The California Office of the Small Business Advocate (CalOSBA) has partnered with eBay to announce the launch of the Up & Running California program. Through the program, up to 300 California small businesses will be selected to participate in this six-week interactive eCommerce training program designed to help them get and grow online. 

This new, 100% free program will offer participating businesses the educational resources, interactive instruction, and seller-to-seller coaching they need to compete on eBay’s marketplace. 

Participants will enjoy full access to eBay Seller School, eBay’s interactive online learning platform. Seller School offers both beginner-level and more advanced courses to help all sellers accelerate and scale their eBay business, regardless of their time and experience on the platform. 

Other program benefits include:

Applications are open until 11:59 PM on Thursday, March 11.

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This afternoon, state health officials released their weekly update on COVID-19 tiers for all California counties. Of California's 58 counties, 40 remain in California's purple tier (down from 47 last week). Here are the recent new COVID-19 case rates per 100K population for Ventura County:

The adjustment is a bonus because Ventura County tests more people for COVID-19 than most other California counties.

To move from the purple tier to the less-restrictive red tier and reopen more sectors of the economy, Ventura County must get its adjusted new case rate to below 7.0. However, the state is considering softening the requirements to reach red tier, thus allowing a shift to red tier with a higher adjusted case rate than the current 7.0. If the requirements for red tier change, we'll definitely share that with you in a future M-Powered edition.

To see what businesses can open in the various tiers, or to see how Ventura County compares to the rest of California, visit covid19.ca.gov/safer-economy/.

For an up-to-date list of all active local, state, and federal assistance programs for businesses, please click here.

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Thursday, March 4, 12:00 PM | Register Here

Attorneys Aymara Ledezma and Hannah Sweiss from Fisher Phillips LLP will provide a California Employment Law Update for 2021 and additional insight on new regulations related to COVID-19 vaccines, Extended Paid Sick Leave, reasonable accommodations, and concerns around these issues.

Friday, March 5, 12:00 PM | Register Here

The Economic Development Collaborative invites you to join their webinar series on alternating Wednesday and Fridays to answer questions about Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL), Payroll Protection Program (PPP), Unemployment Insurance (UI), grants, and all currently available COVID-19 related business resources.

Tuesday, March 9, 11:00 AM | Register Here

Sometimes, sudden events such as illness, death, or crises like the COVID-19 pandemic force business owners to sell in a hurry. Other times, owners know they will eventually have to sell their business because sales and profits have been steadily declining. Whether sellers are putting their manufacturing business up for sale because of unforeseen circumstances or because it's just simply time to do so, it's important for sellers to take a strategic approach to prepare for sale. This webinar from CMTC will explain crucial steps for preparing to sell your manufacturing business.

Tuesday, March 9, 12:00 PM | Register Here

Join a discussion around next steps for commercial tenants and landlords, things to consider, and opportunities to move forward. This webinar will be a panel discussion between the Economic Development Collaborative Small Business Development Center's financial, legal, and operations advisors.