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This year marks the 50th anniversary of National Small Business Week.  Although things have certainly changed since President Kennedy signed the first Presidential Proclamation in 1963, one thing that hasn’t changed is America’s entrepreneurial spirit and the important role that small business owners play in our economy and our communities.

This week, President Obama has continued America’s tradition of honoring the spirit and success of American small business owners by proclaiming June 17 – 21 to be 2013’s National Small Business Week. Small businesses have always been the backbone of our economy, and we know that the success of America’s small businesses is critical to growing our economy and increasing our nation’s global competitiveness.

Small businesses create two out of three net new private sector jobs in our economy.  And today, half of all working Americans either own or work for a small business. Over the past five years, the Obama Administration has worked to rebuild the economy and ensure that small businesses are able to do what they do best: grow and create jobs.

See also:
‘10 Things to Watch During National Small Business Week‘ – Inc.com
‘Every Week is Small Business Week. This Week It’s Official.‘ – BusinessWeek

This year, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) has revamped and redesigned our efforts to bring more tools, tips and resources to America’s 28 million small businesses, in conjunction with Administration-wide efforts to make government smarter, more responsive and more streamlined.  And throughout National Small Business Week, we’ll be focused on workshops, hands-on assistance, matchmaking and mentoring for small business owners in the following cities:

• June 17 - Seattle, Wa.
• June 18 - Dallas/Ft. Worth, Texas
• June 19 - St. Louis, Mo.
• June 20 - Pittsburgh, Pa.
• June 21 - Washington, D.C.

Throughout the week, we’ll be joined by entrepreneurs and experts including Jack Dorsey (Square and Twitter co-founder), Angie Hicks (founder of Angie’s List), David Steward (founder and chairman of Worldwide Technologies) and Fran Tarkenton (former NFL quarterback and entrepreneur).

If you don’t live in these cities, you can tune into our events via live stream at www.sba.gov/smallbusinessweek, and by joining our daily Google + Hangouts with additional business and social media experts. During National Small Business Week, we also encourage you to visit your favorite local small business and tell us about it on Twitter with the official hashtag #SBW2013.

In Washington, D.C., we’ll finish the week by honoring outstanding entrepreneurs from every state and U.S. territory and announcing our 2013 National Small Business Person of the Year.  This year’s winners represent the incredible diversity of small businesses; from technological start-ups and health care providers, to a helicopter pilot training school and an organic vegetable farm.  And they are all inspiring examples of the drive and creativity that makes America’s small businesses the true engine of our economy.

For generations, Americans have pursued the dream of owning their own small business. During National Small Business Week, we recognize the critical role that these small businesses play in America’s economic growth and global competitiveness.

The National Journal, a non-partisan weekly magazine that covers policy and politics recently published a special report entitled ‘Back in Business: When Ordinary Americans Accomplish What the Government Can’t’. Riverside was included among the best-practice examples after an extensive six months of research that included interviews, exploration of secondary sources and media review, and consultation with a wide-range of experts.

The special edition celebrates “pragmatic problem-solvers in business, the civic sector, local government, and partnerships that creatively combine energy, creativity, and dynamism” in an effort to help Washington see how grassroots innovators are leading positive change. The 50 honorees included one winner and four finalists in each of 10 categories. Riverside’s Digital Inclusion program was selected as a finalist in the ‘Digital Innovation‘ category.

“For the past six months, NJ editors and correspondents, led by staff writer Naureen Khan, have sought to identify innovators making progress on 10 key challenges facing the country—increasing exports; reviving domestic manufacturing; training a 21st-century workforce; reforming higher education and health care; expanding energy production; formulating regional economic strategies; “disrupting” government; promoting digital innovation; and financing infrastructure. Through dozens of interviews with practitioners and experts, as well as through extensive documentary research, we have selected one winner and four finalists in each category. We offer the combined group as a list of 50 problem-solvers Washington can learn from.” –  National Journal

The special edition is being released in conjunction with a day-long forum entitled “Back in Business: A Celebration of American Problem Solvers” to be held on June 19, 2013 in Washington D.C.

