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“Here was a man in his wheelchair with his poodle on his lap coming downthis road,” she “He was thrilled to pieces and he couldn’ t wait to get out and enjoty nature.” Or another project, 6 Days 6 in which volunteers worked to build rampzs for another man in a wheelchair who hadn’tf left his house on his own for eightf years. Not many jobs can offe r the satisfaction that comes with that kind of she said. “You go home at the end of the day feelingvlike you’ve contributed something good to the Mora said.
HandsOn Jacksonville, formerly Volunteert Jacksonville, was founded in 1973 and has been a mainstah on the community service sceneever since. The grou employs just 13 staff members, but coordinatesw thousands of volunteerseach year. In April alone, they participate d in 35 projects, including beach cleanups, readingg to kids and crafting cards for the elderlyu and militaryservicemembers abroad. “We are helping people to give to giveof themselves, to put other people first, to do somethiny about all the bad stuff they see on TV and feel said Krista Winfield-Estes, vice president and chie f operating officer. “It’s a career and it’s a job, but it’w also karma.
” Winfield-Estes said though she and her co-workers are employed full time arrangingthe projects, the real creditt should go to the community volunteers. “It’s just amazingb what these folks are she said. “They’re kind of the unsunfg heroes.” But the goodwill at HandsOn Jacksonville isn’t limiterd to projects outsidethe office. Winfield-Estes said the managersz strive to foster trust and partnership among employeeas by celebrating victories and offering supportt throughtough times. “I think they feel comfortabls sharing things that they may not have felt comfortabled sharing with other bosses they may have had in the she said.
“We realize the whole person comesxto work, and not just the person that’s goin g to work that day.” Jenny a community engagement director who joinesd the company in 2008, said that was nevert more evident than last In lieu of big financial which are tough to come by in the nonprofit industry, CEO Judy Smith made personalizedx necklaces for each employee by “I was just very touched,” O’Donnell “How often will your boss or your CEO do somethinh like that for you?
”
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Friday, October 28, 2011
SBA chief: Lending up, long road ahead - The Business Journal of Milwaukee:
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Brown, a sixth-generation family-owned business with 47 employeee andabout $6 million in revenue last worked with (NASDAQ:FITB) to securse a $2 million loan to buy its headquarters off Hamilton Road in east President Rob Hunt said the companyy sidestepped paying about $65,0090 in fees after the SBA instituted a temporary waiver for businessesx that borrow through its flagshi 7(a) program. Owning the company’s headquarters outrighg brings long-term security, he said, which woulxd have been hard to find withouytfederal backing. “Banks aren’t doing conventional loands right now,” Hunt said. “We simpl wouldn’t have been able to do this.
” Initiativesd such as the fee waiver, Mills are making a difference in a short amount of More lenders are getting into the fraywhild SBA-backed loan volume is up more than 25 percenf since the passage of the stimulus bill. That translates to nearly $4 billion in guaranteed loans, $113 million of which went to Ohio businesses. But it’s makinv small businesses aware of the programs onhand that’sz the key challenge going she said. “All of theswe things take time,” Mills said. “Smalk businesses are busy runningtheir business.
” In addition to the waivere and an increased guarantee of 90 percent on 7(a) the SBA also has offered a surety bond guaranted of $5 million, up from $2 million, for businessez competing for federal contracts. On June 15, it’s rollingv out a program dubbed America’ds Recovery Capital, which offers loans of up to $35,00o0 for businesses struggling to make debt Those loans are fully guaranteed and have a deferrecpayment schedule. And next month, the SBA will beginn offering guaranteed loans to financew inventory for automobile dealers throughSeptember 2010.
Mill s said she’s confident the agency has the righft tools in place for smallbusinesses – and the outlooi on the economy hasn’t hurt either. “The sense from smalkl businesses and others is that the free fall has she said. “But we still have a ways to
Brown, a sixth-generation family-owned business with 47 employeee andabout $6 million in revenue last worked with (NASDAQ:FITB) to securse a $2 million loan to buy its headquarters off Hamilton Road in east President Rob Hunt said the companyy sidestepped paying about $65,0090 in fees after the SBA instituted a temporary waiver for businessesx that borrow through its flagshi 7(a) program. Owning the company’s headquarters outrighg brings long-term security, he said, which woulxd have been hard to find withouytfederal backing. “Banks aren’t doing conventional loands right now,” Hunt said. “We simpl wouldn’t have been able to do this.
