Oceanside CAREs Business Walk Feedback Program Debuts

Over 40 volunteers came together on Tuesday for the 1st Annual Oceanside CAREs Business Walk, a program organized by the City of Oceanside and the Oceanside Chamber of Commerce. The purpose of the program is to visit as many local businesses as possible to get feedback on economic development issues for the businesses in our city.

According to Tracey Bohlen, City of Oceanside Economic Development Department, "Getting volunteers to reach out to the business community helps provide valuable feedback and helps shape the future of programs offered by the City." she continued, "If we had to rely on staff to personally visit and survey businesses we might not be able to do more than 20 or so a year. But with these volunteers we are able to get up to 100 visits in a single day."

Volunteers were split into groups of two with the goal of visiting approx 10-12 local businesses per group. I was fortunate to be teamed with Dana Higgins, Director Of Business Development for Visit Oceanside. Dana and I had a great time getting to know each other and meeting other local business owners in the industrial park we were assigned.

As a business owner it was interesting to hear what other business owner's think about the current economics of the area. Dana put it best when she said "I'm impressed with this program the City & Chamber put together as it's important to demonstrate to local businesses how much the City is committed to business retention. As the City grows with new development it will be just as important to take care of existing businesses and help them be successful. These businesses can help themselves by providing feedback and being involved in the community, so the community can in turn support them."

We visited a range of businesses from auto repair to skateboard distribution. One of the more eye-catching businesses we visited was the Cabany co., who custom makes promotional products with a focus on hand crafted wooden items including the beautiful watches in the photo below.

Upon completion of the business surveys, all volunteers met back at the Community room to share feedback and enjoy lunch. The top challenges mentioned by businesses were finding and retaining good employees. Workers comp insurance was also an issue of concern for many employers, as is the increase in homelessness, both from a security aspect and the impact on customers with homeless loitering outside of businesses.

Scott Ashton, CEO of the Oceanside Chamber of Commerce stated, "The Chamber cares about the success of the business community and this valuable feedback will allow us to develop Workshops, Policy Initiatives, Education and Workforce Development that will connect with local businesses and employers." he further said, " An outreach of this magnitude could not have happened without a great team of dedicated volunteers from the City and business community."

At the end of the day, most of the businesses were very happy to see the City and the Oceanside Chamber working together to improve the economic development growth of individual business as well as the overall community.

For more information about the Oceanside CAREs Business Walk or other Economic Development issues in Oceanside contact:

Tracey Bohlen, City of Oceanside | 760-435-3351 or email: tbohlen@ci.oceanside.ca.us

or

Scott Ashton, Oceanside chamber of Commerce | 760-722-1534 or email scott@oceansidechamber.com