Contra Costa Herald

News Of By and For The People of Contra Costa County, California

Frazier to be guest speaker at East County Boost Your Business workshop in Antioch, Jan. 27

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Assemblymember Jim Frazier will be a special guest at an upcoming free workshop for East Contra Costa County businesses that want to learn more about using social media to promote their work. Co-sponsored by the Antioch and Brentwood Chambers of Commerce, the workshop will run from 8:30 to 10 a.m. Friday, January 27, 2017, at the Lone Tree Golf & Event Center, 4800 Golf Course Road in Antioch.

The “Boost Your Business” event will give participants up-to-date tools, insights and best practices for using Facebook and Instagram to grow their business. Participants will also hear tips and tricks from local business owners and learn about creative ways to reach out.

The workshop is free, but registration is encouraged. To sign up, or for more information, visit https://boostantioch.splashthat.com.

To contact Assembly member Jim Frazier please visit his website at www.asmdc.org/frazier or call his District Office at 925-513-0411. Follow and “Like” him on Facebook for updates on events and happenings in the 11th AD.

Pacific Senior Care Services receives 2016 Best Businesses of Walnut Creek Awards

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Fifth award during three years in business

Pacific Senior Care Services owner Kelly Gonzales with the 2016 award from Best Businesses of Walnut Creek.

By Allen Payton

Pacific Senior Care Services, LLC owned by Antioch resident Kelly Gonzales, has been selected for the 2016 Best Businesses of Walnut Creek Award in the Home Health Care and Senior Services organizations categories by the Best Businesses of Walnut Creek Award Program. This is the second time since 2014 that Pacific Senior Care Services has been selected for the awards.

Each year, the Best Businesses of Walnut Creek Award Program identifies companies that the organization believes have achieved exceptional marketing success in their local community and business category. These are local companies that enhance the positive image of small business through service to their customers and our community. These exceptional companies help make the Walnut Creek area a great place to live, work and play.

Various sources of information were gathered and analyzed to choose the winners in each category. The 2016 Best Businesses of Walnut Creek Award Program focuses on quality, not  quantity. Winners are determined based on the information gathered both internally by the Best Businesses of Walnut Creek Award Program and data provided by third parties.

“I’m honored to receive these awards, in just our third year of business,” said Gonzales. “We strive to meet elder needs with love and compassion, as our slogan states.”

They place seniors and others in care homes and senior facilities, offer senior care referral services, as well as senior insurance services through their affiliated company.

This is Pacific Senior Care Services fifth award since she formed her business in April, 2014. They also received the 2016 City Beat News Spectrum Award bestowed on companies for their excellence in customer service.

About the Best Businesses of Walnut Creek Award Program

The Best Businesses of Walnut Creek Award Program is an annual awards program honoring the achievements and accomplishments of local businesses throughout the Walnut Creek area. Recognition is given to those companies that have shown the ability to use their best practices and implemented programs to generate competitive advantages and long-term value.

UC Berkeley joins Richmond’s CyberTran to seek $100 million grant for low-cost, electric transit system

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Artist rendering of a CyberTran vehicle and station.

Artist’s rendering of a CyberTran vehicle and station.

U.C. Berkeley announced, Wednesday that it has joined forces with Richmond-based CyberTran International (CTI), Stantec, a global architecture and engineering firm, and a group of small businesses to apply jointly to the MacArthur Foundation’s 100&Change grant competition. The grant would finance the development of the rapid, Ultra Light Rail Transit (ULRT) system technology pioneered by CTI.

UC Berkeley’s Partners in Advanced Transit and Highways (PATH) has decades of experience in the automated vehicle field.

“We can definitely apply our automated vehicle system technology to ULRT,” said researcher Xiao-Yun Lu.

“ULRT has the potential to revolutionize how we travel and commute,” said CTI President Dexter Vizinau. “Automated rail shuttles that travel in a network up to speeds of over 100 mph will reduce the cost of building and maintaining transit systems while greatly increasing convenience and providing an alternative sustainable mode to today’s congested highways and roads, and reducing toxic emissions.”

The John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation’s grant program, launched in June, will award only one grant applicant a year of $100 million. It is a “competition…to fund a single proposal that promises real and measurable progress in solving a critical problem of our time,” according to the organization’s website.

