On the Business Front The BRC Hosts the "Identity Theft Seminar" 
On January 8th and February 2nd, the BRC hosted "Identity Theft" seminars, presented by the Redding Police Department's (RPD) Crime Prevention Unit - Services for Businesses. Over 40 businesses attended.
The topics covered were:
- What to do if you become a victim - Preventative Actions
January 30th the BRC hosts the first Rural Chambers of Commerce Empowerment Forum
How it started
What Happened Next
The First Forum Meeting Each Chamber group was asked to bring something special and unique to their area for "show and tell". Some examples were: Dannon Natural Spring Water from Mt. Shasta Chamber, items representing the 3 Shastas from the City of Shasta Lake, Fall River Wild Rice, "upscale fish" and Volcanic Legacy Byway banner from the Burney chamber. In the round table discussion facilitated by the BRC consultants it was discovered that there are many similarities between the Chambers in their needs and goals. It was agreed that a well-designed web site is the most economical way to outreach.
The Next Step Anderson has invited select chamber businesses and the town council members to sit in and participate in the dialogue - What members want from their chambers & how chambers can meet those services. BRC's Employer-to-Employer Mentorship Still Going Strong During the Quarter the Employer-to-Employer Mentorship program continued to provide a forum for discussion, timely presentations, and access to knowledgeable resources to help businesses learn from each other. Topics covered this quarter were:
Put Your Business on the Internet Today! ~ BRC Reaches Out To The Rural Area Businesses Of Shasta County
Due to the size of the facility we were able to accommodate 5 workstations and to date, we have a waiting list with the next workshop scheduled for June. Starting July 1st, the BRC and Burney Chamber of Commerce will be offering the website development workshop at the Burney Chamber on a monthly basis. On February 23rd, the BRC also hosted another Redding area workshop. There were 11 businesses in attendance that published by the end of the day.
Report on BRC/Anderson Chamber Activities 1st Quarter 2004
During the past quarter, BRC/Anderson Chamber Board of Directors member Tom Cowles was appointed to serve on the Shasta County Economic Development Corporation Board of Directors as the representative from the Anderson Chamber. This appointment is again proving to be mutually beneficial for both entities as Tom is able to report to the Chamber pertinent information regarding planned business recruitment within the greater Anderson area as well as being able to gather important "cutting edge" information that helps Tom assist the business clients he serves on a day-to-day basis. Some of the pending Chamber projects that are currently on schedule include a bi-annual community yard sale to be held at the Anderson Prime Outlets, a Renaissance Fair at the Anderson River Park, an Anderson Explodes Tri-Tip Sandwich sale to support the annual Fireworks display, and a first time event featuring big bikes and fun in the sun called Thunder Rolls that is scheduled for August 27-29 at the Anderson Fair Grounds. Each of these events generate much needed funds for Chamber functioning as well as provide excellent opportunities to network with local business people and the community at large. Chamber Manager Debe Hopkins participated in the BRC sponsored "Put Your Business on The Internet Today!" in February, which enabled her to successfully get the Anderson Chamber Web Site up and going. Debe reported being "very pleased" with the class and the end product-a fully functioning Web Site. The Anderson Chamber is also scheduled to host the 2nd quarterly meeting of the newly formed Rural Chamber Empowerment Forum. Tom & Inez of the BRC will again facilitate this gathering. This event will be held at the Anderson City Hall in order to adequately host the invited participants and guests. It is planned that the Anderson Mayor, City Planner and members of the City Council will attend as well as local business representatives. With on-going participation in these community events and regular attendance at the weekly Chamber Greeters meetings held at select member businesses the BRC is able to keep up to date with the needs and aspirations of the area. This relationship continues to be a mutual "win-win" dynamic. BRC Hosts It's Annual CCOIS and Labor Market Information Seminar ~ A Look at Shasta County
Most of Shasta County's fastest growing jobs are not paying the area's current average income, EDD labor market consultant Kathy Porter told business and community leaders. Porter said retail sales, cashiers and customer service representatives will be the three fastest growing occupations in the county over the next four years. Retail sales people make an average wage of $8.76 an hour, a cashier earns $8.08 and a customer service representative $11.55 -- all below the county's average wage of $13.93 an hour. Of the eight projected fastest growing jobs over the next four years, only nurses and truck drivers are expected to make more than the current average. A registered nurse makes an average of $24.85 an hour, while a truck driver earns an average of $14.58, Porter said. Shasta County's unemployment rate in 2003, meanwhile, was 7.8 percent, up from 7.4 percent in 2002. The county's average wage has increased 26 percent since 1993, Porter said. But the money that workers bring home is not keeping pace with the county's housing market, which has seen a 45 percent price increase since 2001.