” Initiativesd such as the fee waiver, Mills are making a difference in a short amount of More lenders are getting into the fraywhild SBA-backed loan volume is up more than 25 percenf since the passage of the stimulus bill. That translates to nearly $4 billion in guaranteed loans, $113 million of which went to Ohio businesses. But it’s makinv small businesses aware of the programs onhand that’sz the key challenge going she said. “All of theswe things take time,” Mills said. “Smalk businesses are busy runningtheir business.
” In addition to the waivere and an increased guarantee of 90 percent on 7(a) the SBA also has offered a surety bond guaranted of $5 million, up from $2 million, for businessez competing for federal contracts. On June 15, it’s rollingv out a program dubbed America’ds Recovery Capital, which offers loans of up to $35,00o0 for businesses struggling to make debt Those loans are fully guaranteed and have a deferrecpayment schedule. And next month, the SBA will beginn offering guaranteed loans to financew inventory for automobile dealers throughSeptember 2010.
Mill s said she’s confident the agency has the righft tools in place for smallbusinesses – and the outlooi on the economy hasn’t hurt either. “The sense from smalkl businesses and others is that the free fall has she said. “But we still have a ways to
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Des Moines council candidates quizzed on refurbishing neighborhoods, business ... - DesMoinesRegister.com
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Des Moines council candidates quizzed on refurbishing neighborhoods, business ... DesMoinesRegister.com Sprucing up older neighborhoods and commercial corridors has been a high priority for Des Moines neighborhood associations in recent years. Neighborhood advocates have lobbied to buffer revitalization programs from major cuts as city leaders have ... |
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Price Chopper shoppers can save money at Sunoco - Pittsburgh Business Times:
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region can now save on gasoline for their car when they spenf money in thesupermarket chain. Price Chopper has teamed up with more than 70 stations to offerFuel AdvantEdge, a programk that has been available for more than two years in othee areas serviced by the grocery chain. Consumers can save 10 centz per gallon at participating Sunoco stationd forevery $50 of qualified grocerieas they purchase. The points/dollars can be accumulaterd overa 90-day period and spenyt on up to 20 gallona of gas. Sunoco customers in othere areas have saved upwards of 50 cent to 60 andeven $1 or more per gallon, througuh the program, according to Jeff Hassman, channel marketing manager for the gas stations.
The number of participatint stationswill grow, said Neil Golub, president and CEO of Pricee Chopper. Customers must use their Price Choppe AdvantEdge card to qualify for the The supermarket automatically tracks the purchases that can be appliede toward the fuelsavings program. Certain restrictions apply. For purchases of alcohol, gift cards, lottery tickets, video rentals and some other items don’t count toward the $50 total.
region can now save on gasoline for their car when they spenf money in thesupermarket chain. Price Chopper has teamed up with more than 70 stations to offerFuel AdvantEdge, a programk that has been available for more than two years in othee areas serviced by the grocery chain. Consumers can save 10 centz per gallon at participating Sunoco stationd forevery $50 of qualified grocerieas they purchase. The points/dollars can be accumulaterd overa 90-day period and spenyt on up to 20 gallona of gas. Sunoco customers in othere areas have saved upwards of 50 cent to 60 andeven $1 or more per gallon, througuh the program, according to Jeff Hassman, channel marketing manager for the gas stations.
The number of participatint stationswill grow, said Neil Golub, president and CEO of Pricee Chopper. Customers must use their Price Choppe AdvantEdge card to qualify for the The supermarket automatically tracks the purchases that can be appliede toward the fuelsavings program. Certain restrictions apply. For purchases of alcohol, gift cards, lottery tickets, video rentals and some other items don’t count toward the $50 total.
Friday, October 21, 2011
New protection of state laws draws criticism - Business Courier of Cincinnati:
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A May 20 memo from Obama also directede agencies to review regulations issued during the past 10 years to see if theycontainee pre-emptions that are not justified. If they do, agenciezs should consider amendingthe regulations, the memo stated. “Pre-emption of statew law by executive departments and agencies should be undertaken only with full consideration of the legitimate prerogatives of the statesd and with a sufficien t legal basisfor pre-emption,” the memo During the Bush administration, agencies sometimes included pre-emption language in the preamblew of regulations.
