Category: Business

Dr. Cesar Morales Appointed as Ventura County Superintendent of Schools

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Dr. Cesar Morales was appointed this week as the new Ventura County Superintendent of Schools. After conducting a nationwide search, the Ventura County Board of Education made the decision this morning by a unanimous vote. Dr. Morales will fill the vacancy created in February when Stan Mantooth retired from the post.

Dr. Morales currently serves as the Deputy Superintendent for the Ventura County Office of Education (VCOE). Since Mr. Mantooth’s departure, Dr. Morales has assumed all duties of the County Superintendent of Schools on an interim basis. He will officially become Ventura County’s next Superintendent of Schools effective April 1 and will be formally sworn in on April 16.

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Bilingual report — County of Ventura COVID-19 Update for April 1, 2021

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There are 48 new COVID-19 cases. There have been 4,849 new tests performed.

There have been 3 additional deaths: 72 year old male, 74 year old male, 92 year old female

Current doubling time is 1303.2 days.

We extend our deepest sympathy to the families of those who have passed away.

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Pioneer Valley High School FAA Chapter joins a California FFA virtual 5K race to promote and support California agriculture during National Ag Week

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The PVHS FFA Chapter recently joined a California FFA virtual 5K race to promote and support California agriculture during National Ag Week.

The Panther FFA decided to hold a race for students at the campus, even though participants could register and compete from anywhere.

More than 30 runners, bike riders and walkers completed the route that looped around the school and then continued into the surrounding neighborhood. Student helpers held posters and cheered on the competitors.

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Economic Development Collaborative (EDC) — Unemployment Benefits and Pandemic Unemployment Benefit Expansions

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There have been extensions to state and federal unemployment benefits under the American Rescue Plan. If you are struggling to understand or access unemployment benefits as employees or Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) as a small business owners, self-employed individual or independent contractor here is what you need to know.

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Bilingual report — County of Ventura COVID-19 Update for March 31, 2021

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The State of California announced Tuesday that the County of Ventura has met requirements for the State’s Orange Tier for the first week of the two-week required time frame. If the County meets the Orange Tier requirements at the next review on April 6 the County will be able to move to Orange on April 7 at 12:01 am. As with the shift to the Red Tier, the County will continue to align with the State’s framework for Orange Tier activities.

“This brings hope that we are headed in a better direction. We appreciate how our community has helped to make this happen,” said County Executive Officer Michael Powers. “The Orange Tier allows for many of our businesses to expand operations and even allows for outdoor live events. This is exciting for our community members and our recovery efforts.” 

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SBCC School of Extended Learning to offer Microsoft Word 2

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Prepare to enter or re-enter the workforce, or improve your personal or academic skills with new computer skills. Learn to use use Microsoft Word to create a novel, family history, dissertation, thesis, operations manual, or business and/or academic reports. This class covers layout/structure features including applying styles; table of contents; outline view; page setup; choosing fonts; controlling line, paragraph and page breaks; and many more.

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Ventura County’s Medi-Cal Plan Condemns Hate Crimes Against the Asian American and Pacific Islander Communities

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Gold Coast Health Plan’s governing board, the Ventura County Medi-Cal Managed Care Commission, along with its chief executive officer and chief diversity officer, issued a resolution condemning violence against the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities and other people of color.

“The Commission is proud of the contribution from minority groups across the country and condemns any and all discriminatory actions taken against them,” the resolution reads.

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SBCC School of Extended Learning to offer Microsoft Word 3

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Prepare to enter or re-enter the workforce, or improve your personal or academic skills with new computer skills. Microsoft Word, Level 3 covers creating, managing and formatting tables in Microsoft Word and using Microsoft Word mail merge to create letters, labels and envelopes.

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Make your plans to support CLU School of Management on Cares Day

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This has been a year like no other but the School of Management is still going strong. We persevere because we have a beautiful community of students, faculty, staff, alumni, and community members! We kept you engaged, for example, by offering all of our events online with complimentary registration, we started several new webinar series for continued learning and kept you up-to-date through our many social channels. We also did our best to make you proud: We achieved full professional business school accreditation by ACBSP and we repurposed a generous gift by Mr. Steven Dorfman to benefit high-achieving students and our many efforts in entrepreneurship. Now we request your assistance during Cares Day to help us in continuing the good work with the next generation of students.

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Community Environmental Council Welcomes New Members and Officers to the Board of Directors

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The Community Environmental Council (CEC) is pleased to announce a high caliber cohort of new members and officers to its Board of Directors. In a pivotal year of program expansion coupled with federal momentum, these dynamic community leaders bring a wealth of experience that will propel CEC’s bold climate action plans. As ambassadors of the organization, they will advocate, network, and promote on behalf of CEC.

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Food Action Network — Tell SB County to support localized food system enterprises, economic opportunities for farmers, and agricultural land viability

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The County of Santa Barbara is developing an ordinance amendment to allow activities and practices that will be incidental and complementary to traditional agriculture uses on land zoned AG-II. The goal is to expand economic opportunities for farmers and improve the County’s overall agricultural land viability. This is a fantastic opportunity to promote policy support for decentralized and localized food system enterprises, processing hubs, composting, etc.

