Clarkdale AZ (April 16, 2020) – The coronavirus pandemic, and the shelter-in-place measures it requires, will impact Yavapai County’s people and businesses long after the COVID-19 pandemic has passed. But Yavapai College’s Regional Economic Development Center (REDC) and a coalition of 34 local municipalities and federal and state agencies have deployed a new website to help county job seekers and businesses find immediate help.
Yavapai College has joined forces with Arizona @ Work, the Arizona Commerce Authority, the Northern Arizona Council of Governments (NACOG), the U.S. Small Business Administration, local chambers of commerce, cities and towns to create YCAZBUSINESSES.ORG – a one-stop website for job listings, business loan information, and a variety of resources for those struggling during the coronavirus pandemic.
YCAZBUSINESSES.ORG assists county job seekers and struggling businesses by centralizing employment leads, recovery resources and more onto a single site, and refreshing that site constantly. “There’s so much to do – both in the short- and long-term,” REDC Program Specialist Katherine Anderson said. “There’s new information – new guidelines, new programs, new opportunities – and it’s all changing daily. The challenge is to find accurate and timely information about jobs and programs that will help people locally.”
YCAZBUSINESSES.ORG provides leads and tools for anyone in central and northern Arizona whose work has been shuttered or hindered by the coronavirus pandemic. It offers a portal for business owners to apply for disaster assistance from the Small Business Administration; it connects users to Yavapai College’s Small Business Development Center for application assistance and business counseling; links to Arizona @ Work list open jobs, businesses recruiting talent, and assistance for those filing for unemployment; the Arizona Commerce Authority offers a variety of COVID-19-related business resources; the Northern Arizona chapter of SCORE can supply business advice; the REDC features on-line job fairs as well as links to training and workshops; and Community Health Services AZ provides the timely data on the virus and its impact on Yavapai County and its economy.
Because the pandemic’s impact on our local economy is changing constantly, YCAZBUSINESSES.ORG will update its site every day by noon – providing a timely and comprehensive list of services, grant and loan opportunities and, yes, jobs. “There are positions available,” said Anderson, who said as many as 21 companies had posted on the site recently. “A lot of grocery stores – Fry’s, CVS, Costco – need people now.”
The site’s partnership coalition includes virtually every city and town in central and northern Arizona, so it’s reach is vast, but its goal is simple: economic recovery. “This is what we do,” Anderson said, “Prescott, Prescott Valley, Chino Valley, Sedona, Cottonwood, Verde Valley – we’re one big county and we work together.”
For further information and assistance, please visit: www.YCAZBUSINESSES.ORG