Click here to read the special report as published by the National Journal.

The FIREBALL RUN Adventurally TV series, in collaboration with the City of Riverside, California, announced last week that the press conference announcing Riverside as the Official Finish Line city for the 2013 FIREBALL RUN Adventurally is to be held Thursday, June 20. Riverside Mayor Rusty Bailey will be officiating the event and FIREBALL RUN Executive Producer J Sanchez and Series Director Brian Bazala will be on hand for questions.

FIREBALL RUN (Season Title FIREBALL RUN: All Stars & Movie Cars) is a life-sized, action packed 8-day, 14-city, 2500 mile trivia game with the purpose of aiding in a massive effort to recover America’s missing children.  It has become known as “the Most Epic Adventurally in America®”, as a gripping and emotional life-sized trivia game, where America serves as the game board; 40 driving teams compete for glory, bragging rights, and a plastic road sign, all while aiding in a massive effort to recover America’s missing children. Every team is assigned a missing child and tasked with distributing posters along the route. The awareness campaign has aided in 38 child recoveries since 2007.

[Watch the Riverside FIREBALL RUN event trailer.]

Producers of the event, game, and show were charmed by Riverside’s scenic downtown, an energetic Mayor, positive economic climate and welcoming nature and selected Riverside to serve as the finish line for the FIREBALL RUN 2013.

“Not only will the Fireball Run event be a fun attraction, but it serves us all in a more important way” said Mayor Rusty Bailey. “The Fireball Run’s main purpose is to reunite lost children with their families and Riverside is proud to be an integral part of such a great cause.”

Streamed live to a world-audience and filmed as part of a 20 episode online TV series, the 2012 FIREBALL RUN elicited $44 million in associated media.

“FIREBALL RUN is about the unique places we adventure to and the people met along the way. However in the case of Riverside it’s also about the strong relationships we build,” said FIREBALL RUN Executive Producer J. Sanchez.

Press kits will also be available. Attending media is provided access to high resolution images, logos, and video.

RSVPs can be directed to to channa@riversideca.gov.

FIREBALL RUN contact (407) 224-5403 media@fireballrun.com, or for more information on FIREBALL RUN, visit fireballrun.com

The annual ranking objectively measures scientific impact based on research citations and collaboration worldwide

UC Riverside ranked 10^th in natural sciences and engineering in the annual Leiden ranking of the top 500 major universities in the world in terms of research impact.  UCR’s scientific impact in the natural sciences and engineering exceeded that of Princeton, Yale and Caltech.

(image source: UCR Today)

Overall in all sciences, the campus was ranked 35^th in the world, and 29^th in North America. The rankings come from the Centre for Science and Technology Studies at Leiden University in the Netherlands. This ranking covers citations to research publications from 2008 through 2011.

Unlike some rankings based on surveys or reputation, the Leiden ranking is based on measures of scientific and research impact and collaboration, as measured in data from the Web of Science bibliographic database produced by Thomson Reuters.

UCR also ranked among the top one hundred universities in the world in social sciences and humanities (79), life and earth sciences (95) and biomedical and health sciences (90).

“Our faculty’s scientific impact is truly remarkable, as measured by objective data, said Dallas Rabenstein, Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost. “ I could not be more proud of the research accomplishments of the UCR faculty.”

Impact is determined by several indicators, including the average number of citations of the publications of a university, and the proportion of publications that belong in the top 10 percent most frequently cited.

According to the Centre for Science and Technology Studies, the Leiden Ranking “offers more advanced indicators of scientific impact and collaboration and uses a more transparent methodology.”

Read the original story as pubished on UCR Today.

To read the full 2013 Leiden rankings, click here.

