Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

Small Business Connection: Vernonia Hopes PCC Class Will Help its Businesses Blossom

Photos and story by James Hill

by James HillThe city of Vernonia, a small community tucked away in the Coast Range of northwest Oregon, teamed up with Portland Community College to help revitalize its downtown business district. Vernonia received grants totaling $7,000 from the Rural Development Initiative and the Oregon Economic Alliance to bring PCC’s Small Business Development Center come to the town and teach 17 local entrepreneurs the intricacies of business management. Mike Sykes, city manager at Vernonia, said the city wants to strengthen businesses in the area to turn its core business district into a vibrant place."Vernonia is 30 miles from everywhere and has been traditionally a timber community,"said Sykes, who also said the city plans to offer an advanced PCC Small Business Management course in the fall. "Thanks to PCC, we are trying to revitalize the downtown and help the small businesses that make up our community try to grow. Small business is critical to any community and the stronger they are, the stronger we are. Without these businesses we would be hard pressed to have the kind of community people expect."Small Business Development Center instructor Mario Pedraza taught the PCC class. He used the NxLevel Training Network curriculum to give current and prospective business owners the basics of management, marketing and finance. The course was held once a week for 12 weeks and ended in April. Pedraza said the partnership developed because Vernonia has evolved into a commuter town which forces it to depend heavily on small business growth. It once had a population of 8,000, but now only has 2,500 residents."The class offers economic development for communities,"Pedraza said. "The owners have been getting a foundation of what business is all about. There is so much information they need to know and it’s tough to come back to school to start learning this. But by being exposed to it, they will at least be literate in business terminology."The types of student range from owners of handcrafts to construction companies, but more than half of the students, Pedraza estimates, have no formal training in business management.Robin Bassett, public works director for Vernonia, is working toward a goal of running her own bakery. Without the PCC class, she would have never begun the process of establishing her own company."I need more insight of what it would take,"she said. "The class has been helpful in providing financial insight and showing me the motivation that it will take to keep the business going."Matt and Heather Davis, who own Buds and Blooms flower shop, also took the course. Matt said he wanted to get training and develop his business plan, but didn’t want to commute those 30 miles to Portland."We wanted to know how best to expand and how to present our business plan more effectively to secure additional funding for it,"said Matt, who has owned the shop for two years. "The most important thing I’ve learned about Vernonia is advertising coverage. In Portland, coverage is better, but on the flip side, you are able to get to know your customer base much better here and fine-tune business services to meet certain customer’s needs."Photo: Heather and Matt Davis, Buds and Blooms flower shop owners in Vernonia. The couple took advantage of Vernonia’s contract with PCC to provide training to small businesses in their community. Ed. Note: The city of Forest Grove is planning to bring the same type of course to its community and is recruiting local business owners for the PCC program. For more information on the NxLevel training, please contact Mario Pedraza at the SBDC at 503-533-2712.