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County of Ventura poised to move to State’s Orange Tier Next Week

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The State of California announced today that the County of Ventura has met requirements for the State’s Orange Tier for the first week of the two-week required time frame. If the County meets the Orange Tier requirements at the next review on April 6 the County will be able to move to Orange on April 7 at 12:01 am. As with the shift to the Red Tier, the County will continue to align with the State’s framework for Orange Tier activities.

“This brings hope that we are headed in a better direction. We appreciate how our community has helped to make this happen,” said County Executive Officer Michael Powers. “The Orange Tier allows for many of our businesses to expand operations and even allows for outdoor live events. This is exciting for our community members and our recovery efforts.”

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SBCC — Ezekiel Contreras Forrest receives Board of Governors Student Leadership Award

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Santa Barbara City College student Ezekiel Contreras Forrest has been awarded one of three Board of Governors Student Leadership Awards, initiated for the first time in 2021. The awards were presented by Chancellor Eloy Ortiz Oakley and two student members of the California Community College Board of Governors at the opening of the General Assembly for the Student Senate of the California Community Colleges on Friday March 26.

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Economic Development Collaborative (EDC) — Paycheck Protection Program Extended to May 31, 2021

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Today, Tuesday, March 30th, 2021, President Biden signed into law an extension of the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) that allows small businesses and eligible non-profits to apply for PPP loans through May 31, 2021.

PPP is designed to help small business, nonprofits, veteran organizations, Tribal concerns, self-employed individuals, independent contractors, and other eligible borrowers keep their workers employed during the COVID-19 crisis.

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SBCC School of Extended Learning to offer Construction Measuring and Estimating

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Prepare to enter or re-enter the workforce with Construction Measuring and Estimating. A beginning course in residential construction math. Take as a stand-alone course or as part of a four-course series of construction classes. Topics include working with common, decimal, and carpenter fractions; using a standard tape measure; estimating material; and using a construction calculator.

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UCSB — The Current — In a Class of Its Own

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Click here for the entire e-newsletter   March 30, 2021 Top News In a Class of Its Own The university breaks ground on its first new classroom building since 1967. Read more about the new building ? Uncertain Energy Mathematicians…

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SBCC School of Extended Learning to offer Digital Cameras, Digital Photos

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Learn the basics of photography, the features of digital cameras, how to take better digital photos, and how to correct common photo problems using photo editing software. Designed for beginners or students with some experience in digital photography. Students should bring cameras and sample pictures to class.

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Bilingual report — Oxnard City Council to Consider Resolution Condemning Racism, Xenophobia, Violence, and Hate Crimes Against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders

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On Tuesday, March 30, 2021, the Oxnard City Council will consider a resolution condemning racism, xenophobia, violence, and hate crimes against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI).

“We are mourning for the victims of these senseless crimes that we have seen increasingly throughout the pandemic, and we stand in solidarity with the Asian American community during these difficult times,” said Mayor John C. Zaragoza. 

“It is vital that we take a stand against any act of hatred or violence towards the AAPI community. In Oxnard, we remain committed to celebrating diversity, equity, and inclusion. Our diversity is our strength, and we must commit to breaking down any barriers that separate us from each other.” 

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EDC’s Economic 411 Labor Market Report for February 2021

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The California Labor Market Information Division (LMID) released its February 2021 report earlier today, showing improvement in the unemployment rate, from 7.4% in January to 6.8% in February, based on strong growth in industry employment, up a net 6,100 jobs or 2.0%. Also on the upside, we saw strong growth in the labor force—that is, the total of workers both employed and unemployed but actively looking for employment—up by 7,100 workers in February, or 1.8%. For the monthly detail, check out LMID’s February report here.

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SBCC School of Extended Learning to offer Leadership Skills

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Take your leadership from good to great by exploring and applying the top ten skills that every leader must have.

You may elect to take this course independent of a Career Skills Institute digital badge or apply it to the Emerging Leaders Certificate. Participants who earn this certificate will be enabled to develop the additional management, supervisory and leadership skills to open up additional work and advancement opportunities. This certificate is also a gateway into other noncredit and credit programs, helping students develop workplace skills and training that will qualify them for even more work opportunities.

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Calling All California Central Coast Entrepreneurs! Apply Now for Walmart’s Annual Open Call for Products Made, Grown or Assembled in the U.S.

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The application process for Walmart’s eighth annual Open Call is now open, and the company invites California entrepreneurs dreaming of landing their products on Walmart shelves and online to apply for the opportunity to meet with Walmart buyers on June 30, 2021, via virtual pitch meetings. 

The deadline to apply for participation in this year’s Open Call for products made, grown or assembled in the United States is April 30. The application and additional information about the event are available via this link.

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CLU School of Management — Upward!

