Retirement Plan Navigator
The Internal Review Service has created a new web-based tool, the "Retirement Plan Navigator," to help small business owners. You can find it at http://www.retirementplans.irs.gov/.
The navigator guides small business owners in three areas: choosing a plan, maintaining a plan, and correcting a plan. The navigator includes a side-by-side comparison of pension plans and their requirements to help small business owners choose the one that best fits their situation. The navigator also provides a checklist and suggested resources to help employers keep their retirement plans in compliance with the law.
The IRS will update the navigator as pension laws and regulations change.
(Source: U.S. Small Business Administration, Office of Advocacy)
Friday, October 30, 2009
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
GLCEDC Grants Available
On October 26, the Executive Committee of the GLCEDC approved two matching grant programs to be funded by the Livingston County Board's grant of $500,000. The Commercial Building Improvement Grant (CBIG) is designed to entice property owners to make improvements to existing structures that will remove obstacles for new businesses seeking to locate in the structure. Our goal is to improve the commercial building stock in the County so that new businesses can more easily be recruited to the area. We want to be able to offer new businesses numerous buildings that are in "move-in" condition.
The Community Development Infrastructure Grant (CDIG) is a matching grant given directly to municipalities for economic development purposes. Municipalities apply directly for the grant and the funds can be used for infrastructure improvements, property acquisition, and other projects related to economic development. The grants can not be used for tax exempt purposes or for public services.
Please follow the link to the GLCEDC website for more information and applications: http://www.glcedc.org/news.html
The Community Development Infrastructure Grant (CDIG) is a matching grant given directly to municipalities for economic development purposes. Municipalities apply directly for the grant and the funds can be used for infrastructure improvements, property acquisition, and other projects related to economic development. The grants can not be used for tax exempt purposes or for public services.
Please follow the link to the GLCEDC website for more information and applications: http://www.glcedc.org/news.html
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
The Rural Brain Drain
By Patrick J. Carr and Maria J. Kefalas
(Source: The Chronicle of Higher Education)
What is going on in small-town America? The nation's mythology of small towns comes to us straight from the The Music Man's set designers. Many Americans think about flyover country or Red America only during the culture war's skirmishes or campaign season. Most of the time, the rural crisis takes a back seat to more visible big-city troubles. So while there is a veritable academic industry devoted to chronicling urban decline, small towns' struggles are off the grid.
And yet, upon close inspection, the rural and urban downturns have much in common, even though conventional wisdom casts the small town as embodiment of all that is right with America and the inner city as all that is wrong with it.
The Harvard University sociologist William Julius Wilson famously describes how deindustrialization, joblessness, middle-class flight, depopulation, and global market shifts gave rise to the urban hyper-ghettos of the 1970s, and the same forces are now afflicting the nation's countryside. The differences are just in the details. In urban centers, young men with NBA jerseys sling dime bags from vacant buildings, while in small towns, drug dealers wearing Nascar T-shirts, living in trailer parks, sell and use meth. Young girls in the countryside who become mothers before finishing high school share stories of lost adolescence and despair that differ little from the ones their urban sisters might tell.
In both settings, there is no shortage of guns, although in North Philadelphia's Badlands or Chicago's South Side those guns might be concealed and illegal, while in small towns guns hang on display in polished oak cabinets in the sitting room. Residents of rural America are more likely to be poor and uninsured than their counterparts in metropolitan areas, typically earning 80 percent what suburban and urban workers do.
The most dramatic evidence of the rural meltdown has been the hollowing out—that is, losing the most talented young people at precisely the same time that changes in farming and industry have transformed the landscape for those who stay. This so-called rural "brain drain" isn't a new phenomenon, but by the 21st century the shortage of young people has reached a tipping point, and its consequences are more severe now than ever before. Simply put, many small towns are mere years away from extinction, while others limp along in a weakened and disabled state.
In just over two decades, more than 700 rural counties, from the Plains to the Texas Panhandle through to Appalachia, lost 10 percent or more of their population. Nationally, there are more deaths than births in one of two rural counties. Though the hollowing-out process feeds off the recession, the problem predates, and indeed, presaged many of the nation's current economic woes. But despite the seriousness of the hollowing-out process, we believe that, with a plan and a vision, many small towns can play a key role in the nation's recovery.
To read more of this article, click here.
