CED is offering a new approach for both identifying retail leakage and developing a strategy for eliminating the leakage through the expansion and diversification of existing local businesses. The emphasis is on providing reliable estimates and, through those estimates, a means for local businesses to capitalize on additional retail opportunities. The strategic emphasis on local business expansion implies that the plugging of spending leakages will generate more income and sales tax revenue in the target area.

CED Envisions this as a Three-Step Process 

1. Identify the sector with retail leakage
2. Refine the estimates to pinpoint the particular product class or demographic responsible for any significant leakage, and
3. Provide local retailers with the detailed information that will allow them to capitalize on the identified retail opportunities.

The Taxable Retail Leakage 4.0 Model

1. The new model provides estimates of taxable retail leakage by store type.
2. It avoids a major issue often encountered with other retail leakage studies-overestimation of leakage in high income areas and underestimation in low income areas. The new estimates are normalized by regional income distribution for more accurate retail demand forecasting.
3. The reliability of retail leakage estimates will no longer be uncertain. The model reliably quantifies the degree of certainty for the amount of leakage determined by the model, providing a 95 percent confidence interval for the estimate. The confidence interval provides greater certainty for retailers contemplating expansion to meet the additional product demand.  

This methodology update, in conjunction with CED's additional capabilities in retail analysis and business support services, will allow cities and counties to institute more effective buy-local efforts.   In partnership with your local SBDC, CED proposes to achieve this by directly advising existing local retailers on how to increase sales, reduce retail leakage, and thereby increase local community spending and sales tax revenues.

We are committed to creating a retail/economic development project that will improve the bottom line for your city or county at a reasonable price. If you would like to discuss CED's new service, please call Warren Jensen at (530) 898-4598 or email him at wjensen@csuchico.edu 

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Modoc Medical Success Story  

Click on the map below to see full-size 

The map shows areas by percent of population age 65 and over. Darker areas represent greater concentrations of seniors. The map identifies communities where retirement spending is a strong driver of the local economy. Many of these communities are in the Sierra Nevada and Cascade Ranges. More urbanized communities show up as well, including Rancho Palos Verdes and Beverly Hills in the Los Angeles, area, the hills above Santa Barbara, and the Carmel Valley. Fewer seniors live in many of the Central Valley communities and California's urban area cores.

Announcing: Comprehensive Census 2010 Data Now Available!   

The Census Bureau released Summary File 1 for California in the past month. This is the last major Census 2010 data release. We now have all of the latest demographics, income, poverty, and social data from the Census Bureau down to the Census Block Group level. Let CED help you understand your community, market, and service area by having us produce your own customized data maps. Custom maps cost as little as $250 for all the latest data. Call (530) 898-4598 to place an order.

Participation by community members, business owners, non-profits, NGOs, city and county officials, et al, plus knowledge of local issues, and broadband needs and services are necessary to close gaps between high speed Internet services availability and accessibility, leveraging opportunities to increase broadband deployment, access and adoption.

On June 23rd, 2011, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) approved a final decision to formally establish regional consortia throughout the state for broadband planning and to "assist with broadband deployment activities other than the capital cost of facilities."  Initially, $10 million will be available, $450K over 3 yrs per consortium, @ $150K per year; potentially, $215 million will be available in loan/grant funds for infrastructure deployment: Decision Implementing Broadband Consortia Grant. Applications for regional consortia broadband planning funds are due August 22nd, 2011. 

Later this month, CED/CSU, Chico and CENIC will host two identical yet separate public
Broadband Consortium Planning meetings, one in Redding, the other in Colusa (please Click Here for event details; RSVPs are required, space is limited). During these meetings, CENIC and 

With the release of Census 2010, The CED has some exciting new products in development.

As part of our efforts with research and development, we are developing a custom census Geographic Information System (GIS) based reporting system.  We are implementing previously-developed methods for calculating estimates and projections from the latest 2010 decennial census and American Community Survey (ACS). These projects are directed by project manager Warren Jensen. Warren can be contacted by email wjensen@csuchico.edu or phone (530) 898-4598.  

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