WDBCCC to Award Grants to Help Micro Businesses Avert Layoffs
Bounce Back Website Wins Silver Davey Award
Resources to Help Employers and Workers Through the Pandemic
Vega Ascends to WDBCCC Chair
CCCEAC Helps Businesses Manage Constantly Changing Workforce
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WDBCCC TO AWARD GRANTS TO HELP MICRO BUSINESSES AVERT LAYOFFS |
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If you’re a small business in Contra Costa County facing potential layoffs due to the financial impacts of the pandemic, we want to help you keep your workers! The Workforce Development Board of Contra Costa County (WDBCCC) is awarding grants to small businesses experiencing an adverse financial impact due to COVID-19. The goal is to help employers avert layoffs and/or closure.
The WDB has $100,000 in Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act funding for layoff aversion grants to small businesses within Contra Costa County. The funds will reimburse expenses directly related to preventing layoffs or facility closures due to COVID-19, such as personal protective equipment or equipment that makes it possible for employees to work remotely. Businesses may not use funds to pay employee wages, benefits, or support services, such as rent, childcare or transportation.
Priority will be given to these types of women and minority-owned micro-businesses: retail, restaurants, hair salons, barber shops, nail salons, day spas and fitness studios.
Join us for a webinar Nov. 17 at 3 p.m., where we will provide more in-depth information about this grant opportunity. Visit the Employer section of our #BounceBackContraCosta website starting Monday (Nov. 2) to register for the webinar.
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BOUNCE BACK WEBSITE WINS SILVER DAVEY AWARD |
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The BounceBackContraCosta.org website has been awarded a Silver Davey by the Academy of Interactive and Visual Arts (AIVA). The Davey Awards is judged and overseen by AIVA, a 700+ member organization of leading professionals from various disciplines of the visual arts dedicated to embracing progress and the evolving nature of traditional and interactive media.
The Bounce Back website is a result of our effort to work with WDBCCC partners to quickly provide Contra Costa County workers and employers with the information they needed to navigate the rapidly changing work landscape as the impacts of COVID-19 began to unfold.
The website is a one-stop microsite with resources for workers and employers, including resume-writing and cover letter video tutorials and a video orientation to the CalJobs system.
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RESOURCES TO HELP EMPLOYERS AND WORKERS THROUGH THE PANDEMIC |
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WDBCCC has received $1.4 million in funding to help Contra Costa County workers and employers through the pandemic, including $100,000 for layoff aversion grants.
Our partner, Rubicon Programs, is administering funding to support training and re-employment for individuals impacted by COVID-19, as well as for emergency supportive service (ESS) payments directly to individuals impacted by the virus.
Individuals may be eligible for ESS payments if they were impacted due to being:
- Laid-off or wage impacted
- Unable to work due to COVID-19 school/childcare closures
- Unable to telework due to lack of technology equipment
- Unable to work due to caring for a COVID-19 family member
- Immunocompromised and unable to work
You could receive assistance to help pay for:
- Rent, utility bills, insurance
- Childcare
- Equipment to telework
- Other assistance, as needed
- Training-cost assistance up to $8,000
For more information, call 510-323-1104.
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VEGA ASCENDS TO LEAD AS WDBCCC CHAIR |
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This year, Yolanda "Jolie" Vega ascended to serve as chair of the WDBCCC board. She was selected for the position in July and will draw on her 13 years of experience on the board to guide efforts to increase the organization’s visibility.
“I couldn’t be happier,” the seasoned Vega said. “In this role, I want to make us more visible. I want our board members to take back our messages to their companies – how to utilize the workforce development board for their companies or their partners, and to embrace their position as board members, which is when they’re out there at company meetings to talk about the workforce development board.”
Vega herself knew little about the work of the WDB when she was first introduced to it by a friend. She became interested and joined the Youth Council in 2007 as a member and worked her way into positions with greater responsibility over the years, among them serving as chair of the Business & Economic Development Committee and on the Executive Committee.
Vega, Puerto Rico-born and raised in New York’s Harlem, comes from humble beginnings. But she has never let that stop her, thanks to the mantra her parents gifted her: If you want to do it, do it. These words have propelled her into a life of service, including a special focus on veterans, in honor of her late son, Senior Airman Jonathan Vega Yelner, who was killed in Afghanistan in 2008.
She is a member of the U.S. Air Force’s Survivor Advocacy Council, president of the Gold Star Mothers of Contra Costa County and a volunteer at the veteran’s hospital in Martinez, among a list of other service positions.
Vega holds a Bachelor of Arts in sociology and political science from The City College of New York and a master’s degree in marketing and finance from the Executive MBA Program at St. Mary’s College of California, in Moraga.
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A previous version of this article incorrectly stated Vega is the first woman to serve as chair of the WDBCCC. She is not. |
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CCCEAC HELPS BUSINESSES MANAGE CONSTANTLY CHANGING WORKFORCE |
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The Contra Costa County Employer Advisory Council (CCCEAC) provides affordable training and resources to take the sting out of managing a constantly changing workforce, making the organization even more valuable amid the pandemic.
“We make sure the information is for the employers in our county, so they stay up-to-date with what is the new hot topic that could potentially create a struggle for them,” said Katherine Helms, CCCEAC chair. “It is a revolving door, especially with COVID. Everything is changing on the fly all the time.”
CCCEAC serves primarily small- to mid-sized businesses. It partners with WDBCCC to provide technical and legal compliance information to its members. CCCEAC also serves employers by notifying them about pending legislation that may impact them; providing employer representation on state-level panels, boards and advisory groups; and providing to all employers low-cost, timely seminars on topics such as employment law, workforce development, human resources practices and professional development, among other services.
While the organization has had to adjust by moving its offerings online due to COVID-19, it continues to provide the critical information businesses need and has added content specific to navigating the pandemic. For example, one of the December virtual seminar topics will be about the power of resilience and cultivating healthy leaders and a healthy team.
“When you’re living at work because you are working from home, and the boundaries are less clear between life and work, this is an important talk that maybe we wouldn’t have had in the past, but it seems really relevant now,” Helms said.
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