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 From the desk of the Executive Director
The nature of collaboration... At the SBDC, there are multiple ways we attempt to collaborate with other people and organizations. The investment in time is large (really large), but the payoff is worth it in my view. Here are some ways this works... We might share information. My colleague Pamela Patterson in Mendocino County is better plugged in to some program decisions in Sacramento. She keeps me in the loop on those, while I coach her on some aspects of dealing with the SBDC structure. We might be hired. The Economic Development arm of Humboldt County contracts with us to help them manage the Direct to Consumer Marketing and Humboldt Made initiatives. We might partner on a grant that would provide funding for separate but related pieces of work. This is classic government/nonprofit stuff, which doesn't make it bad. In Del Norte County, the Tri-Agency applied for CDBG microloan funds and wrote us in to provide the business assistance to clients both to prepare their business plans to support getting the loan and to provide guidance and assistance to the businesses as they progress. Bill Renfroe of the Tri-Agency and Barbara Burke of our staff have worked wonderfully well with these businesses, and the first loan pool has been completely loaned out. We might serve on committees or boards. I serve on the Workforce Investment Board and chair the Board of Humboldt Plan It Green. Janet DePace serves on the board of Arcata Economic Development Corporation. We do this, at least in part, as a component of our day jobs. And we benefit from those who serve on our board. We might host a project. This is nonprofit language for giving an umbrella to a project or helping an organization get started. We served as the fiscal agent for Humboldt's film commission for 2 ½ years. We paid their employee and other bills, did their invoicing, and they didn't have to file separate taxes because we covered that. Redwood Technology Consortium was similarly a project of the SBDC years ago. We might get a sponsorship or give a sponsorship. The Headwaters Fund has been a stalwart supporter of our Technology Bootcamps through their mini-grant program (we've generally received $1000 per bootcamp). In most years, this is the difference between our being able to provide this service or not. But we also find ways to sponsor folks attempting to do good work. For example, we give a little help to the new Humboldt Internet Marketing Group by helping to publicize their events and by giving them free space for their meetings. We are not responsible for this group; we're just helping them in a small way. We might import or export expertise. This is an exciting and growing part of our work. The North Coast SBDC has provided a lot of the infrastructure for how our region, and increasingly our state, manage the SBDC program. Most of this is due to staff at the SBDC Lead Center at HSU having cut their teeth here. Some of it is direct, however, as centers from Oakland to Riverside have called me on how we work with our partners, how we manage our contractors and such things. I travelled to Oregon earlier this year to visit two centers to see what a good operation outside of California looks like. But this is inside baseball stuff. It's more relevant to our clients that we can reach out to our colleagues in Napa to access Anni Minuzzo, a wonderful food industry consultant. In turn, one of our business advisors, Tina Nerat, is available to consult on technology infrastructure outside of the North Coast.
Being good and valued partners is a priority for us. We think it makes our contribution to economic development larger and it brings resources to our clients we wouldn't otherwise have. We still have work to do. Our partnerships are generally more advanced in Humboldt County than in Del Norte, for example. And while the Prosperity Network in Humboldt brings a lot of the economic development community to the table, we could do more with individual jurisdictions. So the work continues.
All the best, Michael Kraft Go to top | 
Sincerely, 
