Recommendation to request the Economic Development Department and Long Beach Small Business Development Center to implement Elevate LB Business Academy, a pilot program to assist businesses on 4th Street and Broadway to thrive and continue to be a part of the vibrant Long Beach community; Increase appropriations in the General Fund Group in the Economic Development Department by $10,000, offset by the Second Council District One-Time District Priority funds transferred from Citywide Activities Department for the Elevate LB Business Academy; and Decrease appropriations in the General Fund Group in the Citywide Activities Department by $10,000 to offset a transfer to Economic Development Department.
Motion carries. Item nine Communication from Councilmember Pearce Recommendation to request the Economic Development Department and Long Beach Small Business Development Center to implement Elevate LBE Business Academy and increase appropriations in the General Fund Group and the Economic Development Department by $10,000 for the Elevate LBE Business Academy. Give us a motion the second there's there's one member of the public wants to speak also Councilmember Pierce. Okay. Yeah. I'd like to talk a little bit about this. I know John is cued up. We're really excited. It's $10,000, so I do. That's a lot of money coming from my divide by nine. So I do want to take a moment because I think that all of the council members will probably want to do this in their district. So Elevate LBE Business Academy is a pilot program in the second District that will give retail establishments the opportunity to stay competitive and profitable. While understanding different challenge of the media distribution. It also allows for some insight for brick and mortar as long as as well as online sales, along with funding expansion among many other areas. So really, we know that in the second district we have Fourth Street and we have Broadway. And often we talk about supporting our small businesses. We've had a number of unfortunately, of small businesses leave for Street in the last several years, mainly because of issues like their rent increases or access to capital. And so our staff is working on access to capital issues. We're working on some other issues around speculation. But one of the biggest things is making sure that our small businesses that really are people that really work seven days a week in their shops have all the tools and resources that they need to be able to succeed and expand their business. So I'd like to turn it over to staff to talk a little bit about it, and then I'd love to hear from the public. Thank you. Honorable mayor and members of the city council. Thank you so much. A few months back, you recall that we received a report from Cal State Long Beach about some of the perceptions and confidence from their Small Business Monitor survey. And one of the challenges that the small businesses said that they faced in the coming year was challenges related to finding customers and retaining customers, particularly in this new environment with online, retail and other competing factors. And so in conversations with Cal State, Long Beach, as well as our Small Business Development Center at Long Beach City College , we were able to find some really good resources and package them as part of this Elevate Long Beach Business Academy. So this will be a pilot, of course. All of the funds associated with the city council district whose contribution here will actually go into the businesses. They will receive many grants to help them with business licenses if they graduate. They will also have the option of making a video that will be used for marketing and promotion promotion for their business if they graduate and there will be a for a class to about 2 hours each class a four class series taught by a consultant who has experience working with businesses throughout L.A. and Orange County. And so we want to thank you. This is a good example of, again, the council hearing about some of the survey data that small businesses report and then finding a way to pilot some solutions. And so we'll hopefully be able to come back to you in just a matter of about 60 days with our goal of 20 graduates, get some feedback from their their results and then hopefully see their taxable sales increase in the coming year. You said it, Mrs. Councilwoman Price, you want to speak on this item? Thank you, Councilwoman Mongo. Thank you. The Small Business Development Center is an amazing resource if you don't know about it. They're headquartered in the fifth District and these classes are typically much longer. And so I think that this is a good transformation, not just for. The business community, but also for the sbdc to hear the feedback from the community that six weeks, 12 weeks, it's just too long. And the amount of time they want to kind of accelerate through the program. I think it's also really important to note that we have a lot of advisors at the SPDC. The advisor who's going to be teaching this class is like a nationally acclaimed. Renowned retail expert. So if you are in anything that sells to a customer base, this is an amazing opportunity to have this up close. And expertize, expertize like this can cost upwards of 250 to $400 an hour of advice and guidance. And it's being provided for a very, very nominal fee, if not completely free. And then once you're plugged into this network, there's also several other additional complementary services that come to you via the advisors. So just a great program that's been alive and well in the fifth District for. A couple of decades. And really through this feedback has taken on a transformation. So I look forward to the feedback from this new group of individuals to see how much better a four week program is than the traditional system that the entire country really operates under so long, which is again on the cutting edge on the front of changing the way we think about training our businesses. Councilman's in the house. I just want to say congratulations on this item. Council Member Pearce This is something really that excites me having a lot of small businesses in the First District along Pine and Long Beach Boulevard, Fourth Street, all the small businesses, the town that we have. This really excites me. So I'm rooting for this program. Thank you. So I can't find any comments. It's good to know what I need. Some ammo. Unfortunately, I have a business. Unfortunate bonito, so this obviously appeals to me. I would just like to know from the city as there is already a small business center in the fifth district. Has the council images acknowledged if we can add another incent incentives? I'm speaking as a business owner on one of these corridors specifically. I mean, it would be great if the city would work with us, you know, in terms of the tourism board and administer the directory without, you know, you know, these are things that, you know , not to differentiate, but like, you know, as a quote unquote millennial owning a business. You know, I have different priorities than the generation older than me that maybe we might be a little bit more east of Fourth Street than me because they're more strictly retail. They're more brick and mortar, the brick and mortar business model. Whereas most of my business exist on online. I think that issues more of like communicating to, you know, in widening the niche of people who know about my business, which is why, you know, be great, maybe, you know, I don't know what that building is on on Long Beach Boulevard. And first, a nice orange building. Whoever is up there, you know, whenever they come to the performing arts center and the Terrace Theater, like these kinds of people and the convention center, you know, for a specifically is related conversations there are these conventions there. It would be great to have some kind of a report just to add it to the program. You know, obviously when this passes, I'm going to apply for the program just thinking of ways that assist us, because I don't particularly need help with the Internet. I know that there are businesses that exist that do, but, you know, just adding, you know, make it a more wide range. But I support this. Thank you, Councilmember. Pearce, also, since I have one minute left, you know, being a business on fourth in Bonito in the second district, you know, you check us out 1029 East Fourth Street play nice. It's a community space. Thank you. Thanks. And I I did want to say that you did mention and I just wanted to be real clear for anybody listening is if you do graduate you get your your business license fees waived. To clarify, we don't waive business license fees, but the grant funding, the grant being provided will pay for one year of business license fees for the graduate. So that's the mini grant that's associated with successful completion of the program. Thank you. And then tonight, also, in case you don't know yet, my staff can help coordinate any conversations. John is also an excellent resource to connect you to other people in the city. And then my team, along with John's team, has been going down Fourth Street in between Alamitos and Cherry. And before my term is up, my hope is that we have our own business improvement district right there. And so hopefully you can help our team really do that and make sure that it's the right fit for that part of Fourth Street. So thank you. Thank you. We are have a motion. And second, please cast your votes. And Susie's a yes. Oh, she's back.