“Solving society’s most pressing problems isn’t easy, but we believe it can be done,” said MacArthur President Julia Stasch. “Potential solutions may go unnoticed or under resourced and are waiting to be brought to scale. Every three years, we plan to award $100 million to help make one of these solutions a reality. Through 100&Change, we want to inspire, encourage, and support other people’s ideas, here in our hometown Chicago, across the nation and around the world, about how to address major challenges and enable real progress toward a solution.”

“We believe that 100&Change can have a ripple effect beyond what a single $100 million grant enables,” said Cecilia Conrad, MacArthur’s Managing Director leading the competition. “Setting audacious goals is inspiring. Clear evidence of impact can encourage other funders to invest in solvable problems more broadly, and applicants who do not receive the $100 million grant will still receive valuable feedback on and attention to their ideas.”

“These funds will help us to bring this very important technology to market at low, medium and 100-plus miles per hour speed applications. Our team is ably skilled to succeed in introducing this radically innovative and effective technology to the globe,” said Neil Sinclair, CTI’s Chairman. “We are very happy to be teaming with UC Berkeley’s PATH group along with the rest of the team on this project.”

ULRT is a computer operated on-demand and direct-to-destination transit system using individual rail shuttles. Studies have shown the system to cost an order of magnitude less to build and operate. It was originated at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory. The program proposal is a three year $100M project resulting in the completion of the commercialization of the technology. CTI engineers compare ULRT to the Internet. Vehicles travel under computer control to off-line stations based on real time passenger demand. The demand can come from passengers in stations pushing a button, or through smart phone pre-scheduling.

CyberTran International’s offices are located at the UC Berkeley Global Campus Richmond Bay, in Richmond, California. For more information on CyberTran, visit www.cybertran.com. For more information on the 100&Change Competition, click here.

As a matter of disclosure, the publisher of this website is a part owner of a company with a financial interest in CyberTran International, Inc.

40 Performance Mechanical construction workers wear pink hard hats for job sites in October

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PMI construction workers proudly pose wearing their EMCOR/ PMI Pink Hard Hats.

PMI construction workers proudly pose wearing their EMCOR/ PMI Pink Hard Hats.

Company creates “Call to Action” during Breast Cancer Awareness Month for EMCOR’s 8th Annual “Protect Yourself. Get Screened Today” campaign

Performance Mechanical, Inc. (PMI) of Pittsburg, proudly announces that 40 of its construction workers at various job sites throughout the area are wearing EMCOR Pink Hard Hats in October, Breast Cancer Awareness Month, as a “Call to Action” supporting breast cancer screening and awareness as part of EMCOR’s 8th Annual “Protect Yourself. Get Screened Today.” campaign.   PMI employees will be seen by scores of people as they work at a host of client locations, ranging from commercial and healthcare, to manufacturing and industrial facilities.

A market leader in industrial mechanical contracting services, Performance Mechanical, Inc. is a subsidiary of EMCOR Group, Inc. (NYSE: EME), a Fortune 500® leader in mechanical and electrical construction, industrial and energy infrastructure, and building services for a diverse range of businesses.

“This is EMCOR’s 8th consecutive year of spearheading the national Pink Hard Hat initiative. Over the years people have come forward to say they believe this unique way of raising awareness of the importance of breast cancer screening has had a positive impact on their own lives or that of a

loved one,” stated Andy Hosler, President & CEO, Performance Mechanical, Inc.  “Many of our employees wear hard hats on a daily basis for personal protection, and we’re proud of their commitment to wear an EMCOR/Performance Mechanical Hard Hat in October to raise awareness for breast cancer, reminding women and men they can help protect themselves by getting screened.”

PMI employees will be joined by thousands of additional EMCOR employees nationally wearing Pink Hard Hats during October at hundreds of work sites, ranging from hospitals to bridges, malls to military bases, and data centers to refineries.

The “multiplier effect” continues as even more people are reached with the “Protect Yourself. Get Screened Today.” message when EMCOR employees take the Pink Hard Hats home each night and they are seen by spouses, daughters, sisters, neighbors, and many others.

Millions more people will be reached nationally by EMCOR’s fleet of 7,000+ service vehicles, including PMI vehicles, which are displaying Pink Hard Hat posters during October with the “Protect Yourself. Get Screened Today.” campaign message.

