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News of MERIT
Greetings!
If
you know people who are considering self- employment, please forward this
newsletter to them. For more information about MERIT, please visit http://merit.chemeketa.edu.
Thanks
for your support of MERIT!
Forrest
Peck
Program Director
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New MERIT Classes in April
MERIT will be offering a new series of business feasibility classes in April. Classes will be held in Salem in both English and Spanish. The English information session will be held Thursday, April 7th, and the Spanish information session will be held Wednesday, April 6th and 13th. To register, go to MERIT's website. |
"Start Your Business" in five locations!  Thinking about a business idea? Not sure if self-employment is right for you? Want to know more about what you might be getting into? If this describes you or someone you know we have good news.
MERIT has a class where you can explore self-employment in an informal setting. We call this "Start Your Business", and we now offer it monthly in five locations. Best of all it's free!
- Salem (English)- March 10th from 9-10AM at Worksource Salem, 605 Cottage St NE
- Salem (Spanish)- March10th from 10-11AM at Worksource Salem, 605 Cottage St NE
- Grand Ronde - March 10th from 10-11AM at Adult Education Center, 9615 Grand Ronde Road
- Dallas - March 10th from 12-1PM at WorkSource Center, 580 Main St. Suite B
- McMinnville - March 10th from 2-3PM at WorkSource Center, 370 NE Norton Lane
- Woodburn (English)- March 10th from 12-1PM WorkSource Center, 120 E Lincoln St, Suite 115
- Woodburn (Spanish)- March 10th from 1-2PM WorkSource Center, 120 E Lincoln St, Suite 115
To register for the next "Start Your Business" class, please call the Chemeketa Small Business Development Center at 503- 399-5088.
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Trading at the River
A Gathering of Native American Businesses & Tribal Enterprises
On April 20-21, 2011 at the Spirit Mountain Casino in Grand Ronde, there will be a gathering you will not want to miss.
Some highlights include:
- An intensive Business Development Conference with community discussions, workshops, symposiums, and celebrations.
- A Trading at the River marketplace of ideas, products, and services - the famous traditional gathering of Indianpreneurs.
- A gathering of emerging and established Native CDFI's convened by the newly established Pacific Northwest Native Capital Development Peer Group which will explore ways of generating new forms of capital to support Native entrepreneurship and tribal-individual joint ventures.
For more information, go to http://www.onaben.org/ .
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Scholarship Opportunity
Interested in starting or growing a business? Job Growers is offering the successful recipient a $2,000 scholarship to get training and support from the Chemeketa Community College Small Business Development Center (SBDC) to start or grow your own business. Applications are due on March 25, 2011 at Job Growers. Go to the website for more information and the application. |
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Safety Fest
Don't miss CCBI and SEDCOR's Safety Fest April 6th and 7th. For a detailed scheduled go here. |
Laid Off and Launching
Several states allow aspiring entrepreneurs to collect unemployment benefits-while they're building their business. Read more... |
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Financial Education Classes
Polk CDC is offering its Financial Fitness class every Thursday this month in English from 6-8:30PM. In April, they will offer a class every Wednesday night in Spanish from 6-8:30PM. The cost is $20 per individual and $28 per couple. For more information or to register, call 503-831-3173. |
Small Business Brown Bag Lunch & Learn Series: Social Media
Beginning in March, Western Oregon University is partnering with the Monmouth- Independence and Dallas Chambers of Commerce to bring you a free quarterly learning series which will help focus and strengthen your business. Each brown bag series will run for 4-consecutive Tuesdays from 12:00 noon to 1:00pm. Each weekly topic will be centered on a business theme suggested by the local community. The Lunch and Learn series will be held at Western Oregon University's in the University Park Conference Center located on the north side of campus. WOU will be providing free parking and beverages for the series. March's Lunch and Learn theme will focus on Social Media for you and your business.
Each week's topics will be facilitated by local business celebrities.
Sessions in March are:
March 15 - The Do's and Don'ts of using Social Media to market you and your company.
March 22 - How-to incorporate Social Media into your existing website.
For more information or to register, visit www.wou.edu/extendedprograms or call 503-838-8483
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NSBA 2010 End-Year Economic Report
The National Small Business Association released its 2010 End-Year Economic Report. To view the report, click here. |
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Consider investing in a Donation to MERIT
Your
donations to MERIT allow us to better serve our clients. MERIT is a 501c3
organization. Thank you for your support!
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