“It’s been an astonishing success story and I can’t say enough positive things about the collaboration,” said Pitts.
“The idea of collaboration made a dramatic difference in how we do business in Yavapai County,” said Tom Pitts of Tom Pitts Consulting, who moderated. The panel included Ruth Ellen Elinski, Yavapai College Small Business Development Center; Jamie Kerr, Arizona Commerce Authority; Karen Jones, Yavapai College Regional Economic Development Center; and Maggie Tidaback, Economic Development Project Manager, Town of Chino Valley.
“Early on in COVID, we jumped at the challenge,” said Karen Jones, director of Yavapai College Regional Economic Development Center, explaining that Yavapai County does not have an economic development entity. “We could fill that gap.”
“One of the most positive things that came out of COVID is that we got to know each other better,” said Jones. “And knowing each other is important.”
“The No. 1 benefit to this group coming together was they were a referral funnel for our services. We were able to serve a broader group of business owners,” said Ruth Ellen Elinski of Yavapai College Small Business Development Center (SBDC). The program director pointed to a freeze or flight mentality of business owners during COVID shutdowns. “It was either ‘I don’t know what to do so I’m not going to do anything’ or ‘I’m just going to hide.’ We at SBDC were tasked with moving them into action and trying to get them to respond. [We helped them] figure out how to still generate revenue, connect with their clients and sustain their businesses through this really horrible event.”
Some Yavapai County businesses with which she consulted entirely changed their product or service to continue generating revenue. “A huge part of our role [during COVID] was helping businesses access the capital that they needed to keep their businesses going,” Elinski added. In addition, SBDCs around Arizona helped small businesses navigate the changes to the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and Economic Injury Disaster Loans.
“The language that came through from the federal level was really hard to interpret and understand it, so we were trying to give people the definitions of what it meant and how to respond,” said Elinski.
In Chino Valley, Maggie Tidaback was less than a year into her job as Economic Development Project Manager when COVID hit. “This group got me through a lot,” she revealed. “I think we also all got calls from local businesses. Some brought me to tears.”
“I looked forward to [Zoom] calls with the group every single week and seeing all the faces; many of them are in the room right now. They’re really a support system. Now I call them my friends, not just colleagues,” said Tidaback. The panelists were quick to share that they were just a few representing many others involved in the Yavapai collaboration. The crisis response team came together via weekly Zoom calls and created programs like business boot camps and Small Business Makeover of a Lifetime, awarded to three small companies throughout the county.
“A lot of studies came out showing that small businesses were not prepared and did not make the jump digitally that they needed to,” explained Jamie Kerr of the Arizona Commerce Authority. “If you weren’t jumping on Zoom, social media [or] other avenues, you were left behind and left behind pretty quickly. Even now, a lot of businesses are struggling with this.”
As a result, the Arizona Commerce Authority put together a six-week program called the Arizona Small Business Digital Academy. “Because of the relationships that we have with Yavapai and some of the other SBDCs around the state, we partnered with the Eastern Arizona College SBDC in the Yavapai SBDC to pilot this program,” said Kerr, vice president of Rural Economic Development. They leveraged the Small Business Makeover of a Lifetime program by bringing applicants for the makeover into the first cohort of the digital academy.
From the audience, City of Cottonwood Tourism and Economic Development Director Tricia Lewis agreed. “Our individual talents and strengths all came together, and we were able to push that information out regular regularly. Our businesses within the Verde Valley have benefited greatly because they have resources readily available.”
After such widespread success, the partners decided they wanted to continue the collaboration past COVID. To answer the new challenges of reduced workforce and supply chain and increased cost of living, including housing, they created the Yavapai County Economic Resource Alliance or YCERA (pronounced wai-sera.) They developed a mission statement, website and logo to move the crisis response group to a permanent ongoing network to engage community partners, build collaborative relationships and inform our community of resources and opportunities.
“We’re seeing a huge growth in Yavapai County,” said Elinski, with the referral funnel still in place. “I’m glad that we have this group to work on these issues together going forward. We are really well established and well-rounded at this point.”
“It’s been an astonishing success story and I can’t say enough positive things about the collaboration,” said Pitts. QCBN
By Stacey Wittig, QCBN
Arizona Association for Economic Development (AAED): aaed.com
Arizona Small Business Digital Academy:
azcommerce.com/small-business/small-business-digital-academy
Yavapai County Economic Resource Alliance (YCERA): ycazbusinesses.org
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