(Source: The Chronicle of Higher Education)
What is going on in small-town America? The nation's mythology of small towns comes to us straight from the The Music Man's set designers. Many Americans think about flyover country or Red America only during the culture war's skirmishes or campaign season. Most of the time, the rural crisis takes a back seat to more visible big-city troubles. So while there is a veritable academic industry devoted to chronicling urban decline, small towns' struggles are off the grid.
And yet, upon close inspection, the rural and urban downturns have much in common, even though conventional wisdom casts the small town as embodiment of all that is right with America and the inner city as all that is wrong with it.
The Harvard University sociologist William Julius Wilson famously describes how deindustrialization, joblessness, middle-class flight, depopulation, and global market shifts gave rise to the urban hyper-ghettos of the 1970s, and the same forces are now afflicting the nation's countryside. The differences are just in the details. In urban centers, young men with NBA jerseys sling dime bags from vacant buildings, while in small towns, drug dealers wearing Nascar T-shirts, living in trailer parks, sell and use meth. Young girls in the countryside who become mothers before finishing high school share stories of lost adolescence and despair that differ little from the ones their urban sisters might tell.
In both settings, there is no shortage of guns, although in North Philadelphia's Badlands or Chicago's South Side those guns might be concealed and illegal, while in small towns guns hang on display in polished oak cabinets in the sitting room. Residents of rural America are more likely to be poor and uninsured than their counterparts in metropolitan areas, typically earning 80 percent what suburban and urban workers do.
The most dramatic evidence of the rural meltdown has been the hollowing out—that is, losing the most talented young people at precisely the same time that changes in farming and industry have transformed the landscape for those who stay. This so-called rural "brain drain" isn't a new phenomenon, but by the 21st century the shortage of young people has reached a tipping point, and its consequences are more severe now than ever before. Simply put, many small towns are mere years away from extinction, while others limp along in a weakened and disabled state.
In just over two decades, more than 700 rural counties, from the Plains to the Texas Panhandle through to Appalachia, lost 10 percent or more of their population. Nationally, there are more deaths than births in one of two rural counties. Though the hollowing-out process feeds off the recession, the problem predates, and indeed, presaged many of the nation's current economic woes. But despite the seriousness of the hollowing-out process, we believe that, with a plan and a vision, many small towns can play a key role in the nation's recovery.
To read more of this article, click here.
Friday, October 23, 2009
Small Business Advice from Investors
Bob Jacoby is a business startup investor in Texas. He offers some advice to entrepreneurs:
Make your idea work on the small scale first, then you can grow from there.
(Source: Small Biz Survival 10/23/09)
Make your idea work on the small scale first, then you can grow from there.
(Source: Small Biz Survival 10/23/09)
City makes room for new law and justice center
PONTIAC -- Bob Tinges had mixed emotions as he watched the demolition of the building where he had worked for 47 years. "I spent a lot of time there, but it's an old building and has outlived its usefulness," he said. "We were landlocked there and really couldn't expand at all. The new location is great and we love it."
The building has stood at 112 E. Washington St. since 1901 and housed a funeral home, a plumbing business and Tinges' granite company. Now, it and several other buildings southeast of the Livingston County Courthouse are being torn down to make space for the new law and justice center. McCoy Construction Co. started the $170,000 demolition project Oct. 16 and should end by early next month.
The new 50,000-square foot facility will house court-related offices and will cost $17 million to $19 million. Completion is expected by fall 2011, and offices will move in during January 2012.
To read the rest of the article click here.
(source: The Pantagraph 10/23/09)
The building has stood at 112 E. Washington St. since 1901 and housed a funeral home, a plumbing business and Tinges' granite company. Now, it and several other buildings southeast of the Livingston County Courthouse are being torn down to make space for the new law and justice center. McCoy Construction Co. started the $170,000 demolition project Oct. 16 and should end by early next month.
The new 50,000-square foot facility will house court-related offices and will cost $17 million to $19 million. Completion is expected by fall 2011, and offices will move in during January 2012.
To read the rest of the article click here.
(source: The Pantagraph 10/23/09)
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Website Tools
Increasingly the best and easiest way to get information about your business or organization to Livingston County residents is through the internet. I recently ran across a very helpful website that gives information and advice for economic development websites, but I think the information can be useful for businesses and organizations in Livingston County as well. Here are some of the main points:
1. Content Architecture
Whoever is in charge of website content needs to start out with a content plan. The contents of the website should be organized into logical and practical sections. It is important to organize information that will best serve your customers and community members. A disorganized website with broken links is one good way to scare off visitors to your website.
