The Newsletter
October 2015 
 
In This Issue
Map of the Month
Edu-Preneurs In Manufacturing Event
Intuit Tour
Google Tour
Facebook Tour
Update: 2016 Economic Forecast Conference
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Director's Message
Dear ,

In this issue we are happy to feature our very own, Josh Brown and Jonny Clark had the opportunity to tour Intuit, Google and Facebook. Below we share how Silicon Valley is invested in assisting small businesses.

Look forward to the ongoing updates on the upcoming 2016 North State Economic Forecast Conference such as securing Rohit Shukla as a speaker. He is a great businessman and leader with over 20 years of experience in creating initiatives that expand entrepreneurship, promote commercialization, and enhance the competitiveness of regions across many parts of the globe.

Also, we encourage you to attend the Edu-Preneurs Event held on November 6th. Target Audience: High School, Community College, CSU, and UC Educators and Administrators.

October's Map of the Month addresses food assistance in the North State. 
 
Have a great October!

Dan Ripke
Director
(530) 898-4598
Map of the Month Map 
Food Assistance in the North State

For this month's map series, the CED looked at 
two government food assistance programs in California.

Our aim was to examine the percentage of North State residents who received food assistance, and how these numbers may differ with those statewide. 


In a report done by the California Department of Education during the 2014-2015 school year, North State students on average received free and reduced lunches at a rate one percent higher than the rest of the state. 
 
Of the twelve counties in CSU, Chico's Service Region, Tehama County has the highest rate
of students who receive these lunches, at 61.5 percent, while Plumas County has the lowest rate at 37.9 percent. 
The CED studied the percentage of households receiving assistance from either state 
(CalFresh) or federal (SNAP) food assistance programs. Households in the CSU, Chico Service Region used these programs at a rate just over one percent higher than the rate for the state as a whole.

In our region, Yuba County households used these programs at the highest rate, 26.5 percent, while Colusa County households used these programs at the lowest rate, 9.9 percent.

Edu-Preneurs In Manufacturing Event 
Target Audience: High School, Community College, CSU, and UC Educators and Administrators.
 
When: November 6, 2015

Time: 9:00 AM - 2:00 PM

Panel of Industry Experts On:
  • Manufacturing Advancements
  • The Changing Employee
  • Education's Role in Manufacturing
  • 21st Century Skills
In Addition:
  • Three Industry Tours
  • Lunch Provided

Small Business Depend on Silicon ValleySilicon

How are Intuit, Google, and Facebook transforming the way small companies do business?

Our very own Project Manager, Josh Brown and Assistant Director of Communications, Jonny Clark attended a day long tour of Silicon Valley for ASBDC State Stars and special guests. This day long tour was featured in USA Today

Inside Silicon Valley Tour
Inside the Silicon Valley Tour
Josh and Jonny visited Intuit, Google, and Facebook, which are transforming the way small companies do business. The spokespeople for these companies shared their insights about small businesses and even took the opportunity to announce new services.

They started the tour by visiting Intuit, a software company that develops financial, tax preparation software, and related services for small businesses, accountant, and individuals.
 
The head of small business, Karen Peacock and senior vice president, Al Ko had a lively and positive discussion with the group about a range of Intuit's small business offerings including:
  •  QuickBooks Online (QBO). QBO represents the beginning of a new ecosystem for small companies making it possible for a small business to run virtually every aspect of their operations connected to QBO.
Read USA Today Article
Small Businesses Depend on Silicon ValleyGoogle
                                                        
Pictured: Emily Harris
Headed by Emily Harris, Let's Put Our Cities on the Map is an initiative by Google to help local businesses increase their presence online. 
They are working with business owners, city officials, and lovers of all things local to spread the word about the importance of getting local business information on Google Search and Maps- for free! 

Local businesses are vital to America's economic future. In fact, small businesses comprise half of the U.S. GDP and create two-thirds of all new jobs.
 
And although nearly all consumers look online for products and services, many small businesses do not have any Web presence at all. Google believes every small business should be found online and we offer the ability to do this through Google products like Google Maps.
 
Pictured: Josh Brown. Google's Lawn Statues 
Businesses want to be found by their customers; customers want to find updated information about local businesses. Let's Put Our Cities on the Map was designed to help strengthen our communities by connecting local businesses and customers so they can easily support each other. 
 
In fact, Google has seen that complete business information can help generate economic value to individual communities. 

In small communities, this could be worth up to $300,000 a year while in large cities it can be up to $7 million.
 
 
Small Businesses Depend on Silicon Valley: Facebook

The last company Josh and Jonny toured was Facebook, an online networking services company. The Chief Operating Officer, Sheryl Sandberg unveiled new features on Facebook "Pages" that will enable businesses to better advertise themselves and strengthen their relationships with customers.
 
Pictured: Sheryl Sandberg 

A "Page" is the term Facebook uses for a company's Facebook presence, and more than 45 million businesses have Facebook Pages.
 
Benefits of Facebook Pages New Features:
  • Facebook's new Pages features make it easier for users to do business with a company through Facebook, especially on mobile devices
  • They've created a visible and customizable "call to action" button, encouraging customers and prospects to contact you. 
  • Services or products can be clearly listed
  • It's easy to message a business, and far simpler for a company to respond quickly.
2016 Economic Forecast Conference: Hear From Speaker Rohit ShuklaConference


Rohit Shukla, CEO of the Larta Institute, is an established thought leader and respected practitioner on innovation, commercialization, enterprise and technology-led economic development.

He has advised governments, multilateral organizations, communities, and enterprises throughout the world, creating initiatives that expand entrepreneurship, promote commercialization and enhance the competitiveness of regions across many parts of the globe. 

In founding and growing Larta Institute to institutionalize the work he has pioneered, Mr. Shukla has developed a reputation and expertise in the commercialization of innovations emerging from government-funded initiatives, research institutes, universities and larger companies in the private sector.

For the 2016 North State Economic Forecast Conference, Mr. Shukla will be share his insight from 20 years of experience and give invaluable advice to non-profit organizations and small businesses alike.

Read More About Rohit Shukla

Register today for the 2016 Economic Conference by clicking the button below:  
Consider sponsoring this Conference
 
Benefits include: complimentary tickets to the conference and networking dinner, participate in the trade-show, acknowledgements on our website, conference materials, newsletter, and social media, and much more.