
This partnership includes quarterly live training sessions, customized support, and one-on-one coaching for businesses most in need of technical assistance. Sessions focus on business modernization, omnichannel retailing, and seasonal opportunities for business growth and development.
Quarterly reporting will be provided to the Lake EDC that outlines the deliverables and impact provided to the community.
“Retail Strategies, the parent company to Downtown Strategies, is excited to be working with Lake EDC to take a deeper look into the market and provide small business assistance,” said Matthew Tate, director of West Coast business development for Retail Strategies. “The Lake EDC is taking the responsible approach to supplying their community with the tools for business retention and education. Our team believes this partnership will produce positive outcomes and economic growth on the heels of the pandemic.”
The first two webinar trainings are scheduled for June and July.
E-tail Strategies: Get Your Business Online!
June 8, noon
In this training, Jenn Gregory will discuss omnichannel strategy, national retail trends, and the future of retail. Additionally, she will cover best practices and real-life examples of successful implementation of omnichannel retail strategies by peer small businesses.
Restaurant Recovery Strategies for Success
July 27, 9 a.m.
During this 60-minute live training, Elliott Cook will identify tangible and implementable strategies for restauranteurs to meet consumer needs and tighten up their operations.
Visit Lake EDC’s website at www.LakeCountyCaEDC.org/services for more information and registration details.
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- Written by: California Department of Food and Agriculture
The comment period closes on June 16 at 5 p.m. PDT.
SWEEP is focused on achieving water conservation and greenhouse gas emission reductions from improvements and enhancements to on-farm irrigation systems using water efficiency technologies.
Since the program was established in 2014, more than 800 projects have been funded.
In October 2020, CDFA’s Environmental Farming Act Science Advisory Panel, acting on requests from stakeholders, convened an ad hoc advisory group to help propose updates to the program. The ad hoc group was charged with addressing three primary focus areas:
1. Considering SWEEP’s ability to help farmers improve water use efficiency, what is working well? What might SWEEP seek to improve? How might SWEEP evolve to help farmers address new resource management challenges?
2. How might SWEEP improve participation by agricultural operations that have historically faced barriers in accessing or utilizing the program?
3. How might promotion and coordination of SWEEP be improved with irrigation districts, groundwater sustainability agencies, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and other potential partners?
The 41-member ad hoc advisory group attended three all-day meetings (virtually) to prepare the recommendations. The recommendations cover diverse themes, including the streamlining of applications, addressing language barriers, improving technical assistance, and considering region-specific needs.
“I am so grateful to the members of the ad hoc advisory group for their significant contributions of effort and time to this process,” said CDFA Secretary Karen Ross. “We look forward to further dialogue with the agricultural community about these recommendations and their integration into the SWEEP program.”
The draft report was prepared in partnership with California State University, Sacramento’s Consensus and Collaboration program.
The report is available at https://www.cdfa.ca.gov/oefi/sweep/.
Public comments can be submitted to CDFA’s Office of Environmental Farming and Innovation by email at
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With the Community Economic Resilience Fund, the Governor is proposing a robust investment program to provide direct support to regions across the state as they build strategies not only to recover from the economic hit of the COVID-19 pandemic but also lean into the transition to a carbon neutral economy.
The fund will provide direct planning grants to every region of the state to build collaboratives including business, labor, local and regional government, and community, to allow these stakeholders to work together to map regional strengths and opportunities and design Regional High Road Transition Strategies.
Building toward the High road includes investing in industries that will thrive in a carbon-neutral future, while creating high-quality jobs and clear pathways into those jobs, including for those often left out of traditional economic development strategies.
The bulk of fund dollars will focus on providing competitive grants for implementation of key elements of these strategies.
This major investment supports California’s diverse regions to succeed in the global transition to carbon neutrality and leverages infrastructure and workforce investments across the governor’s proposed budget.
These include not only investments in clean energy technologies and systems, but also in climate resilience projects that recognize that the state’s increasing impacts from climate events like wildfires and drought must be part of any sustainable economic strategy.
“Built on principles of job quality and sustainability, the Fund will address regional and economic inequality,” said Julie Su, Secretary for the Labor and Workforce Development Agency. “The governor’s proposed $750 million investment in the Community Economic Resilience Fund is a high road transition strategy that pays close attention to the needs and interests of workers and communities affected by the economic shock of the pandemic, globalization, automation and climate change.”
The fund will harness American Rescue Plan Act, or ARPA, dollars to equip the state’s diverse regions with the tools and financial support to ensure that COVID-19 recovery moves California toward a more sustainable, resilient, and inclusive future.
“California’s diverse and distinct regions and its entrepreneurial spirit have always been the foundation of our economic vitality and resilience,” said Dee Dee Myers, director of the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development. “This investment in our regional planning will set the table to further California’s competitiveness and ensure all our regions drive business and quality job growth for decades to come.”
The fund will support two major programs:
High Road Transition Collaboratives: Grants to each of California’s diverse regions to bring labor, business, and community together with local government, philanthropy, and education stakeholders to design the region’s inclusive and sustainable economic future.
High Road Transition Implementation Grants: Competitive grants awarded to regions on a rolling basis as their transition planning results in clear implementation strategies.
“Transitioning regional economies to meet a climate-resilient, carbon neutral, and equitable economic future requires bottom-up planning and implementation of high road economic growth strategies,” said Kate Gordon, director of the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research and the Governor’s Senior Policy Advisor on Climate. “This fund responds to that need in a way that recognizes and builds on existing industries, regional diversity, and current and emerging workforce.”
The California Comeback Plan outlines a comprehensive recovery package tackling the most persistent challenges facing California, including immediate relief for Californians recovering from the pandemic, which includes the largest state tax rebate in American history in the form of direct checks to Californians and the largest small business relief program in the nation; a $12 billion plan to tackle the homelessness crisis, the largest investment of its kind in California history; $20 billion in proposed investments to transform public schools into gateways for opportunity; and a $5.1 billion package supporting the state’s drought response and water infrastructure, improving the state’s resilience to climate change. Under Governor Newsom’s $100 billion plan, California will come roaring back from the Covid-19 pandemic.
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The EBBP is a temporary program being administered by the Federal Communications Commission.
It provides eligible new or current customers with up to $50 off their monthly internet service bill. Program eligibility is defined by the FCC.
“Mediacom’s participation in the FCC’s Emergency Broadband Benefit Program is one more way we ensure that reliable broadband is available to families and individuals who have been adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Mediacom Senior Vice President Ed Pardini. “In all Mediacom service areas, our team will encourage eligible individuals and families to use this temporary benefit to stay connected to loved ones, and to access online education, healthcare and employment resources.”
Enrollment for EBBP began May 12.
Those interested in the benefit must pre-qualify for the program through the National Verifier. After customers are verified, they may opt into the program by choosing Mediacom as the participating internet service provider. The monthly credit of up to $50, applies only to broadband services.
Information about the EBBP can be found online at the websites below or by calling 855-330-6918 (toll-free).
www.getemergencybroadband.org
www.fcc.gov/broadbandbenefit
www.mediacomcable.com/ebb
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