“On March 17 – a day I will always remember – the day we shut down our offices, transferred everyone to virtual and closed down our physical space, I realized quickly that with all the businesses we serve, 450 a year, this was going to hit them hard. At first, we were all reeling from the health factors. Then it was like a switch; everyone went from on to off in an incredibly short period of time and all the businesses shut down,” says Mary Anne Petrillo, CEO of West Business Development Center.
First thing, West established an Economic Impact Survey to inform the county, to capture the financial harm done by the COVID-19; 500 businesses submitted information for a total of $40,181,867 in financial loss and 1,473 in job loss for employees.
They followed with the launching of their Mendocino County Business site, a work plan portal. With the new health orders coming out, the county needed a clear understanding as to how businesses were complying.
“Public Health wanted industry to lead that conversation,” she says.
As ad hoc committee members, Petrillo, Supervisor Ted Williams and Supervisor Dan Gjerde hosted a series of round-tables, quick listening tours for industry, to get a sense of the challenges they were facing.
A report was created from these discussions and presented to Public Health Officer Dr. Mimi Doohan – the first round of business and health coordination efforts.
Once the health orders were coming out regularly and the state started to open up more industry, a clearer way was needed for the county to understand what businesses were doing to open up safely.
At that point a team from West Center built a separate portal on their website and created worksheets for businesses to easily access specific information they needed in order to figure out how to open safely and be in compliance with health orders.
“The directions and guidelines do not come from West; they come from the Public Health Officer,” she says. “The core of our business is to provide one-on-one counseling, training and advising.”
When Gov. Gavin Newsom opened up the high-risk sector, they continued to collaborate with Public Health and County Counsel as new health orders for these industries were developed.
It was determined that it was not enough for the high-risk sector to check a box and become self-certified; they had to formally write a plan and upload the plan to the county for review.
As a user interface website development service to help businesses, West simplifies the language and makes it clearer; the county reviews the plans and makes the final decisions.
“The Public Health orders are to maintain safety; it is imperative that businesses and consumers understand that we are all responsible for each other. There is no one who does not appreciate the complexity between business and public health and the challenges that both are having today. This has been a good solid approach. Science is science.”
Petrillo sees the closure of tourism as being the biggest challenge facing the local economy. As one of the county’s key economic drivers, it affects everything – restaurants, retail, hotels. She believes that until events and large gatherings are again permitted, the economy will not become robust.
“I am hopeful that people are seeing the value of Ecommerce and in learning how to make that part of their business model. It’s not an either/or; you need to have both brick and mortar and Ecommerce. This is the new normal; nothing is going back to exactly as it was.”
To her, as to other community leaders, th
“The Public Health orders are to maintain safety; it is imperative that businesses and consumers understand that we are all responsible for each other. There is no one who does not appreciate the complexity between business and public health and the challenges that both are having today. This has been a good solid approach. Science is science.”
Petrillo sees the closure of tourism as being the biggest challenge facing the local economy. As one of the county’s key economic drivers, it affects everything – restaurants, retail, hotels. She believes that until events and large gatherings are again permitted, the economy will not become robust.
“I am hopeful that people are seeing the value of Ecommerce and in learning how to make that part of their business model. It’s not an either/or; you need to have both brick and mortar and Ecommerce. This is the new normal; nothing is going back to exactly as it was.”
To her, as to other community leaders, the pandemic initially felt like the Redwood Valley fire all over again; however, the coronavirus is not a visible force and there is no apparent end in sight.
As her thoughts turned to raising money for the stricken businesses, she turned to the Community Foundation of Mendocino County and gave them the information they needed to get the word about the extreme need; they went after the funds and got them.
“Nobody wants to see a business fail,” she says.
West Center was awarded a $200,000 grant to support at least 40 micro businesses, those with fewer than five full-time employees, that have been negatively impacted by COVID-19, providing them with grants of up to $5,000 each during two rounds of funding.
Applicants might need PPE equipment and wash stations, tools that will allow them to make more in-person sales while complying with health orders.
Many businesses in the county have no online presence – perhaps a Facebook page but no website of their own. A grant of $1,000 will get a website built.
Businesses need Ecommerce capabilities – perhaps a Shopify account. The new health orders encourage cashless transactions but these systems require fees.
“Bundle together some software programs that you couldn’t afford and apply for a grant; get yourself to be cashless; try it for a year. That shows you’re thinking about the future of your business and utilizing funds to get you there faster.
“Laptops and computers, video monitors, audio capabilities – these are things you need now that you did not need before because we’re now living and selling in a virtual world.”
The awarding of a grant provides recipients with free monthly advising and counseling services from West to keep them on a positive trajectory.
“This world we are living in now is going to be with us for a long time; I hope we don’t need to go backwards,” she says.
Applications for the grant opened on June 19; the deadline for submissions is 5 p.m. on July 3, and awards will be announced at noon on July 24. Links to the application can be found on the West Center website.
