Keeping a 70-year tradition going of recognizing community and business champions has had its challenges in the middle of a pandemic. However, the Oxnard Chamber has risen to those challenges and is proud to announce the 2020 awardees who will be honored at the virtual event on October 8. Here they are:

Distinguished Citizen of the Year – Marvin Boos is on a mission to clean up our city. After he retired from Naval Base Ventura County, he certainly was not going to become a couch potato. Last year when the city of Oxnard had to cut its budget and eliminate groundskeepers and graffiti removal personnel, Marvin Boos loaded his truck with a rake, dustpan, and hand saw and went to work. He spends about five days a week, three or four hours a day, cleaning up Oxnard's medians, parks and sidewalks. He's also inspired many others to join him in his fight against weeds, litter, overgrown trees, and graffiti. Thank you, Marvin!

Volunteer of the Year – Jim Magnusson is the definition of what a great community volunteer should be. He has spent the last 25 years volunteering his time and talent to help high school athletes respond and recover from injury. Over the course of the last two-and-a-half decades, Jim has helped hundreds of students at local high schools. Since 2005, Jim has volunteered a Pacifica High School, working with the football team. But Jim has done even more than serve as the team's medical support. He has also pitched in at other schools, such as for Oxnard High School's baseball team.

Business Advocate of the Year – Ashley Golden is the Assistant City Manager for the city of Oxnard, which seems odd that a chamber of commerce would name a government employee the Business Advocate of the Year. However, the Oxnard Chamber has had more input on city matters since Ms. Golden sought and incorporated opinions of the business community in city issues. Whether it's a minor change in city policy or a major overhaul of a process affecting business, she seeks responses from the entities impacted. Even when she has bad news to deliver to the business community, Ashley brings the issue to the Chamber for feedback.

Young Professional of the Year – Taylor Penny is hard to keep up with. She's a habitual volunteer! She's an avid supporter of the Oxnard Young Professionals, a champion for the local Boys & Girls Clubs, a board member for the California Strawberry Festival,  board member for the Friends of the Bard Mansion, Oxnard PD K-9 Unit, mentor with Big Brothers & Big Sisters, and serves on the Steering Committee for the Chamber's Oxnard Leadership program. Taylor's coworkers say she is always volunteering to help with any projects at St. John's Hospital, where she works for their foundation. Ms. Penny lives in Oxnard, works in Oxnard, and serves many organizations in Oxnard.

Nonprofit Organization of the Year – Big Brothers Big Sisters of Ventura County is celebrating 50 years of service through youth mentoring in 2020. With a big focus in Oxnard, they opened a new mentoring site earlier this year, bringing group and individual mentoring opportunities to youth for after-school hours. Through the guidance of dedicated case managers across all of their programs, BBBSVC has provided Oxnard youth the benefits of 1-to-1 mentoring to support individual needs, leading to life-long and life-changing friendships for many.

Small Business of the Year – PODS Moving & Storage has donated more than $1.5 million in logistics, PODS containers, trucks, fuel, and personnel to Central Coast charities in the past 15 years. Franchise owner Steve Yapp has instilled his passion for service in his entire team. Recipients of this generosity include the Boys & Girls Clubs, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Ventura County, Casa Pacifica, FOOD Share, California Strawberry Festival, Toys for Tots, Salvation Army, American Red Cross, and veterans Stand Down events. Giving back to the community that helped grow his business is a big part of Yapp's business model.

Large Business of the Year – DW Drums was founded in Santa Monica in 1972 and moved to Oxnard in 2000 where their international headquarters is today. Their mission is to produce the finest drums possible, to be innovative leaders in their industry, to provide outstanding customer service, and to bring together a team of employees and give them the opportunity to work with pride at a fun place to work. They also bring elite music legends to Oxnard ranging from Dave Grohl (Nirvana, Foo Fighters) to Oxnard's own Grammy-winning Anderson Paak. Hundreds of big-name musicians come to Oxnard each year to monitor the progress of their made-to-order drums.

Innovative Business of the Year – FOMAT Medical Research has launched a search to find treatment and a vaccine for COVID-19. FOMAT has set up a testing site adjacent to the Oxnard Library on A Street. FOMAT conducts trials on whether antibody medicine offers effective treatment for people that have tested positive for the virus, and a second study will be on healthy people at high risk of the virus who will take a cocktail to measure the effectiveness in preventing infection. Testing is free, aimed at people willing to participate in the trials, and tests will provide results in 45 minutes.