Shuttered for more than two years, the historic train station in Downtown Riverside is scheduled to be back on track as a restaurant, lounge and supper club.

Aiming for a lilting, musical connotation, co-owners Rashawna Randle and Danielle Falcon toyed with Serenade or Symphony, but finally christened their place Euphony. Pronounced YOU’ finee, the word means pleasant, agreeable or harmonious to the ear.

The owners hope that their club, which they describe as a cross between the Improv and the House of Blues offering Southern Creole and American food, agrees with the community. Formerly, the Coffee Depot, the site at 3204 Mission Inn Avenue shares the same parking lot as Sevilla’s Restaurant.

“We wanted to stay true to our Inland roots,” said Randle, 34. She and her business partner and significant other of five years, Falcon, live in Corona with their 2-year-old twin boys, a nanny and a lot of help from both of their families. Falcon, 27, will give birth to a girl in November.

“Riverside needs this,” said Randle, who has worked in marketing, catering and the entertainment industry. “We looked all over but this was the best location, near the freeway and close to established buildings.” The grand opening is opening planned for Friday, June 21.

For more information, visit the restaurant’s website at euphonyrestaurantandlounge.com.

To read the original article as published on PE.com, click here. To follow Laurie Lucas’ blog, click here.

The old-fashioned Main Street attitude about being up close and personal with one’s customers flies in the face of a new way of thinking, which is that it’s a big world out there and that Inland Southern California’s businesses can be part of it.

That was one of the messages business leaders and local officials took home from Riverside County’s World Trade and Investment Summit. The event, held Thursday, June 6 at The Diamond at Lake Elsinore, encouraged companies in the area that manufacture products and offer services to expand their customer bases by exporting.

It is a market with billions of potential customers, in countries that have economies becoming more and more prominent. Representatives of South Korea, Canada, Hong Kong and the Philippines attended Thursday’s conference to discuss the opportunities for local companies to expand beyond America’s borders.

“Domestic business alone is not enough to sustain the American economy,” said Leocadia Zak, director of the United States Trade and Development Agency, the keynote speaker for Thursday’s event. “Your competition is no longer across the street, it’s around the world.”

Some companies in the Inland area have helped themselves grow through global sales, most of them catching on to this in the last four years. Riverside County has taken measures to market the area to global trade groups during that time, and has met often with federal agencies such as Zak’s.

These foreign trade visits are called “reverse trade missions” in federal parlance, and Zak said that the meetings let foreign customers know the range of products made in specific cities and regions. Currently the companies most likely to find international customers are in the energy, transportation, telecommunications and, for some countries, health-care fields, she said.

Many Americans are unaware of emerging markets, but a representative of the Filipino consulate said Thursday there are hopes that her nation’s economy will achieve economic growth of 7 percent soon. India is at 6 percent, and the size of the middle class in Colombia has doubled in the last decade.

The most recent data pegs the United States’ economic growth at slightly more than 2 percent.

To many businesses, the potential risks and complications outweigh the gains. Becoming an exporter means understanding customs laws, global shipping, currency issues and unfamiliar distribution networks.

Zak said in an interview that she understands this can be scary. But her agency, and others that include the Small Business Administration and the Export-Import Bank, which guarantees loans and offers insurance for some of the problems involving international trade, are chartered to help business get through these issues.

“The bottom line is not to be intimidated,” Zak said. “The world gets smaller every day.”

International sales have been a major boost to Phenix Technology, a Riverside-based business that designs and makes plastic and leather helmets for firefighters. The company has about 10 employees but farms out its production to firms in Norco, Corona and Chino. That means Phenix Technology’s efforts usually keep more than 100 people in the Inland area working, said Angel Sanchez Jr., the COO and director of global operations.

Phenix Technology supplies helmets to most of California’s fire departments, but over the past year or so has worked on developing customers in Canada, Australia, Thailand, Chile and South Africa.

