January 31, 2011
COUNTY TO HOST
FOURTH QUARTER ECONOMIC BRIEFING – Volusia County Economic
Development has scheduled its quarterly briefing on the status of
Volusia County’s economic activity. The update will focus on the
economic indicators for the fourth quarter of 2010. The briefing will be
Friday, February 4, in the Volusia Room at Daytona Beach International
Airport. Breakfast will be served at 7:45 a.m. Volusia County Chair
Frank Bruno will welcome the group at 8 a.m. To make a reservation, call
386-248-8048 by Tuesday. Seating is limited.
ARK BREAKS
GROUND ON MANUFACTURING FACILITY – A groundbreaking ceremony was
held Friday for ARK Daytona on a 50,000-square-foot manufacturing
facility on the Mason Avenue Extension in Daytona Beach. The new
facility, a subsidiary of Illinois-based ARK Manufacturing, will employ
at least 40 to manufacture auto parts for Toyota, Nissan and Honda. Al
Kabeshita, ARK’s chairman, purchased the land in 2005 but postponed
construction due to the downturn in the automobile industry. County
Chair Frank Bruno and several members of the county council attended the
ceremony along with representatives of Congressman John Mica, the City
of Daytona Beach, and Consolidated Tomoka. Volusia County Economic
Development has been working with this company since 2004 to bring this
facility to Volusia County. Although county and state incentives
originally approved no longer are available, training funds will be
available to the company. The company expects to commence production by
the end of the year.
VOLUSIA COUNTY
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PARTICIPATES IN STATEWIDE SUMMIT – Enterprise
Florida, the state economic development agency, chaired by Governor Rick
Scott, had its Board and Stakeholder meeting last week in Tallahassee.
Volusia County Economic Development’s director participated in the
three-day summit and had the opportunity to confer with the governor and
his staff about support for Volusia’s economic development initiatives.
The governor has made job development one of his top priorities.
COUNTY
ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS FOR CITIZENS ACADEMY – Volusia County
Government’s Citizens Academy is a fun, hands-on awareness program held
once a year. It is designed to educate and inform citizens about how
county government functions. The Citizens Academy curriculum offers a
wide range of seminars and workshops that include elections, growth
management, community services, public protection, property assessments,
budgets and more. Participants will view county construction projects,
visit the Marine Science Center and county parks, and shadow a county
administrator for a closer look at the inner workings of the government.
The class meets every Tuesday for 12 weeks from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at
various county facilities. Participation in the program is free.
Applications are due by February 7 and can be found online at: vhttp://olusia.org/citizensacademy.
WEBINARS COVER
SBIR FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES -- The Florida Economic Gardening
Institute is providing a series of free online webinars about SBIR/STTR
funding opportunities. The webinars cover how to access government
dollars for technology commercialization and how to collaborate with
universities and their faculties to write successful grant proposals. In
excess of $2 billion in SBIR grants will be awarded this year. To
register go to:
http://tinyurl.com/sbirgrowfl. Grants also are available from
Volusia County Economic Development for partnerships with Embry-Riddle
Aeronautical University to collaborate on writing a grant. Call Paul
Mitchell at 386-248-8048 or email:
pmitchell@co.volusia.fl.us.
DSC OFFERS
QUICKBOOKS SEMINAR -- The Small Business Development Center at
Daytona State College is presenting QuickBooks – Level 1. Classes start
February 2 and end February 23. The classes will be at Daytona State
College, building 110, room 248, from 6 - 9 pm. To register, call
386-506-4723 or email:
sbdc@daytonastate.edu.
NEWS ITEMS
WANTED! – Please send your business news items to Dave Byron,
Volusia County Community Information Director, 123 W. Indiana Ave.,
DeLand, 32720-4612, by fax at (386) 822-5072 or by e-mail at
dbyron@co.volusia.fl.us.
