West Business Development Center supports AV student fundraising projects

West Business Development Center is a non-profit, federally-funded organization that provides supportive services for small businesses and entrepreneurs. Students on the AV Service Learning Team are taking on various fundraising projects to support the skatepark project, including merchandise sales (hand-printed t-shirts and buttons) and custom screenprinting services that will be open to the community soon. As these projects ramp up, it feels important for students to gain skills for effectively managing those endeavors. 

So, we reached out to West's Ukiah branch, and were surprised by the warm response we received! Small Business Advisor Steve Lamb enthusiastically agreed to provide ongoing supportive work with our group, and met with students for the first time on February 1st. In that session, he taught students about how to track inventory and sales information in a spreadsheet, and the importance of conducting regular inventory audits and running monthly sales reports. Steve set up and shared an online accounting spreadsheet tool customized for the Service Learning Team's needs. Students completed their first inventory audit last week and are in the process of populating their accounting spreadsheet. We'll continue to meet with Steve regularly to monitor our work and seek guidance.

A very sincere THANK YOU to West Business Development Center and Steve Lamb for graciously agreeing to work with our student group!