Visit EMCOR’s Pink Hard Hat site: http://www.emcorgroup.com/pinkhardhat

About Performance Mechanical, Inc.

Founded in 1985, Performance Mechanical, Inc. (PMI) is a full-service industrial mechanical contractor providing process piping and equipment installation, civil, structural, instrumentation, and boiler installation and repair to electrical generating plants, food and beverage producers, pipeline compressor and metering stations, manufacturing facilities and water treatment plants. PMI’s expertise also includes mechanical maintenance service for industrial turnarounds and maintenance for refineries, terminals, and chemical plants.  Headquartered in Pittsburg, California, PMI is a subsidiary of EMCOR Group, Inc. (NYSE: EME), a Fortune 500 company with estimated 2016 revenues of ~$7.4B. EMCOR is a leader in mechanical and electrical construction, industrial and energy infrastructure, and building services.  A provider of critical infrastructure systems, EMCOR gives life to new structures and sustains life in existing ones by its planning, installing, operating, maintaining, and protecting the sophisticated and dynamic systems that create facility environments—such as electrical, mechanical, lighting, air conditioning, heating, security, fire protection, and power generation systems—in virtually every sector of the economy and for a diverse range of businesses, organizations and government.  EMCOR represents a rare combination of broad reach with local execution, combining the strength of an industry leader with the knowledge and care of 170 locations. The ~33,000 skilled employees of EMCOR have made the company, in the eyes of leading business publications, amongst the “World’s Most Admired” and “Best Managed”. EMCOR’s diversity—in terms of the services it provides, the industries it serves and the geography it spans—has enabled it to create a stable platform for sustained results. The Company’s strong financial position has enabled it to attract and retain among the best local and regional talent, to undertake and complete the most ambitious projects, and to redefine and shape the future of the construction and facilities services industry. Additional information on EMCOR can be found at www.EMCORGroup.com.

Assemblymember Frazier co-sponsors free learning opportunities for business owners, operators

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Assemblymember Jim Frazier (D-Discovery Bay) is co-sponsoring two free learning opportunities this month for businesses in Assembly District 11.

On Thursday, Oct. 13, business owners and operators can gain expert advice about worker’s compensation and paid sick leave laws during a Link and Learn session co-sponsored by the Pittsburg Chamber of Commerce. Representatives from the California Department of Industrial Relations will lead the workshop, which will be held from 10 a.m. to noon at the Chamber office, 985 Railroad Avenue in Pittsburg. Register online at http://bit.ly/LinkLearn.

On Wednesday, Oct. 19, a Small Business Seminar & Resource Expo will be presented by the California State Board of Equalization from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. (check-in begins at 8:30 a.m.) at the Brentwood Community Center, 35 Oak Street in Brentwood.

With a theme of “Strategies for Success in Today’s Economy,” the seminar will cover such topics as sales and use taxes; loan programs; forms of ownership; record-keeping; how to distinguish an employee from an independent contractor; and resources for marketing.

Invited presenters include the California State Board of Equalization; the U.S. Small Business Administration; California’s Employment Development Department and Franchise Tax Board; the Internal Revenue Service; the Small Business Development Center; and the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz).

In addition to Frazier, the Small Business Seminar is co-sponsored by State Board of Equalization Members Fiona Ma and George Runner; Brentwood Mayor Robert Taylor, and the City of Brentwood. Register online at www.boe.ca.gov/seminars or by calling 1-888-847-9652.

For more information about either event, call Assemblymember Frazier’s office at 925-513-0411.

To contact Assemblymember Jim Frazier please visit his website at www.asmdc.org/frazier or call his District Office at 925-513-0411. Follow him on Facebook and “Like” him for updates on events and happenings in the 11th AD.

Watch or listen to the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce interviews of November election candidates in Contra Costa

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h5c-logoThe Contra Costa Hispanic Chamber of Commerce is conducting interviews of candidates in the November election throughout the county. The completed videos can be viewed on the group’s Facebook page or heard on SoundCloud.

Below is a list of the candidates who are participating in the video interviews and the release status of their videos.

“We’re aiming to get all the videos released before the ballots hit the mailboxes and Early Voting/Absentee Voting By Mail begins on October 10th,” said Evodio “Vo” Walle, President-elect and Chair, Government Affairs Committee of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Contra Costa County,

Candidates who would like to be included in the interviews, please contact Walle at (415) 572-3568 or vo@h5c.org, or email GAC@h5c.org.

