Santa Cruz County Business Council

Slowly but surely, normalcy returns. Exciting news brought to you by SCCBC member, Santa Cruz Sentinel!

The economy is coming back to life and it's time to identify those opportunities to scale UP! Check out Santa Cruz Works webinar this Wednesday to learn how to effectively build your sales stack, processes and prospecting strategy.

Great news on a Friday! Downtown Forward and the SCC Business Council commends the the City of Santa Cruz in selecting Eden Housing and For The Future Housing to develop the Downtown Library Mixed Use Project. You can find the full report from the City and some other exciting news in our latest newsletter!

How's the big reopening feeling for everyone?! Anyone else feeling weird without a mask in certain public spaces?

Big thanks to Lookout Santa Cruz for highlighting our new Executive Director. Welcome aboard, Emily!

Santa Cruz City Government has selected Eden Housing and For the Future Housing for the Council-approved Library Mixed Use project. The team will develop up to 107 units ALL to be reserved for individuals and families who earn 30-50% of area median income, which is considered very low income. This project is supported by Downtown Forward and SCCBC! Learn more at cityofsantacruz.com/mixeduselibrary and stay tuned for a staff report to be released!

The Downtown Association of Santa Cruz (DTA), the Santa Cruz County Business Council, and the Santa Cruz Department of Economic Development welcome you to an evening of learning and discussion about the difficult topic of commercial leases. What steps can landlords and tenants alike take to work with each other through this unprecedented hardship? Hear from our panelists, submit your questions in advance, and learn about how we can get back to "normal" as quickly and as safely as possible. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/lets-talk-leases-covid-and-com

What better way than to spend your morning with the Homeless Garden Project during their FREE virtual kick off event this Saturday, March 20th @11:30am in support of the 21-Day Racial Equity Habit Building Food Challenge (happening: April 5th-25th). During this virtual event, U.S. Representative Panetta, non-profit organization Senderos, and the Challenge organizers, Curtis Ogden and Karen Spiller, will serve as keynote speakers. The event will help us learn, reflect, and discuss how we can build a thriving and inclusive community, workforce, and local food system. In addition, attendees will learn how to participate in the Challenge. For more information and to Register for the event(s) go to: https://bit.ly/HGP21Day

Funds available for RENT RELIEF, move information below.

SantaCruz County is officially back in RED tier, under the California #COVID19 restrictions, which means the partial reopening of some indoor services, including dining. More information: https://lookout.co//ready-for-the-red-positive-momentum-co

Have you checked your COVID-19 vaccination eligibility? Go to https://myturn.ca.gov/ to check your eligibility status. So what's been going on with COVID-19 vaccinations... On February 10th, 2021 the Issues and Policy Committee of the Santa Cruz County Business Council met and heard a staff presentation on the current state of vaccine distribution at the federal, state, and local levels. Also, did you know that Santa Cruz County ranked 9th in California Countries based on total doses administered vs. received? Find out more information from the presentation at: https://sccbusinesscouncil.com/feb-10th-vaccine-update-fed/

Let’s use Zoom for something other than school or work meetings! Let’s use it to connect to one another through the sharing of panelists’ pandemic experiences, ranging from medicine, religion, wellness and comedy. Questions are most certainly welcomed, as it is anticipated to be a lively discussion. This FREE People in the Pandemic event is happening this WEDNESDAY, FEB. 24th at 6pm via ZOOM. Don’t forget to RSVP: https://lookoutpeopleinthepandemic.eventbrite.com

Former #SantaCruz Mayor Don Lane speaks up about the need for a mixed use library and #affordablehousing project. Do not let the project opponents lie to you, get your facts straight here: https://www.donlane.org/po/the-eggplant-that-ate-santa-cruz

Do you own a business, or know of someone who does that is need of COVID relief funds? Santa Cruz County has opened up their second round of CARES funding for qualifying local businesses. There is a webinar in both English and Spanish about how to fill out an application this Saturday starting at 9am (10:15 for Spanish). Learn more and RSVP below: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/santa-cruz-county-small-busine

Want to learn more about how the candidates running for office in Santa Cruz County feel about Housing? We have the campaign forum for you! Join MBEP, the Business Council, and Affordable Housing Now for a candidate forum focused on housing on October 1st from 6-8pm via Zoom. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/north-santa-cruz-county-electi

Thanks for the shout out Steve!

The Santa Cruz County Business Council and Santa Cruz County Chamber of Commerce are partnering to host a forum for Santa Cruz City Council candidates that is focused on our economic recovery. The forum will be jointly moderated by Steve Bennett of the Santa Cruz Sentinel and Kara Guzman of Santa Cruz Local, and will be hosted via Zoom. This event is free and open to the public. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/economic-recovery-candidate-fo

Evacuation Shelter Locations for Santa Cruz County: Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium 307 Church St. Santa Cruz, CA 95060... Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds 2601 E. Lake Ave. Watsonville, CA 96076

The Santa Cruz County Business Council and Santa Cruz County Chamber of Commerce are hosting a public forum on California Proposition 15 (2020), otherwise known as "Split Roll Tax", which would amend the California Constitution to tax commercial properties at their market assessed value. Hear from speakers representing both the "Yes" and "No" campaigns about how this statewide ballot initiative could affect you and your business. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-business-of-prop-15-campai

Friendly reminder, more safety tips (and memes) like this one for those who attend our event Don't Kill Grandma: Young People and COVID-19. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/dont-kill-grandma-young-people #DontKillGrandma #maskupmondays

The Santa Cruz County Business Council is partnering with Santa Cruz Works and the Small Business Development Center at Cabrillo College to host a special, virtual town hall aimed specifically at 18-34 year olds with our County Health Officer, Dr. Gail Newel, and UCSC Professor Marm Kilpatrick, who is an expert on infectious diseases. The virtual event is taking place next Wednesday July 29th from 6-7:30pm. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/dont-kill-grandma-young-people Those who RSVP via Eventbrite will automatically be entered to WIN a Merge4 Mask after the presentation has concluded. We have 120 to give away!

The Business Council and Kaiser Permanente are partnering on a special presentation about how you and your employees can return to work safely. The presentation is taking place next Thursday July 16th, from 1-2pm. It's a summary presentation based on Kaiser's COVID-19 Returning to Work Playbook, which includes a framework of health to consider as your employees start returning to work in this next normal; guidance, recommendations, and curated tools and resources on how to safely restart work; and information on clinical services and resources available to employees who are Kaiser Permanente members. You can learn more and RSVP to attend here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/covid-19-playbook-for-workplac This event is free and open to the public, and would be great for your employees too!

COVID-19 is here and it's not going away anytime soon. Safe practices like wearing a mask, frequent handwashing, and social distancing have proven to significantly decrease the risk of infection. We all have the ability to be heroes in our community and do our part to protect our employees, customers, friends and family. Don't be left behind, take the health and safety pledge to set a good example and protect Santa Cruz! https://www.santacruz.org/partners/covid-19-resources/

Big thanks to our volunteer clean-up crew who woke up bright and early to help clean up the graffiti vandalism that occurred last night. You might recognize som...e of these friendly faces which included our Mayor, Justin Cummings, council member Renee Golder, Downtown Association board member David Guzman, Kathryn Mintz from Economic Development, Sonja Brunner of the Downtown Association, Larry Pearson of the Pacific Cookie Company and community members Na'ama, Lilah, Jeff and Trent. See more