BRC Business Services and the PIC Hiring Department ~ One-Stop Teamwork Successfully delivering services within the One-Stop system demands teamwork. The challenge of facilitating a match between employers and job seekers with quality jobs is formidable. It requires linking systems. Linking systems means linking people, which necessitate teamwork. Simply stated but not simply actualized. A bridge between the systems is needed. With the advent of significant budget cuts looming, a need for realignment in the delivery of services became apparent. By January 2004 it became fiscally apparent that the BRC needed to focus on conducting "fee for service" programs in order to continue providing on-going services to local businesses. This fundamental change has been addressed in a manner that creates a "new and improved" delivery of services. The BRC, which is now located at the PIC building, currently focuses on providing a full array of business services for fees. This enables the BRC the opportunity to prioritize its focus on specific business needs. A "bridge" was created with the formation of PIC's new Hiring Department. By working closely with SMART Community Employment Center (CEC) staff, PIC Adult and Youth Employment Advisors, and businesses that are actively recruiting, the Hiring Department is able to serve all entities involved in an efficient manner. The Hiring Department communicates on a regular basis with businesses and enters their job orders into the CalJOBS system. The business gets it's specific recruiting needs met and has a person to oversee the progress of the recruitment on a consistent basis. The Hiring Department is further able to directly liaise with the staff within PIC that actively works with the labor pool. This is a two-pronged advantage in that the business is able to have someone within the labor pool system assist them in their recruitment and PIC is able to better meet its placement numbers by on site referrals from within the labor pool generated within the CEC. Within the CEC itself the Hiring Department has created a "Hot Jobs" board that alerts job seekers to the most current recruiting positions. This "Hot Jobs" board has already proven to be a timely asset for job seekers and in expediting recruitment for the businesses. The Hiring Department is further able to customize business recruitment requests by offering collection of applications, screening for applicant qualifications on submitted resumes, and delivering same to the business direct or via Fax. The primary responsibility of the Hiring Department is to act as a conduit between the staff that work with the labor pool, supportive partner agencies, and the business itself. This responsibility is being met and innovations are "fine tuned" on a near daily basis. As change requires adjustments for all of us, we at the Shasta PIC are proud of our flexibility and teamwork to continue delivering the services that our job seeking clients and local businesses so dearly need.
BRC Fee for Service Updates The Shasta Metro Enterprise Zone
BRC Business Consultants Provide Customized Workshops On March 13th, BRC Business Consultant Inez Bays provided a customized workshop entitled "Improving Communication Effectiveness" at the North State California Escrow Association Conference in Redding. The topics covered in this one-hour workshop were: - Barriers to effective communications - Improving communication skills - Turning negatives into positives/five forbidden phrases - Why communication is an important part of customer service - Supervising for Quality: Getting Things Done Through People - Effective Performance Appraisals - Approach to Discipline and Successful Termination - Preventing & Managing Stress and Resolving conflicts in the Workplace - Customer Service: Essentials of Great Service The BRC is proud to announce the new "BRC Business Seminar Series". This series focuses on the challenges and issues businesses face everyday! Attendees learn practical solutions for compliance with employment and labor laws and how to avoid legal liability. Each seminar in this series (with the exceptions noted) will be held on the 1st Wednesday of the month from 8:00 a.m.-10:00 a.m. at the Business Resource Center, 1201 Placer Street, Redding, CA. The fee is $30 per person. The two larger seminars scheduled for June 2nd and January 5th will be held off site (site TBA) and will be $75 per person. Our Presenter, Attorney Mark A. Vegh, an attorney with the law firm of Carr, Kennedy, Peterson & Frost in Redding, has 15 years of experience as an employment and labor lawyer in California and Oregon.
