Project Pop-Up participant offers graphic design, body art,
and more in new Front Street spot

MILFORD, Del. (Dec. 3, 2014) – From art galleries to performing arts and, more recently, even culinary arts, Downtown Milford continues to build on an arts-related retail strategy. The arrival of Delaware Branding Company now adds graphic design to support this downtown strategy.

State and local officials joined business owners Mike and Amy Perfetti for a ribbon cutting on Wednesday Dec. 3, outside of the business at 19 NW Front Street.

Delaware Branding Company, a participant in this year’s Project Pop-Up program, will offer graphic design, sign making, body art, and DJ services at its new location.

Project Pop-Up, now in its third year, provides three months of rent-free commercial space during the holiday season along with the assistance of a business advisor to help launch and grow the business. The program has grown from three participating businesses in 2012 to 15 this year, including nine businesses in an incubator in Wilmington.

Delaware Branding Company also sells magnetics, banners, aluminum and wood signs and provides logo design, business card and flier design and van, truck and boat lettering.

“Project Pop-Up not only gives us the chance to move into our own building, it also provides us with the opportunity to connect with the community. A lot of what we do has a personal touch, and being in downtown Milford will allow us to get to know our customer base,” said Mike Perfetti, an award-winning graphic designer. “We can’t thank DEDO and Downtown Delaware enough for this chance of a lifetime.”

Diane Laird, State Coordinator for Downtown Delaware, said that Milford has been an excellent partner in Project Pop-Up.

Laird said she and Ken Anderson, Director of Entrepreneurial and Small Business Support for the Delaware Economic Development Office, have worked together with Milford representatives to match businesses with available properties that support the arts focus in downtown.

“The DBC owners are seasoned business owners who bring significant business experience to Milford,” Anderson said. “It is the only business in a 20-mile radius that offers the unique combination of services that DBC has to offer. They successfully ran a business in Pennsylvania and they expect similar success and growth in their new Milford location.”

In 2005, Perfetti was honored by the Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International (HSMAI) for Outdoor Transit Advertising in 2005.

The Perfettis would love to duplicate the success experienced by several Pop-Up selectees in Milford, Middletown, and Smyrna, who have already expanded their shops due to significant growth and expansion of their customer base. In Milford, Paige Deiner, a 2013 Pop-Up participant in Milford, saw business quadruple just months after opening, necessitating a move to a larger facility where she now offers massage, Reiki, yoga and self-development classes. Karen Gill, owner of Royal Treatments in Smyrna, just expanded into a vacant space adjacent to her Pop-Up shop, which is now home to Smyrna Cards and Gifts.

“The success of the Project Pop-Up businesses in Milford and elsewhere shows that if given the opportunity, Delaware entrepreneurs will rise to the challenge and build successful small businesses,” said Alan Levin, Director of the Delaware Economic Development Office. “Delaware’s economy is strong, with a growing job base, and that is due in large part to our thriving small business sector.”

About the Delaware Economic Development Office
The Delaware Economic Development Office is an executive state agency responsible for attracting new investors and businesses to the state, promoting the expansion of existing industry, assisting small and minority-owned businesses, promoting and developing tourism and creating new and improved employment opportunities for all citizens of the State. Visit dedo.delaware.gov.

About Downtown Delaware
Downtown Delaware, a program of the Delaware Economic Development Office, provides Delaware’s historic downtowns, communities, and small businesses with tools to revitalize their commercial districts, increase entrepreneurial opportunity, and enhance quality of place. To learn more about the Main Street program, visit www.delawaremainstreet.com.

Contact:
Peter Bothum
Delaware Economic Development Office
peter.bothum@delaware.gov
Office: 302-672-6857
Cell: 302-632-6665

(Dover, DE) – In his weekly message, filmed at the Small Business Summit held at Dover Downs Hotel and Casino, Governor Markell shares how the State is supporting small businesses throughout Delaware, with initiatives like Project Pop-Up and the Small Business Focus Program.

“We know that small companies account for the majority of business sales and job creation, so it’s critical we provide the support and environment they need to thrive,” said Governor Markell. “Hardworking entrepreneurs across ours state have great ideas to serve customers in Delaware, throughout the country, and around the world. By ensuring they have the opportunity to reach their potential, we’ll keep Delaware moving forward.”

Every week, the Governor’s office releases a new Weekly Message in video, audio, and transcript form. The message is available on:

YouTube: http://youtu.be/kPT3IvD5wks
Delaware.Gov: http://governor.delaware.gov/podcast_video.shtml
By email: Please contact our press team to subscribe to our press list
Facebook:  www.facebook.com/governormarkell
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FULL TEXT OF MESSAGE

Strengthening the Economy by Supporting Small Businesses – Governor Jack A. Markell Weekly Message

Delaware’s economy is getting stronger, with job growth outpacing the national average over the past two years. And we must ensure our state’s policies help continue this trend.