Sanchez admitted that this expansion came with worries that included shipping costs, design rip-offs by foreign competitors and trusting distributors in other countries. But Phenix took on the risks, and Sanchez said a key was to look at one market at a time, as opposed to trying to conquer the world too fast.

“It’s definitely risky, but not as risky as we thought,” Sanchez said. “We learned a lot.”

To read the original article as published on PE.com, click here. Find links to International Trade resources on the Office of Economic Development ‘Business Resources‘ page.

Several local business service agencies, such as the SBDC and local Chambers of Commerce, offer valuable training opportunities on a variety of topics that help small business owners build or operate their businesses more effectively. However, if you are looking specific help on an issue or opportunity and need the information ASAP, you may want to check out the Small Business Learning Center.

Launched in late 2012, the SBA Small Business Learning Center is an online portal that hosts a variety of self-paced online training courses, quick videos, web chats and more to help small business owners explore and learn about the many aspects of business ownership.

Content is filtered by topic, so no matter the stage of your business, or the kind of insight you need, you can quickly get answers.

For example, if you’re wondering how SBA loan programs work or just need a primer in accounting or small business taxes, check out these self-paced online financing courses and short videos. Or explore tips from the pros in these archived SBA Web Chats.

Other topics covered include starting a business as a young entrepreneur, an introduction to franchising, taking your business global with exporting, marketing 101, selling to the U.S. government, and much more.

And if you can’t find the training or advice that you need, visit the Office of Economic Development Business Resources page to find one of many small business counseling, assistance and mentoring organizations that serve businesses in Riverside.

As the hot spot for the region’s trendiest new dining establishments, Downtown Riverside restaurants are getting a chance to showcase their favorite menu items later this month during Downtown Restaurant Week.

The event is being coordinated by the Riverside Downtown Partnership and will run from June 20-30, 2013.

Diners will enjoy special lunch or dinner menu items at special pricing at each of the participating restaurants*, as well as chances to win gift cards from participating restaurants.

Throughout Restaurant Week, patrons are asked to share their dining adventure on Instagram @RestaurantWeekDTRiverside.

For more Restaurant Week updates, visit the official event Facebook page at facebook.com/Restaurantweekdowntownriverside. To see the list of participating restaurants, click on the image to the right.

(*Note: Laurie Lucas, PE, reported in her June 2, 2013 article that some restaurants are unable to change their menus due to franchise or other restrictions; therefore Applebee’s and The Old Spaghetti Factory are fundraising for the Riverside Police Foundation and the Riverside Public Library Foundation.)

This week marks the end of Riverside’s one year reign as the 2012 Intelligent Community of the Year.  This prestigious international designation was bestowed by the Intelligent Community Forum (ICF) in a ceremony in New York City on June 8, 2012.  Riverside was only the 3^rd US City to win this award, and the first since New York City was honored in 2001.  This week, a delegation led by Mayor Rusty Bailey will travel to New York City to culminate our reign, and the 2013 winner will be announced on Friday, June 7.     

The Intelligent Community of the Year designation recognizes that Riverside has the core elements in place to thrive in the Broadband Economy, also known as the Information Age.  ICF has identified these core elements as broadband connectivity, knowledge workforce, innovation, digital inclusion and marketing and advocacy.  Click here to view an exciting video that highlights Riverside’s community strengths in these areas.

In addition to our designation as 2012 Intelligent Community of the Year, Riverside was honored at the 2012 ICF Summit with the “Coolest Broadband App” award by a vote of attendees.  This was a based on a demonstration of Riverside Unified School District’s Digital Dashboard, which was uniformly praised at the event.

“While our official reign as No. 1 is ending, the assets that won the City this recognition show that our community is well positioned to thrive in the long term” stated Mayor Bailey.  “These assets, including the ‘Can Do’ spirit recognized by Newsweek magazine in 2011, and a culture of collaboration between government, education, business and residents, provide a framework to continue to build a prosperous local economy.”

