Available Tools to Use During the COVID-19 Outbreak

As the voice of economic development in California, CALED has received offers from private sector businesses for tools that communities can use to help their businesses and weather the COVID-19 pandemic. Below are these offerings. Please reach out to the individual company listed to learn more.

Bludot is offering their platform free of charge for any cities that want to support and engage with their local businesses during the crisis

Bludot is offering 3 months free usage, no obligations. Cities can visit the open.bludot.io site and submit a request to add their city, or they may simply email Sophia Zheng directly. Read more about what Bludot offers:

  • Their product is a Business Retention software with the following main functions:
    • A panel where the city can filter and search through all businesses by labels, eg. industry, size, age, geographic area, etc. For example, the city can filter and see all restaurants with a simple click.
    • Direct communication with each business owner
      • City can communicate 1:1 with each business, or send communication to a group of businesses at once. For example, the city can reach all restaurant owners with a message or a resource packet.
      • City would then be able to keep track of how business owners responded, what questions they have, what support they are asking for, etc.
      • Every staff member that has access to the platform would be able to see the latest information at all times; i.e. if one staff member sent a communication or if a business owner replied with a question, other staff members would also be able to see it and address it.
      • Staff members can also assign tasks to each other to manage the to-dos
    • Enhanced data
      • Bludot imports existing data from the city but also supplements additional data from external data providers. They realize that the extent of data availability in each city may vary and by incorporating external data we hope to provide as much useful intel as possible.
    • Dashboard
      • This is the summary and reporting aspect of the platform with metrics and charts for business profile distribution as well as business support activities. The charts and reports can be easily shared and presented with relevant stakeholders

To learn more and take advantage of this opportunity, click here and sign up or email Sophia Zheng directly.

esri is allowing free access to their ArcGIS Hub template so communities can map the impact of Coronavirus.

Click here to learn more.

GIS Planning launched a new, free interactive GIS mapping tool for all US communities to track the spread of COVID-19 by county (updated daily) along with Chmura’s JobsEQ Job Loss Vulnerability Index.

Communities can embed the map on their website using the link on this page. To learn more about this resource, click here.

Marketplace.City has aggregated free software resources available at this time.

Click here to see which platforms are offering assistance at this time. 

Open For Business hub lists tech companies that are helping small businesses remote work during the outbreak.

Click here to see what’s available.

Join California’s Marketplace and Network for business, real estate, and economic development. 

The platform connects California’s local business and property owners, real estate and economic development professionals, service providers, local leaders, and entrepreneurs, so you can share ideas and expertise, promote opportunities, and connect with new partners locally, statewide, and nationally, to make progress together.
In partnership with GoBiz you gain access to all Basic Services at no cost:
    • Join your local Networks. There’s a marketplace and network for every City and County in California.
    • Launch a profile for yourself and your organizations.
    • Accelerate connections among business and property owners, real estate and economic development professionals, service providers, local leaders and entrepreneurs.
    • Promote local business and real estate opportunities.
OppSites will provide every organization and company with 60 days of free access to OppSites PRO:
    • Turn your local website into a Marketplace and Networking platform.
    • Promote local business and real estate opportunities to a national audience.
    • Empower local business owners, service providers, real estate professionals and local leaders to share their expertise, their ideas, and their capacity, then connect with new partners locally, and nationally, to make progress together.

Join the California Marketplace and Network

Email hello@oppsites.com to request access to PRO!

ProcureNow Is Donating Software To Agencies In Need

ProcureNow is donating free sourcing portal subscriptions to agencies in need. This is to be used to help your agency go fully online and remote while combatting this crisis. Procurement is a critical function. The organizations you work for depend on you to effectively respond to the crisis. They have deep respect for the work you are doing. They are here to help.

Learn more here.

 Free Webinar from SizeUp: Ten Impacts of Coronavirus on the Economic Development Profession & Solutions to Mitigate Challenges

While public health, public policy, and businesses are working to respond to the impact of this novel coronavirus, so too must the profession of economic development. There are specific impacts and responses that economic developers can take to adapt to this challenging environment for the businesses and workers our profession supports.

Presented by Anatalio Ubalde, Founder and CEO of SizeUp, Jennifer Graves, Deputy Director of Economic Development for the Town of Gilbert, and Horton Hobbs, VP of Economic Development for the Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce.

This webinar reviews 10 specific impacts economic developers will face and direct solutions.

Topics include:
*What your EDO must do immediately
* Site selection without visits
* Local business in crisis
* Prospecting without conferences
* Technology necessities
* Pivoting foreign direct investment
* Much more

Click here to access the webinar.