Create, start, improve, grow

Mind your business at Penrose Library

What will you do with your business in 2011? Maybe you've resolved to finally act on that idea you've had for years; maybe you're determined to make 2011 your existing company's best year yet. Wherever you are, whatever your needs, Pikes Peak Library District is a fantastic resource to help you reach your goals.

Business Services Librarian Terry Zarsky has earned prestigious awards for her skills from the New York Times and Dunn & Bradstreet.  Let her put those skills to work for you.

Beginning January 18, and each Tuesday evening for following month, Zarsky will lead a Business Building Block workshop series from 6 to 9 p.m. in the Carnegie Room at the Penrose facility Downtown. The first week covers "everything you need to know to write a business plan." January 25 focuses on franchising; February 1 offers key information about protecting your business's critical information online; and February 8 provides training to merchants to better clarify the merchant credit card system. Half of each session is delivery of information, and half is devoted to Q&A. Workshops are free and you can attend one or all, no reservations required. Full descriptions can be found at http://ppld.org/blogs/business/.

Ninety-minute daytime sessions are also held twice each month. More hands on, these free sessions are conducted in the Gates Computer Lab at Penrose. Next scheduled daytime business building workshops will be held February 3 and February 24 from 8:30 to 10 a.m.

In addition to classes and workshops, PPLD offers a variety of business resources, including research databases, agency lists, web links and more - most of which can be accessed online at www.ppld.org. Of course, the library is also a great place to find a good book or two as well!

For more information, call 531-6333, ext. 2308, visit www.ppld.org or hop on over to the brick and mortar Penrose branch at 20 N. Cascade.

Handy dandy

UPS on the block

UPS --- United Parcel Service --- has opened a new storefront at 5 East Bijou. Franchise owner Hyun Lee says services include packaging, shipping, copying, faxing, passport photos and Notary Public. Hours are 8 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday.  For more information, call 635-1314.

Tigermania for a cause

Hockey night special

Join the Colorado College Business & Community Alliance for a night of food and fun and help support the college's student-run community garden and local, organic food!

For the first 120 to call, a delicious buffet dinner in the Wigand Room at the Colorado Springs World Arena, followed by Sky Box seating for the February 11^th CC versus Minnesota State game. Cost is just $25 per person and if you have a group of four, you'll get a 25 percent discount!  Cash bar and door prizes, too. Dinner's at 6:30 and the puck drops at 7:37.

For more information call Connie Dudgeon at 389-6835 or email Constance.Dudgeon@coloradocollege.edu.

City's green-bag Lunch and Learn

Home energy audits

Bring your lunch and in less than an hour, learn what you need to know about home energy audits, who does them, what to look for in hiring someone, and what to expect.

The lunch-n-learn runs over the noon lunch hour, from 12:11 to 12: 49 p.m., at the City Administration Building, 30 S. Nevada, in Suite 102. Attendees have the opportunity to win a door prize tote bag made from recycled City banners. 

Reducing an average home's energy consumption by 10 percent reduces greenhouse gas emission equivalent to commuting to work by foot or bicycle one day a week for a year. It also saves you money!

"A Window to your Heart"

Valentines contest

Here's a unique spin on Valentine's Day that could yield a free, special night on the town for you and help a local organization that battles autism. 

Shoestring Events is conducting a contest for the public's favorite decorated merchant window, restaurant or business window.  You have to officially vote, and your vote costs $1. All proceeds will support the Terra Firma Charitable Foundation for Humanities which works to help autistic children receive vital therapies. (Learn more at www.terrafirmahumanities.org.) Participants must be 21 or older, and can vote at participating businesses anytime between Friday, January 21 and Thursday, February 3. If you purchase something at the business, you are eligible to cast a second vote. Winning votes and prizes will be announced on February 4.

FIRST PRIZE includes limousine service to and from your five-course dinner at Fratelli Ristorante, flowers from Gentry's, chocolate from Patsy's Candies and tableside serenade by Heidi Cooper. SECOND PRIZE provides a $150 Genesis Medspa gift card; and THIRD PRIZE is a $100 Downtown Gift Card.

Keeping Downtown's edges beautiful

KCSB gets the job done-and more

Dee Cunningham is the first to admit she probably sees trash before anyone else. It is, after all, the business she's in. As director of Keep Colorado Springs Beautiful, Cunningham noticed that the periphery of Downtown wasn't looking so hot. So, between last Thanksgiving and Christmas, KCSB crews scoured areas beyond the official Business Improvement District, removing trash from medians and sidewalks along the southern ends of Wahsatch, Weber, Nevada, Cascade and Sierra Madre, as well as up north near Cache La Poudre. That month, they filled more than 30 large trash bags.

Now KCSB crews, comprised of volunteers as well as court-ordered community service workers, are continuing the effort weekly.

Achieving that objective and other community cleanups is facilitated in large part by one of KCSB's newest and possibly most unlikely employees. Program Manager Glen is a former occupant of the homeless tent camps that were disbanded in early 2010. Last summer, Cunningham says, Glen did such an outstanding job volunteering more than 200 hours for the organization he once believed was out to get him that she offered him a job.

"He's a remarkable man," she says.

Reserve a spot

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