2. Searches
More than half of all internet users use search engines (google, yahoo, etc.) to find information on the internet. There are a few things you can do to make sure that your business or organization is first on the search lists. Most searches consist of one or two words, so it is important to anticipate what words your visitors will use to search for your website. Make sure that you use those words often throughout your website. For example, if you are an insurance company, you need to have a high density of the word "insurance" throughout your website. If you think visitors will search by location and you are located in Flanagan, for example, you should have the word "Flanagan" or "Flanagan, IL" in various places throughout your website. Another factor can be the number of links between your website and other relevant websites. To illustrate, main street organizations in the county will have a higher search engine ranking if they are linked with other main street organizations in the area.
3. Make it easy and quick
The average time that someone spends on the GLCEDC website is 2 minutes and 53 seconds. We have that much time to get visitors the information we want them to have. The easiest way to direct visitors to important information is through navigation menus. Menus should be visible and uncluttered. Fold-out menus that allow customers to scan through page options is a good, time saving idea. Menu titles should be short, clear, and describe exactly what information the visitor will find by clicking on it.
Lastly, remember to update your content frequently. New, interesting content will keep you on the minds of customers and community members. You can make simple changes like updating pictures or news articles once a week to keep your website looking fresh and up to date.
For more information about building and maintaining a dynamic website follow this link.
1. Content Architecture
Whoever is in charge of website content needs to start out with a content plan. The contents of the website should be organized into logical and practical sections. It is important to organize information that will best serve your customers and community members. A disorganized website with broken links is one good way to scare off visitors to your website.
2. Searches
More than half of all internet users use search engines (google, yahoo, etc.) to find information on the internet. There are a few things you can do to make sure that your business or organization is first on the search lists. Most searches consist of one or two words, so it is important to anticipate what words your visitors will use to search for your website. Make sure that you use those words often throughout your website. For example, if you are an insurance company, you need to have a high density of the word "insurance" throughout your website. If you think visitors will search by location and you are located in Flanagan, for example, you should have the word "Flanagan" or "Flanagan, IL" in various places throughout your website. Another factor can be the number of links between your website and other relevant websites. To illustrate, main street organizations in the county will have a higher search engine ranking if they are linked with other main street organizations in the area.
3. Make it easy and quick
The average time that someone spends on the GLCEDC website is 2 minutes and 53 seconds. We have that much time to get visitors the information we want them to have. The easiest way to direct visitors to important information is through navigation menus. Menus should be visible and uncluttered. Fold-out menus that allow customers to scan through page options is a good, time saving idea. Menu titles should be short, clear, and describe exactly what information the visitor will find by clicking on it.
Lastly, remember to update your content frequently. New, interesting content will keep you on the minds of customers and community members. You can make simple changes like updating pictures or news articles once a week to keep your website looking fresh and up to date.
For more information about building and maintaining a dynamic website follow this link.
Monday, October 12, 2009
$1.7 Billion in Loan Assistance to Help Rural Businesses
Loans Provided through Recovery Act Funds will Help Strengthen Rural Communities Throughout America
WASHINGTON, July 29, 2009 - Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced that USDA is now accepting applications for up to $1.7 billion to fund projects that help spur business activity and economic growth in rural communities. This infusion of money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act into rural business is designed to create and save jobs and help rural communities grow and prosper.
"The Recovery Act funds announced today will help businesses get access to the capital they need to launch and expand their businesses and help bring additional jobs to America's small cities and towns," said Vilsack. "President Obama and I are committed to building strong rural communities by helping businesses grow so we can put people back to work."The funding announced today will be made available through USDA Rural Development's Business and Industry Guaranteed Loan program, which supports the development of private businesses. Eligible applicants include cooperative organizations, corporations, partnerships, nonprofit groups; federally recognized Indian tribes, public bodies and individuals. The funds will be targeted to creating and retaining quality jobs and serving difficult to reach populations, and areas hardest hit by the current economic downturn.
USDA will accept applications for this Business and Industry Guaranteed Loan program until Sept. 15, 2010, or until all funds are expended. Recovery Act funding will be available through Sept. 30, 2010. For information on eligibility criteria and for application assistance, please contact your state Rural Development office, or visit http://www.rurdev.usda.gov/ for a listing of all state offices.
For past examples of USDA Business and Industry Guaranteed Loans please click here.
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