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What do these events have in common?    All 3 our community can participate in, in April. Our PRiME Competition and New Venture Fair are annual student competitions and are an integral part of our School of Management programs. Experiential learning is an ever more important element of cutting-edge education. Both our undergraduate and graduate students have options to test their newly acquired knowledge and skills against other students in these types of competitions. Once again we invite our community to get involved virtually in voting for the People’s Choice Awards. Voting is April 21-27. Watch for announcements. During Cal Lutheran’s CARES DAY on April 7th, the School of Management will be raising funds for student competitions like these. Your generous gift would go towards participation fees and other required resources necessary to take part in these outstanding experiential learning opportunities. Early giving is open now, at SOM Cares Day

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CSUCI’s commencement will be a ‘drive-up’ with a cross-the-stage moment

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CSU Channel Islands’ (CSUCI) Class of 2021 will get a chance to cross a stage in a hybrid commencement ceremony that will include caps, gowns and cars. The Class of 2020 will get the same chance during one of six ceremonies spread over three days on May 21, 22 and 23. 

In order to continue to abide by Ventura County Public Health requirements to keep students and their families safe and required physical distancing, each graduate will drive with family and friends in one car to one of multiple stages set up in parking areas around campus.

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Bilingual report — Rent Assistance Now Available for Income Eligible Households and Landlords

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In keeping with Governor Gavin Newsom’s commitment to ensuring individuals and families stay housed during – and despite – the COVID-19 pandemic, Californians who have experienced a financial hardship because of the pandemic and who are most at-risk of eviction can now apply for the CA COVID-19 Rent Relief program to help pay past due rent. Beginning today, renters and landlords can check eligibility and apply by visiting HousingIsKey.com or by calling 833-430-2122 toll-free, seven days a week.

“For hundreds of thousands of renters and small property owners, there is more light at the end of the tunnel,” said Governor Newsom. “We have the strongest eviction protections in the nation and, beginning today, we are providing greatly needed financial support to both renters and small property owners in need of assistance to pay their mortgages, with a focus on racial and geographic equity.”

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Bilingual report — COVID-19 Vaccine Eligibility to expand to 50+ April 1 and 16+ April 15

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The State of California has announced that vaccine eligibility will expand April 1 to those 50 or older and to those 16 or older April 15. “This is exciting news for our residents. The County is aligning itself with the State on this expanded rollout and we are hopeful more vaccines will be coming soon so appointments can be secured,” said Chair of the Board of Supervisors Linda Parks. 

The County received 14,090 vaccines during the week of March 22. Appointments for 1st and 2nd doses quickly filled. The number of community members who are currently eligible exceeds the amount of vaccines provided to the County. The next shipment will include 18,000 doses. More than 36% of eligible community members have received the COVID-19 vaccine. More than 360,000 vaccine doses have been administered.

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Bilingual report — County of Ventura COVID-19 Update — Second COVID-19 Business Assistance Grant Program

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The County of Ventura is launching a second COVID-19 Business Assistance Grant Program for businesses and nonprofit organizations that did not receive a grant during the County’s first program in 2020. A $5,000 grant will be awarded to selected organizations that meet the eligibility requirements.

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Economic Development Collaborative (EDC) — CA Small Business COVID-19 Relief Grant Program

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Round 5 of the California Small Business COVID-19 Relief Grant Program is now accepting applications! This round is NOT first-come, first-serve. Please note the following information:

Important Dates for Round 5
Application Opens: March 25, 2021
Application Closes: March 31, 2021
Start of Selection Notifications: TBD

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SBCC School of Extended Learning – Best Practices in Customer Service

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Prepare to enter or re-enter the workforce with the strategies that retain your valuable customer base and earn repeat business. Topics include resolving complaints, managing verbal and nonverbal communication and steps for defusing angry customers.

You may elect to take this course independent of a Career Skills Institute digital badge or apply it to the Customer Relations Certificate. Participants who earn this certificate will have developed a deep understanding of communication skills and how they relate to quality customer service. All Career Skills Institute classes are tuition-free.

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Earth Day Organizers to Honor Greenpeace USA’s Annie Leonard as 2021 Environmental Hero

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The Community Environmental Council (CEC) proudly announces Annie Leonard, Executive Director of Greenpeace USA, as the recipient of its 2021 Environmental Hero Award, presented as part of CEC’s Virtual Santa Barbara Earth Day Festival being held Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, April 22-24. The free festival is available to view at SBEarthDay.org.
Annie Leonard will join the festival on Saturday, April 24 to share insights into her vital work and accept the award in an interview with Community Environmental Council CEO Sigrid Wright and UC Santa Barbara Dehlsen Chair of Environmental Studies and Director of the Global Environmental Justice Project Dr. David N. Pellow. Check SBEarthDay.org for the confirmed time closer to the event.

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SBCC School of Extended Learning Career Skills Institute to present ‘Introduction to Windows’

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SBCC School of Extended Learning, Career Skills Institute to present ‘Introduction to Windows.’

Prepare to enter or re-enter the workforce with the computer skills needed for entry-level office jobs with high employment potential jobs in Santa Barbara County and California. SBCC Career Skills Institute’s Introduction to Windows course helps you explore Help, windows navigation and management, file management, desktop customization, and other Windows Operating System and applications.

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