To: Board of Supervisors
From: Executive Office
Meeting Date: September 17, 2019
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Department Contact: |
Carmel J. Angelo |
Phone: |
463-4441 |
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Department Contact: |
Nash Gonzalez |
Phone: |
463-4441 |
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Item Type: Consent Agenda |
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Time Allocated for Item: n/a |
Agenda Title:
title
Approval of Retroactive Agreement with West Business Development Center for Digital Learning Project in the Amount of $100,000 Effective April 1, 2019 to March 31, 2021
End
Recommended Action/Motion:
recommendation
Approve retroactive agreement with West Business Development Center for Digital Learning Project in the amount of $100,000 effective April 1, 2019 to March 31, 2021; and authorize the Chair to sign same.
End
Previous Board/Board Committee Actions:
The Board approved the grant application for this project to the Economic Development Agency (EDA) at the June 19, 2018 meeting.
Summary of Request:
Under this two-year contract, West Business Development Center will expand its current services to provide a more resilient economy by implementing the Digital Learning Project.
The Digital Learning Project will introduce rural Mendocino County micro-entrepreneurs to the digital economy opening new markets and increasing job creation. It will:
o Dismantle the fear of digital technology and minimize the strain of transition to more effective business tools.
o Foster confidence with digital tools among the County’s micro-entrepreneurs that is necessary for the continuing growth of the local economy.
o Produce customized curriculum and deliver training designed to meet local business needs. (i.e., trending applications, financial portals, productivity software, and social media).
o Educate 90 small businesses, annually, with a core suite of financial, marketing, inventory, and human resource technology tools appropriate to their individual businesses.
o Provide drop-in digital salons for peer-to-peer learning and personalized 1:1 business counseling to support and ensure tools are deployed and utilized effectively.
o Create a story lab environment to ensure the journey is digitally captured, tracked, catalogued, and shared.
The West Business Development Center will establish tech hubs in the isolated areas of the county and link them to deliver classes, networking salons, and one on one counseling. Participants will come from a cross-section of the county, especially low and moderate income and women-owned businesses. Participants will have access to biweekly in-person workshops hosted by local experts and tailored to business conditions in the targeted areas as well as online classes on technology trends delivered by out-of-area innovators.
These hubs will alleviate isolation by providing a gathering place for business owners to bring their devices and topics to discuss their challenges with those who have more confidence with their own use of technology. All participants will have the opportunity to produce online video stories of their learning experiences. West Company will provide a compilation video of the learning experience journey to share with the public to influence growth of business in the county.
This project is funded by the Economic Development Administration (EDA) through its Disaster Supplemental funding. EDA’s period of performance for this project is April 1, 2019 to March 31, 2021. The County did not receive the notice of award until late April 2019 and the Financial Assistance Award with EDA was not executed until May 2019. Further, the final Budget was not adopted until June 18, 2019. This contract is retroactive to allow West Business Development Center to start the project immediately in order to complete the project within the assigned period of performance.
Alternative Action/Motion:
Return to staff for alternative handling
Supervisorial District: All
vote requirement: Majority
Supplemental Information Available Online At:
Fiscal Details:
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source of funding: EDA grant funds |
budgeted in current f/y: Yes |
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current f/y cost: $100,000 for the term of the contract |
if no, please describe: |
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annual recurring cost: n/a |
revenue agreement: No |
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budget clarification: DR-2910-863280
Agreement/Resolution/Ordinance Approved by County Counsel: Yes
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CEO Liaison: Janelle Rau, Deputy CEO |
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CEO Review: Yes |
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CEO Comments:
FOR COB USE ONLY
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Executed By: Lindsey Dunham, Deputy Clerk I |
Final Status:Approved |
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Date: September 20, 2019 |
Executed Item Number: Agreement Number: 19-223 |
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Note to Department Number of Original Agreements Returned to Dept: 2 Original Agreement Delivered to Auditor? Yes |
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