Kathy MacKay (center) found the support she needed from the Center
for Economic Development, headed by Director Dan Ripke (left) and
Assistant Director Courtney Danehy (right).
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Opening the Door for Entrepreneurs
CSU, Chico’s Center for Economic Development supports North
State businesses
By Christine Vovakes
Everywhere Kathy MacKay looked, trash bins brimmed with disposable
plastic. She was determined to develop a viable alternative for
at least a portion of that discarded blight.
Among the Chico resident’s innovations were reusable stainless
steel bottles and covered cups as nontoxic, environmentally friendly
alternatives to plastic cups for babies and toddlers. But was there
a market for her products? If so, where and how would she reach
it? She believed her idea was a good one, but the challenge was
transforming it from a dream into a successful small business.
Looking for answers, she attended a workshop in Chico. The main
presenter was Dan Ripke, director of the Center for Economic Development
(CED) at California State University, Chico. His knowledge and
enthusiasm were like a lifeline thrown to the struggling entrepreneur.
“Dan came in and told us what the CED does. I called him
the next day,” says MacKay.
Ripke, a 1991 CSU, Chico graduate in business administration and
French, and his staff researched the number of births per year,
the age breakdown of children in different regions of the country,
and contact information for the thousands of stores that sell children’s
items and natural products. That information helped MacKay determine
that both a need and a market exist for her fledgling company,
Realware.
“I had spent hours and hours in the Chico State library looking
through marketing data as I wrote a business plan. It was overwhelming,” said
MacKay, the company’s founder and CEO. “The CED had
the information immediately.”
Lauding the center’s support for North State start-up companies,
MacKay feels optimistic as she and her partner, Rick Staychock
(BA, Geography, ’96) prepare to launch Realware. “The
center can help small entrepreneurs realize their dreams.”
Celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, the CED was founded
in 1986 by political science professor John Sanzone through a technical
assistance grant administered by the U.S. Department of Commerce.
It operates as a CSU, Chico Research Foundation project, with outreach
to a broad mix of small-business owners, community business leaders,
nonprofit organizations, and government officials in 23 Northern
California counties.
In 2003, the CED became the lead Small Business Development Center
in Northern California through a grant from the Small Business
Administration. As such, the CED provides oversight and management
responsibility to six regional centers located at community colleges
in Redding, Chico, Marysville, Auburn, Sacramento, and Stockton.
Those entities sponsor workshops in their areas and provide one-on-one
counseling both to entrepreneurs and established businesspersons
seeking advice.
The CED has proved invaluable to countless start-up companies.
When Gary Bess established his Butte County consulting firm in
1991, he immediately began working with Ripke and his staff.
“They’re really the only ones who have the data we
need,” says
the owner of Gary Bess Associates in Paradise. The business writes
grants and strategic plans for health and human resources.
The CED supplies Bess with data that is honed to specific communities.
Precise, accurate information is essential when Bess prepares reports
and proposals. “We do a lot of federal grant applications
that require specificity,” he says. “The center does
good work for a reasonable fee.”
Mendocino, one of the more remote counties that the CED serves,
saw its economic base suffer from drastic declines in the timber
industry that once provided tax revenue for county programs and
jobs with dependable incomes for residents.
A few years ago, Ft. Bragg bank manager Tom Becker and other leaders
from business, government, and civic organizations decided to approach
the situation with a new vision. “We saw our economy changing
and wanted to find out what we could do,” says Becker.
The group consulted Ripke. He convinced them that although most
large businesses are not drawn to isolated locations, smaller enterprises
can thrive in an area like Mendocino, with its redwood forests,
rugged coastline, and cozy towns that long have been hubs for creative
activity.
“We have the Art Center and dozens of small art studios in
Mendocino,” acknowledges
Becker. “We have performing groups and different history
museums. But we weren’t advertising or understanding how
they contribute to the economy.”
To help county leaders grasp the financial impact of cultural tourism,
Ripke introduced them to a program that calculates the approximate
number of dollars visitors spend in a community for dining, lodging,
and recreation when they attend a cultural event. The county now
funnels a large portion of its advertising budget toward promoting
cultural tourism, which has bolstered the local economy.
CED staff produces a profile series that gathers detailed economic
and demographic information for 23 counties stretching from Stockton
to the Oregon border. Updated annually, the data is used by a variety
of individuals and organizations, including local governments,
business leaders, grant writers, reporters, nonprofit groups, and
private entrepreneurs.
CED Assistant Director Courtney Danehy (BA, English, ’99;
MA, English, ’05) calls the profile series “a one-stop
resource. Most people don’t have the time or money to gather
the information on their own.”
The CED fills thousands of orders annually and produces the series
in-house. Individuals can purchase booklets, as well.
One of those individuals is Laura Urseny, who has been the Chico
Enterprise-Record business editor for the last 25 years. “The
stats are right at my fingertips,” she says. “I’ve
used the center’s resources from the beginning.”
Trends suggested by the annual compilations interest Urseny as
much as the raw data does. She looks to the CED not only for statistics,
but for analysis, too. “I know Dan [Ripke]. He and the staff
live, breathe, and eat those numbers, and they’re always
willing to expand on them.”
The Enterprise-Record was one of the original supporters of the
CED’s annual Economic Forecast Conference that each January
brings together business, education, and civic leaders from Butte,
Glenn, and Tehama Counties. The conference provides attendees with
vital economic trends and forecasts for the region, explains Ripke. “Obtaining
the information is only the first step,” he says. “Using
it effectively is what we hope to help communities and businesses
do.”
Behind those reams of numbers are staff members and CSU, Chico
student interns who meticulously cull the data from government
agencies, libraries, online sources, and personal interviews. “They
learn to be investigative reporters and economic sleuths,” says
Danehy.
In hiring student interns—a mix of business and English majors—the
CED “supports the academic mission of the University,” says
Vice Provost for Research Katie Milo. “Applied learning is
one of the hallmarks of Chico State.”
The CSU, Chico Research Foundation is the umbrella organization
for several projects in addition to the CED, including the Geographical
Information Center, the Satellite Education Network, and KCHO,
a National Public Radio affiliate station. “The center goes
with the University’s strategic plan to serve the North State,” says
Milo.
The center is almost entirely self-supporting. “When it comes
to getting grants, Dan is well known and respected for his track
record,” says Milo.
A firm belief in the viability of small businesses and their essential
contributions to the American economy led Ripke to collaborate
with producer Bruce Jans in developing a proposed public television
series called Open for Business. They are actively seeking funding
for the series, which could also be used in college courses.
Most business ventures are not giant conglomerates. They are more
likely to be home-based, or “mom-and-pop” stores, or
small-scale technology businesses. “They’re really
the backbone of the economy,” says Jans.
And in Northern California, Ripke and his CED staff work hard to
keep this backbone strong.
About the author
Christine Vovakes is a freelance writer in Red Bluff. Her
articles on the North State often appear in The Sacramento Bee.
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