Best place to Work – Visit Oxnard offers an unparalleled work culture, so ingrained in its employees that the term "staff" is always substituted by the word "team." Flexible schedules allow team members to put family first. Annual reviews allow for both professional growth and consistency in performance-based compensation adjustments. Team outings to support Oxnard restaurants, retailers, and attractions are common occurrences. Leadership guides by the principles of sociocracy, giving everyone the opportunity have their voices heard. "Coming to work each day is a joy," said the nominator for this award.
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The Community & Business Awards will be October 8 at 4:00 pm. Register for the virtual event here.

Are you ready for some COVID-related stats that won't spin you into anxiety or depression? We are too!
 
At the Chamber, we've been watching some of the emerging trends related to business -- from local to global. We decided to share some of the more interesting findings in this brief round-up.
 
New Business Boom
 
According to the US Census Bureau, over 111,000 applications to start a new business were filed during the week of August 10th. That's a 69% increase over the same week a year ago. And it's no fluke: 113,000+ filed the week before. In fact, third quarter new business tax IDs have surpassed second quarter numbers in just the first eight weeks.
 
Saving for a Rainy Day
 
The average savings rate in April jumped to a record 32%, up from an average of 8%. The average savings rate in May was also significantly higher than average at 23% -- and it's remained higher than average since.
 
Business Growth in Online Sales
 
Nationwide there has been a 49% increase in online retail sales. Much of this increase has, of course, gone to the big internet players such as Amazon but not all. While some view Amazon as a retail giant, over two million small businesses in the US view Amazon as a sales and delivery channel, along with sites like Etsy, Ebay and others.
 
Home Sales Climb Nationwide
 
Realtor.com reports that July real estate prices were up 8.5% over July 2019. And the National Association of Realtors (NAR) shared that July 2020 home sales were up 24.7 percent from the month before. July was "among the strongest (months) the housing market has ever seen." These home price increases are partly due to a shrinking supply of houses on the market (down 32.6 percent nationwide), low interest rates and pent-up demand from potential home buyers putting off house hunting during the uncertain spring season. Speaking of demand, the NAR noted that home ownership, in general, is at a reported 12-year high.
 

The Oxnard Chamber's Political Action Committee recently released endorsements for local races in the November election. The PAC interviewed many candidates and researched prior vote records of those currently holding office. Here are the endorsements to date:

Tim Flynn, Ventura County Supervisor District 5

John Zaragoza, Oxnard Mayor

Oscar Madrigal, Oxnard City Council District 3

Bryan MacDonald, Oxnard City Council District 4

Vianey Lopez, Oxnard City Council District 6

Jess Ramirez, Oxnard Harbor District Commissioner

Celina Zacarias, Oxnard Harbor District Commissioner
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Please keep these candidates in mind when voting this fall. The Chamber's PAC works to support the organization's mission of representing business interests and advocating public policies that promote a healthy economy.

Gov. Gavin Newsom unveiled a retooled process for loosening and tightening COVID-19 restrictions Friday. Labeled a “Blueprint for a Safer California,” the system puts California’s 58 counties into four tiers based on the number of new daily cases and the percentage of positive tests.  Ventura County enters the new plan under the “purple” or widespread tier. However, the plan does allow for some limited sectors to reopen with restrictions.
 
View the Blueprint here.

California is in the midst of an unprecedented economic crisis, and yet another threat is on the horizon
for small businesses.
 
Prop 15 on the November ballot will be the largest property tax increase in state history at $12.5 billion
per year.
 
Unless defeated by voters, the measure shreds long-standing Prop 13 protections that have kept
property taxes affordable and provided every taxpayer that buys a home or operates business with
certainty that they can afford their property tax bills in the future. Prop 15 repeals these protections for
business property by requiring reassessment at current market value at least every three years.
 
Prop 15’s higher property taxes will cause rents to skyrocket for small businesses and the cost of living to increase for all Californians. That’s why small businesses, farmers, social justice organizations, and taxpayer advocates across California oppose this massive tax increase.
 
Why should everyone be concerned about Prop 15?

• Threatens jobs. An estimated 120,000 jobs will be lost during a time of record unemployment.
• Raises prices for consumers. Higher taxes on businesses will ultimately get passed on to consumers in the form of increased costs on just about everything people buy and use, including groceries, fuel, utilities, day care and health care.
• Hurts small businesses. Prop 15 does nothing to prevent higher property taxes from being passed to small business tenants through higher rents.
• Lacks accountability. Sacramento politicians can divert the new local government tax money for other purposes, just like they have done with the gas tax.

 
The Oxnard Chamber Board of Directors strongly opposes Prop 15. The Chamber's Political Action Committee sent a financial Contribution to the NO on Prop 15 campaign. For more information, go to  https://noonprop15.org/.