Candidate Status
Anamarie Avila Farias Interview Pending
Federal Glover Interview Pending
Ben Johnson Interview Pending
Harmesh Kumar Video Released
Carlyn Obringer Release Pending
Edi Birsan Video Released
Pablo Benavente Video Released
Cesar Zepeda Release Pending
Jael Myrick Interview Pending
Catherine Baker Interview Pending
Cheryl Cook-Kalio Release Pending
Lamar Thorpe Release Pending
Frederick Rouse Interview Pending
Juan Banales Release Pending
Jelani Killings Release Pending
Wade Harper Release Pending
Mister Phillips Interview Pending
Sean Wright Interview Pending
Cherise Khaund Interview Pending
Fernando Sandoval Interview Pending
Mary Rocha Interview Pending
Carlos Taboada Interview Pending
Antonio Medrano Interview Pending
Laura Canciamilla Interview Pending

For more information about the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce visit www.hc5.org.

Governor signs Assemblymember Frazier’s bill to create certainty for small businesses

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Sacramento, CA – On Wednesday, September 14, Governor Brown signed into law AB 326 by Assemblymember Jim Frazier (D – Oakley), which sets a 30-day deadline that the Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) must reimburse a collateral deposit by an employer in a Division of Labor Standards Enforcement prevailing wage dispute.

“I applaud the Governor for signing AB 326 to bring fairness to the prevailing wage dispute process,” said Frazier. “As a former general contractor, I know first-hand that tying up cash can place innocent employers in jeopardy of losing their business or creating financial hardship.”

Current law requires that in cases where a contractor has been accused of prevailing wage violations, the contractor must post a cash deposit with the DIR equivalent to the full amount of the assessment plus penalties. AB 326 would ensure that the contractor is reimbursed in a timely manner.

“We cannot thank Assemblymember Frazier enough for stepping up on this issue,” said Tom Holsman, CEO of the Associated General Contractors of California. “There have been instances when contractors have not received their cash deposits back for months, even though a settlement had been arrived at, or the contractor had been fully exonerated.”

AB 326 had the support of the Associated General Contractors of California and San Diego, Associated Builders & Contractors of California, Construction Employers’ Association, Southern California Contractors Association, and California Association of Specialty Contractors. This bill passed through the Legislature with widespread bipartisan support and will become effective on January 1, 2017.

Assemblymember Frazier represents the 11th Assembly District, which includes the communities of Antioch, Bethel Island, Birds Landing, Brentwood, Byron, Collinsville, Discovery Bay, Fairfield, Isleton, Knightsen, Locke, Oakley, Pittsburg (partial), Rio Vista, Suisun City, Travis AFB, Vacaville and Walnut Grove.

 

East County in-home senior care service celebrates first year in business

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James and Constance Tolbert, owners of the Seniors Helping Seniors franchise in Concord, Clayton and East County, in their Bay Point office.

James and Constance Tolbert, owners of the Seniors Helping Seniors franchise in East County, Concord and Clayton, in their Bay Point office.

By Allen Payton

As a Registered Nurse for 35 years, Constance Tolbert knows what it means to serve the needs of others. She got an early start in health care by serving as a candy striper while a school girl in Connecticut.

“She was born to care for people,” said husband and co-owner James.

Her service in the Army Nurse Corps brought her to California in 1982 when she went on active duty. Then, after being in the reserves, her medical unit, the 6253rd, was activated and transferred to the Persian Gulf during Desert Storm in 1990. Constance served in Fort Carson, Colorado, replacing a nurse who had been deployed.

After briefly retiring in 2013 from Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Oakland, she wasn’t done helping others and chose to work as a traveling nurse for a year.

Then in 2015, after being inspired by her mother who had owned a residential care facility for the elderly, Constance and James chose to buy a franchise of Seniors Helping Seniors.

“It was divine intervention,” Constance said. “We liked the mission of the company, which is based on Mother Teresa’s life work of serving others.”

The founder of Seniors Helping Seniors, Karen Yocom had worked with the soon to be Catholic Saint for 14 years in India.

