The 39th Annual Small Business Development Center (SBDC) Conference held in Orlando, Florida, was a splendid location for Skyline College’s CITD Director, Yvonne Reid to connect with colleagues, Julie Samson, Santa Barbara Community College CITD Director and Lynn Stewart, Orange County CITD Director, last month. The CITD Directors’ offices are hosted at leading community colleges and funded through California Community College Chancellor’s Office. CITD’s mission is to invest in California’s economic growth and global competitiveness through industry-specific education, training and services that contribute to a highly skilled and productive workforce. America’s SBDC offices are hosted at leading universities, colleges and state economic development agencies, and funded in part by the United States Congress through a partnership with the U.S. Small Business Administration. America’s SBDCs’ mission is to represent the collective interest of their members and SBDCs by promoting, informing, supporting improving the SBDC network that delivers nationwide educational assistance to strengthen small/medium business management, thereby contributing to the growth of local, state and national economies. At the Conference, Directors found synergy in the work that they perform while carrying out the goals of their respective organization.
The conference provided a platform for State and Nationwide representatives from the offices of CITD, SBDC, economic workforce development agencies and U.S. Department of Commerce to gather together and discuss collaboration strategies to help new entrepreneurs realize the dream of business ownership, and to assist existing businesses to remain competitive in the complex marketplace of an ever-changing global economy. Attendees attended general sessions with Keynote by Jason Dorsey as he share insights about “Crossing the Generational Divide in Entrepreneurship” and swarmed the halls as they moved from breakout sessions about “Creating A Digital Blueprint Program,” “Growing your Business Online in 2016,” How to Use Social Media to Engage Customers and Gain New Ones.”
Yvonne stated, “All of the sessions were very engaging. The connections that I have made will lead to fruitful partnerships and the implementation of sound practices that will help me better serve and encourage the success of our students at Skyline College to ‘Get In, Get Through, and Get Out.’ I am looking forward to implementing sound techniques and business practices to assist new entrepreneurs and existing businesses grow their business globally, having a positive impact on the economic growth of our community, nation, and world.” Yvonne looks forward to attending next year’s America’s SBDC conference and look forward to seeing her new partners next year.
For more information about CITD and the services it provides, please contact Yvonne Reid, CITD Director, E: bayareacitd@smccd.edu T: 650-738-6098
Article by Emma Briones | Photos by Yvonne Reid