Click here to see The Seminar Schedule
Partners and the Commmunity
Economist William Fruth Delivered Sobering News About Shasta County's Economy Fruth is the president of Policom Corp., a Florida based economic research firm that analyzes economic data on more than 300 metropolitan areas nationwide to find which have the strongest and weakest economies. Redding ranks 158th in Policom's latest list. Five years ago, Redding came in at 99th. From 1982 to 1991, Shasta County ranked 114th nationwide in average wage growth. From 1992 to 2001, the county had dropped to 277 in the wage growth. Redding is too dependent on income from retirees, Fruth says. In a breakdown of primary industry earnings for Shasta County, retirement income tops the list at 17.9 percent, followed by manufacturing at 17.2 percent. In all, government entitlements made up 22.9 percent of total income in the county. That was almost double the United States as a whole (13.5 percent). Even the north state's dependence on health care jobs can be deceiving, Fruth explained. "In Shasta County there are MRI clinics on every corner, but today MRI machines can be operated by minimum wage workers," he said. Fruth said there's nothing wrong with retirees, but an economy won't improve its quality when it's too dependent on government entitlements. At one point, an audience member nearly pleaded with Fruth, wondering what the county has to do to get companies that pay well to come here. Fruth said the city of Redding and Shasta County must do a better job of streamlining the permitting process if it wants to lure more companies to the area. An area serious about economic growth is able to approve a site plan and all necessary permits within 90 days, on average, he added. Job Seekers Flock to Job Expo
Job seekers received one-on-one assistance with resumes and applications at the SMART booth and studied the job board at the EDD/CalJOBS booth. Small Business Programs of Superior California Economic Development Superior California Economic Development District (SCEDD) serves a four-county region (Modoc, Shasta, Siskiyou and Trinity) of rural Northern California by helping small businesses create and retain stable, long term employment opportunities. The District's small business programs include the Microenterprise Development Program and the Cascade Small Business Development Center (SBDC). The Microenterprise Development Program began their first 12-week "Business Plan Basics" workshop of 2004 in mid-March and will continue through the end of June. Some of the businesses that are represented in the workshop include landscape maintenance, a cyber café, mobile windshield repair, leather alteration, computer networking, and a moving service. Along with covering the important tools needed to run a small business and how to formulate a business plan, follow-up coaching and support is also provided. The next "Business Plan Basics" workshop is scheduled to begin in late June. Self-employment workshops are also held at the SMART Center in Redding every third Wednesday of the month to offer guidance and helpful tips and resources for anyone contemplating self-employment. The Cascade Small Business Development Center provides specialized workshops and one-on-one counseling to new and established businesses. A 12-week workshop series, "It's Your Business" was held in early 2004 which examined the steps needed to create a prosperous business. This workshop included businesses such as a bakery, computer consulting, pottery, Greek restaurant, and housecleaning. Ongoing workshops provided by Cascade SBDC include "QuickBooks Training", "Fast Track To Success", "Marketing Your Business on the Internet", and "Business Plan Design". For more information about SCEDD and their small business programs, please call 530-225-2760 or visit www.scedd.org. SmartNet SmartNet (our SMART partners) Meetings were held each month at the Redding City Hall. Special presentations on the agenda for this quarter were:
Rapid Response
Chatsworth Closes Redding Plant
Precision Molding Co.
Cascade School
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The Business Resource Center (BRC) understood that facilitating a forum for these chambers to share ideas and accomplishments would go a long way in developing positive business relationships, while assisting in the economic growth of each community.
The BRC invited 7 chambers to the inaugural luncheon meeting on January 30:
Meeting the needs of a growing business community continues to be the mutual focus of the BRC and the Anderson Chamber of Commerce.
The 5th Annual State of the Shasta County Labor Market Presentation was held on January 30th. The event featured three guest speakers and a preview of this year's Shasta County Occupational Outlook Report on interactive CD (a first for us).
This year's Outlook Report is available on Shasta PIC's 
Job Expo 2004 was held at the Mt. Shasta Mall on March 24th. Over 40 businesses were recruiting workers and about 1500 job seekers attended the event this year. The businesses attending the event came from all sectors of the local economy including, retail, construction, tourism, business services, and medical. The Job Training Center booth featured job openings in Tehama County. In addition to businesses, 10 training providers had displays featuring career upgrade and short-term training.