“What also inspired us to go with this company is they have a different marketing model to reach seniors,” James shared. “Based on our previous work at our church, everyone we dealt with there were seniors. So, we liked the idea of hiring seniors to help other seniors.”

Their definition of senior is anyone age 50 or over for both the caregivers and the clients.

Since starting their franchise, which covers a territory of Concord to Discovery Bay, and including all East County communities, they’ve grown to a multi-cultural staff of 40. They include seniors from Puerto Rico, Guam, Fiji and Philippines, as well as others who are Japanese, African American, Hispanic and Caucasian.

“We can provide a caregiver so that people can be cared by those from their same culture,” Constance said.

“We cover the rainbow,” said James, who adds his years of experience and Masters Degree in organizational management. He’s also an Air Force veteran who currently works for the U.S. Department of Labor.

Most of the caregivers work part-time, as they’re either retired or in their second careers. Their clients range in age from as old as 98 and some as young as age 52.

“We try to match clients with senior caregivers with similar life experiences,” said James. “We had one client who was a Gulf War veteran. So, we were able to match her with a caregiver who is a fellow veteran and knows all about the VA in Martinez.”

They have a special program for low-income, military veterans or their spouses, called VetAssist which taps the Aid & Attendance benefits they qualify for.

“We’re able to access those benefits, quicker than if they were left to just go through the VA system,” James shared. “That could take six to eight months. We’re able to get it done in one or two months.”

“It’s critical for us to provide services to veterans, because they’re a forgotten group,” Constance said. “It’s definitely an honor for us to serve our fellow war time veterans who served this country.”

The services Seniors Helping Seniors provide include companionship, meal preparation, transportation for doctor appointments and others, light housekeeping, personal grooming and dressing, medications, showering assistance, and respite care for the main, family caregivers. Some seniors they serve have permanent disabilities, such as those who are blind, have dementia or are amputees, and are not ambulatory. Some younger seniors need help for temporary disabilities due to accidents, surgeries or injury.

“We have a transition program with hospitals, to reduce the readmission rate,” James shared.

“If a Medicare patient is readmitted within a 30-day period for the same diagnosis, they are responsible to pay the costs,” Constance explained. “With in-home care we are able to help them stay at home with the needed care, with such things as medication reminders, and proper nutrition. That’s critical, because so many who forget to take their medicine or don’t eat right, end up getting readmitted to the hospital.”

“Those costs can be as much as $5,000 a day,” she added.

“We’re able to help them avoid spending their savings and borrowing from their retirement account,” James said. “They could pay $30,000 at the hospital or just a few hundred to a few thousand dollars, with us. Plus, they’ll have someone who will provide them one-on-one care.”

The rates for the services of Seniors Helping Seniors are $26 to $28 per hour with a minimum of two hours per day, based on care needs. They also offer overnight stays and 24-hour care, seven days a week.

The Tolberts are also able to reach outside of their franchise territory to serve those who aren’t currently being served by a franchisee, such as in Martinez, and even San Joaquin Valley cities like Tracy, Manteca and Modesto.

Should you, a loved one or other senior you know have a need for in-home care, contact Seniors Helping Seniors 24-hours a day at (925) 698-6145 or constance@seniorcarebrentwoodca.com for a free RN consultation and assessment. They are bonded, insured and licensed with the State of California, and are in compliance with the new regulations that went into effect as of January, this year. For more information visit their website at www.seniorcarebrentwoodca.com.

Annual Sugar Town Festival & Street Fair in Crockett, Sunday, July 17th

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Sugartown Festival logoThe Sugartown Festival is sponsored by the Crockett Chamber of Commerce and is celebrating its 8th year.  It is held the third Sunday of July, this year July 17th from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

It is a great outdoor music festival and street fair.  It is family friendly, has great arts and crafts, food, beer, wine and live entertainment.  Stroll through a shady street, enjoying the food and wine, shopping the great arts and craft vendors while enjoying wonderful music, with two stages to choose from.

The Sugartown festival features two stages with well known artists.   Seating and dancing spaces are available.

Lagunitas Brewing Company is the choice beer at the Lagunitas beer gardens.  Wine and icey cold Margaritas are also sold to quench your thirst.

See the Arts Calendar at AC5.org for more information.

FContact the Crockett Chamber of Commerce at either P.O. Box 191, Crockett, CA 94525 or by calling 510-787-1155.