Another significant recognition to come from our reign is that the ICF Foundation will be voting this week on whether to add Sustainability as an Intelligent Community Indicator.  This is a direct result of the ICF founders being impressed by Riverside’s efforts toward sustainability during their site visit to Riverside.  This piqued a conversation that included Riverside Public Utilities providing a presentation on the city’s sustainability initiatives and successes at the 2012 ICF Foundation Board meeting.

About the Award.  The Intelligent Community Forum is a think tank that studies economic and social development in the 21^st century.  ICF coined the phrase “Intelligent Community” to describe cities that have the core elements in place to thrive in the Broadband Economy.  Riverside rose to the top through a competition that started with 435 cities from throughout the world and was narrowed down to the Top 21 and then the Top 7.  The rigorous review process included a quantitative analysis of each of the Top 7 by an independent company and a qualitative assessment by the ICF which was validated by a site visit.  These reports were then submitted to an international jury of former Intelligent Communities of the Year, government officials, business leaders, academics and consultants involved in the Intelligent Community movement. The jury ranked each of the communities, and ICF combined the qualitative ranking with the quantitative scoring of the research company to produce the final selection.  Previous Intelligent Communities of the Year include New York City, USA; Eindhoven, Netherlands; Stockholm, Sweden; Taipei, Taiwan; Glasgow, Scotland; Seoul, South Korea and Singapore.  To learn more about ICF, visit their web site at www.intelligentcommunity.org.   

Optimistic outlook for state, national economies continues

This week Beacon Economics released its second Intelligence Report for the City of Riverside, including summaries of the state and national economic conditions and outlook.

Sponsored by The City of Riverside and the Greater Riverside Chambers of Commerce, Beacon was retained to provide the community with a detailed overview of the local economy so that businesses and the agencies working to help businesses can develop better short and long-term strategies.

The report was undoubtedly the most positive summary of economic conditions since the onset of the Great Recession.  According to Beacon, the reason for that is largely because “The fundamentals are finally starting to catch up with expectations,” adding that “the contributions to growth from consumer spending, business investment, and residential construction all accelerated at the end of the year, and the first quarter of 2013 looks even better.”

Even the seemingly negative aspects of 2012’s fourth quarter – a draw-back in inventories and reduction in defense spending – received a positive forecast for 2013 based on increasing manufacturing orders and anticipatory cuts in spending by the US Defense Department that were absorbed in 2012. Still, the national budget, changes to the national healthcare system, and slower-to-recover non-residential construction are noted as economic challenges looking ahead.

At the state level, California’s recovery appears to be even stronger than expected. Recent revisions to the state jobs report shows that California has added back 680,000 of the 1.3 million jobs lost during the downturn, making the state “one of the driving forces in the nationwide jobs recovery.” In addition, Inland Southern California is outpacing many other areas of the state in job growth.

Locally, the City of Riverside continues to play a vital role in the regional recovery. According to Beacon, total private employment grew by 3.4% from February 2012 to February 2013, outpacing the 3% growth experienced by the region and the 2.5% pace of the state over the same period. While the growth was felt across most sectors, the 1.6% year-over-year increase in Professional and Business Services and the 4.5% in the Professional, Scientific and Management subsector may be the most promising for long-term positive impact to the economy.

Consumer spending and residential real estate are also improving at a respectable pace. While neither of these have reached pre-recession levels, both were fueled by growth rates not in line with incomes. Conversely, the increases in spending and home values over the past year are attributed to healthier circumstances of both businesses and personal income.

While conditions in the region and nation continue to improve, it is also apparent that the economy of Riverside’s future will have a more resilient and sustainable structure. Through the collaboration of leaders and policy-makers from business, government, neighborhoods and education, Riverside is improving more that just its economic data; the community is working to ensure quality of life remains a driver for long-term prosperity.

To download and read the full Regional Intelligence Report, click here.