Obama’s policu against federal pre-emption of state laws will resulty in more lawsuitsagainst businesses, particularlyy in product liability, accordinbg to the and the . “Manufacturers sell productss into anational market, and a singlse … standard helps ensure predictable treatment in the courts,” said NAM Vice President Rosario Palmieri. “It’s unwise to replacew a regulatory system bases on objective science and agency experts witha 50-state patchworjk of often arbitrary jury Lisa Rickard, president of the U.S. Chambetr Institute for Legal Reform, said the memo was a gift to lawyers.
“Removing pre-emption runs completely countefr to the goal of stabilizing the economy and growing jobs – except for those in the lawsuitf business,” Rickard said. The , formerlgy the , praised Obama’s memo. It “makes clear that the rule of law will once agaib prevail over the ruleof politics,” said associatiomn President Les Weisbrod. “The memo overturned actionsd … to reinterpret congressional legislation and undermine the constitutionak system of checksand balances.
”
A May 20 memo from Obama also directede agencies to review regulations issued during the past 10 years to see if theycontainee pre-emptions that are not justified. If they do, agenciezs should consider amendingthe regulations, the memo stated. “Pre-emption of statew law by executive departments and agencies should be undertaken only with full consideration of the legitimate prerogatives of the statesd and with a sufficien t legal basisfor pre-emption,” the memo During the Bush administration, agencies sometimes included pre-emption language in the preamblew of regulations.
Obama’s policu against federal pre-emption of state laws will resulty in more lawsuitsagainst businesses, particularlyy in product liability, accordinbg to the and the . “Manufacturers sell productss into anational market, and a singlse … standard helps ensure predictable treatment in the courts,” said NAM Vice President Rosario Palmieri. “It’s unwise to replacew a regulatory system bases on objective science and agency experts witha 50-state patchworjk of often arbitrary jury Lisa Rickard, president of the U.S. Chambetr Institute for Legal Reform, said the memo was a gift to lawyers.
“Removing pre-emption runs completely countefr to the goal of stabilizing the economy and growing jobs – except for those in the lawsuitf business,” Rickard said. The , formerlgy the , praised Obama’s memo. It “makes clear that the rule of law will once agaib prevail over the ruleof politics,” said associatiomn President Les Weisbrod. “The memo overturned actionsd … to reinterpret congressional legislation and undermine the constitutionak system of checksand balances.
”
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Kobo Announces Kindle Fire Competitor, The $199.99 WiFi Vox Tablet - paidContent.org
xagawu.wordpress.com
ZDNet (blog) | Kobo Announces Kindle Fire Competitor, The $199.99 WiFi Vox Tablet paidContent.org In an effort to compete with Amazon's Kindle Fire, e-reading company Kobo is launching a tablet of its own: The $199.99 Kobo Vox, a 7-inch Android, WiFi color tablet that starts shipping October 28. How does it stack up to the Kindle Fire? ... Kobo Vox tablet, $200, to take on Kindle Fire, Nook Color Kobo's answer to Kindle Fire: $199 Vox Android tablet Kobo Vox 'Social eReader' to Battle Kindle Fire, Nook Color |
Monday, October 17, 2011
Bank to auction $100 million in troubled assets - Atlanta Business Chronicle:
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The Alpharetta-based bank — one of the metro’s largest with $5.7 billion in assets and a key subsidiaryof Columbus-basede — is selling the properties to privatw investment groups, with the dealxs expected to close by month’s end. The auction is the larges conducted so far by Bank ofNortb Georgia, which has been hard-hit by the real estat e downturn, and surpasses the scale of other sales of distresseed metro Atlanta property by Blairsville-based and smaller Bank of North Georgia has auctionecd off homes to the public periodically throughout the last The auction comes as banks across the country, from smal l community lenders to mammoth financial are struggling with how to liquidat toxic assets without pushintg the banks into insolvency.
It also signals Synovus Financiapl is continuing its aggressive sales of problem loans andrepossessexd property, if the price is During the company’s first-quarter earnings call, CEO Richard Anthony said the auctionb process would accelerate companywide. “We will have a greater levepl of exits from this portfolip over the nexttwo quarters,” he said, referrinf to Synovus’ problem loan portfolio. Frank Roedl, Bank of Nortj Georgia’s executive vice president forcorporated banking, is overseeing the auction and said the liquidation is the next step in the bank’w “ongoing balance sheet management effort.
