HOLLY HILL -- The U.S. Small Business Administration has opened a Business Recovery Center to help businesses affected by the recent storms and flooding. Businesses and nonprofits of any size can borrow up to $2 million for physical losses. The SBA also offers Economic Injury Disaster Loans to help meet working-capital needs. Interest rates are as low as 4 percent for businesses, with terms up to 30 years. The Business Recovery Center is in the Holly Hill Community Recreational Center, 1046 Daytona Ave., Holly Hill, and is open from 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. To learn more, please call the SBA’s Disaster Assistance Customer Service Center from 8 a.m. - 9 p.m., Monday through Friday, at (800) 659-2955 (800-877-8339 for hearing-impaired persons), or send an e-mail to disastercustomerservice@sba.gov.
Finding the green
DAYTONA BEACH -- The Florida Brownfields Program is one of Florida's most successful economic development tools. The program encourages and rewards the redevelopment of designated areas that may have actual or perceived environmental concerns. Since its inception, the program has created and generated more than 15,000 jobs and $890 billion in capital investment in Florida. VCARD is sponsoring a forum, “Finding the ‘Green’ in Brownfields” from 10 a.m. - noon Friday, June 26, in the Volusia Room of Daytona International Airport. Lunch is included. For reservations, please call Gail Miller at (386) 255-0981, ext. 229, or e-mail gail@daytonachamber.com.
Google eyes are everywhere
A recent U.C. Berkeley report shows that most Internet users don’t understand Web site privacy policies and that major online businesses, like Google Inc., freely gather data and share it with affiliated businesses via loopholes in those policies. Using trackers called “Web bugs,” third parties collect user data from many popular web sites. Sites often allow this though their privacy policies say they don’t share user data with others. The study’s authors learned that Web bugs from Google and its subsidiaries were found on 92 of the top 100 Web sites, and 88 percent of the approximately 400,000 unique domains examined in the study. Though many Internet users are familiar with “cookies,” which are used to study Internet surfing habits, people are less familiar with Web bugs. The bugs can’t be cleared out of a web browser, since they are part of a site’s HTML code.
Sharpen your skills at Daytona State College
DAYTONA BEACH -- Since 1998, Daytona State College (DSC) has enrolled more than 22,000 students into its Manufacturing Training Program and has offered more than 300 different courses related to the field. As businesses look to upgrade their workforce’s skill sets during slower times, the program’s computer science- and business-related courses have become the most popular with employers. To learn more about the program or training available for your employees please contact Frank Mercer, DSC - Center for Business and Industry director, at mercerf@daytonastate.edu. Think internationally DAYTONA BEACH – International business is one of Florida's largest contributors to the growth, sustainability and resiliency of our economy. In fact, Enterprise Florida recently reported that one out of every six jobs in Florida depends on international trade and accounts for 16.6 percent of the state’s annual gross domestic product. Last year, 44,000 Florida businesses outperformed the rest of the nation in total trade and exported products or services. Even though its international business activities slowed in 2009, Florida is still tops in the nation.