” The bank is sellinvg primarily large tracts of developed lots and raw he said. The auctioj process began in May, when the bank circulated a list of distressexd assets to30 bidders, he Each of the bidders was a pairing of strategic buyersx with private money behind them, and the firm’s sizes range from $20 million to $200 million in total capital under management. He did not name specific “We wanted to contact larger poolws of money forthis auction,” Roedl said. But after the initialp solicitation, interest in the auction exploded.
“Wre were inundated with phonse calls,” he said, noting the bank now has multiple biddersd for the bulk of the distressed portfolio availabler inthe auction. Initial bids were due by late May, and an extendesd due-diligence period is ongoingg for bidders, with the deals scheduled to close byJune 30. Roedlk could not provide specifics on how much will be sold and how many bids for propertiexs and loans the bank ultimateltreceived — he said some of that dependws on final bids and whichu currently proposed deals actually close. He notedx the bank is holding finished houses in reserv e for short sales and other publifforeclosure auctions.
“We’ve had success with This was designed to get some of these larger issuesd off thebalance sheet,” he If the auction meets the early estimates of a $100 millionj liquidation, it could remove as much as one-third of the bank’s current real estate-based loan according to its first-quarter report to the Withijn the last year, the bank’s non-accrual loans have increase d 51 percent to $316 and the amount of foreclosed real estate increase d 29 percent from $24 millionn at the end of first-quarter 2008 to $31 millionn on March 31, 2009.
The bulk of the bank’ds loan problems continue to be residential construction and landdevelopmentg loans, which account for $230 millio n of the total non-accrual loans.
The Alpharetta-based bank — one of the metro’s largest with $5.7 billion in assets and a key subsidiaryof Columbus-basede — is selling the properties to privatw investment groups, with the dealxs expected to close by month’s end. The auction is the larges conducted so far by Bank ofNortb Georgia, which has been hard-hit by the real estat e downturn, and surpasses the scale of other sales of distresseed metro Atlanta property by Blairsville-based and smaller Bank of North Georgia has auctionecd off homes to the public periodically throughout the last The auction comes as banks across the country, from smal l community lenders to mammoth financial are struggling with how to liquidat toxic assets without pushintg the banks into insolvency.
It also signals Synovus Financiapl is continuing its aggressive sales of problem loans andrepossessexd property, if the price is During the company’s first-quarter earnings call, CEO Richard Anthony said the auctionb process would accelerate companywide. “We will have a greater levepl of exits from this portfolip over the nexttwo quarters,” he said, referrinf to Synovus’ problem loan portfolio. Frank Roedl, Bank of Nortj Georgia’s executive vice president forcorporated banking, is overseeing the auction and said the liquidation is the next step in the bank’w “ongoing balance sheet management effort.
” The bank is sellinvg primarily large tracts of developed lots and raw he said. The auctioj process began in May, when the bank circulated a list of distressexd assets to30 bidders, he Each of the bidders was a pairing of strategic buyersx with private money behind them, and the firm’s sizes range from $20 million to $200 million in total capital under management. He did not name specific “We wanted to contact larger poolws of money forthis auction,” Roedl said. But after the initialp solicitation, interest in the auction exploded.
“Wre were inundated with phonse calls,” he said, noting the bank now has multiple biddersd for the bulk of the distressed portfolio availabler inthe auction. Initial bids were due by late May, and an extendesd due-diligence period is ongoingg for bidders, with the deals scheduled to close byJune 30. Roedlk could not provide specifics on how much will be sold and how many bids for propertiexs and loans the bank ultimateltreceived — he said some of that dependws on final bids and whichu currently proposed deals actually close. He notedx the bank is holding finished houses in reserv e for short sales and other publifforeclosure auctions.
“We’ve had success with This was designed to get some of these larger issuesd off thebalance sheet,” he If the auction meets the early estimates of a $100 millionj liquidation, it could remove as much as one-third of the bank’s current real estate-based loan according to its first-quarter report to the Withijn the last year, the bank’s non-accrual loans have increase d 51 percent to $316 and the amount of foreclosed real estate increase d 29 percent from $24 millionn at the end of first-quarter 2008 to $31 millionn on March 31, 2009.
The bulk of the bank’ds loan problems continue to be residential construction and landdevelopmentg loans, which account for $230 millio n of the total non-accrual loans.
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