We know that small companies account for the majority of business sales and job creation, so it’s critical that we provide the support and environment they need to thrive. That means encouraging businesses of all types, from Miller Metal’s fabrication facility in Bridgeville to BrightFields environmental consulting in Wilmington to Royal Treatments, a home décor and window treatments shop owned by Karen Gill in Smyrna. Karen took advantage of our Project Pop-Up program, which provides small business owners three months of rent-free retail space in vacant downtown properties.She and her husband have now started a second company on Smyrna’s Main Street.

Project Pop-Up is part of our comprehensive approach to encourage small business growth. We’ve cut and modified state regulations; doubled the availability of research and development tax credit for small companies; and helped them develop relationships with partners around the world. Our efforts will only have their full effect if all small businesses have a fair chance to prosper. It’s why I was proud to announce the Small Business Focus Program, which helps state agencies consider small companies when purchasing the goods and services that they need. And it ensures that businesspeople with disabilities, as well as companies owned by women, minorities, and veterans, compete for state contracts on a level playing field.

Hardworking entrepreneurs across ours state have great ideas to serve customers in Delaware, throughout the country, and around the world. By ensuring they have the opportunity to reach their potential, we’ll keep Delaware moving forward.

In January, Lt. Gov. Denn spoke to the Greater Kent County Committee about how Delaware moves ahead after coming back from the worst economic crisis to hit the state since the Great Depression. In three editorials over the next few months, he will share his thoughts regarding the economy, controlling business costs and education.

The national Bureau of Labor Statistics put our unemployment rate in Delaware at 6.5 percent in November. That’s the best it’s been in five years — it essentially puts us back to where we were when the national economy crashed in late 2008. Some people say that number is deceptive because the labor force is smaller now, but the labor-force number goes up and down over time — our state labor force today is larger than it was in November, 2010.

How does that unemployment rate compare to our neighbors? Maryland is right around where we are at 6.4 percent — but with a full 25 percent of its non-farm workforce in recession-proof government work, compared to 14.7 percent of ours. Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate is 7.3 percent. New Jersey’s unemployment rate is 7.8 percent. New York’s is 7.4 percent. Connecticut’s is 7.6 percent. Rhode Island’s is 9 percent.

Are we the best in the country? No. Are we even close to satisfied with being the best in the region? Absolutely not — we won’t be satisfied until every Delawarean who wants work can find it. But as we look ahead to determine how we will build on our success, we should appreciate how far we’ve come and the better place from where we start.

When we are at our best in Delaware in creating economic opportunity, we are doing three things well. First, we are making our state an attractive place for anyone to do business. We recognize that no one — least of all government agencies — bats a thousand guessing winners and losers in these unpredictable economic times, and we have to make sure that the fundamentals of our economy are such that we are an attractive place to move and grow for all types of employers.

Second, while we are strengthening our overall profile as a state to do business, we need to be smart about those economic areas where we have, or could work to have, strategic advantages, and pay special attention to those areas.

And third, when there are particular companies that are interested in locating or expanding here and offer the real prospect of putting Delawareans to work, we need to be extremely responsive to them. We can’t lose our focus on any of these three areas — it doesn’t matter, for example, how nimble or responsive we are to potential new employers, if the underlying economic environment in our state isn’t attractive to them.

Working with Chairman Gary Stockbridge, I recently announced that the state’s Workforce Investment Board is seeking permission from the federal government to implement a new program that would dramatically increase the workforce training funds made available to small businesses willing to hire and train new employees, and all businesses willing to hire and train Delawareans who have been unemployed for long periods of time.

If approved by the United States Department of Labor, the new program will allow the state to pay 90 percent of a new employee’s wages if that employee is hired by a business of 50 or fewer people or the new employee has been unemployed for over 26 weeks.

The program would be funded with existing federal workforce investment funds. The subsidy would last as long as the employee was receiving specialized training from the employer, and employers participating in the program would be required to demonstrate a commitment to keeping employees in the workplace after the expiration of the grant.

The program already exists in Delaware, but because it requires a 50-percent salary match from employers, it is not widely used.

It is a great opportunity for us to give our small businesses another tool to hire new workers and give them valuable training, and also a way for us to incentivize hiring of some of our neighbors who have been out of work for a long time. The best part is we can do it using job-training money that we already receive from the federal government.

The fundamentals are easily stated but hard to do. The governor and I hear them over and over from employers. Employers want a well- educated and trained workforce — students graduating from high school, college graduates, and adults who have learned skills after finishing school. Employers want a low cost of doing business. They want to be in a state that has a good quality of life — where they and their employees will want to live. And they want a supportive government, not one that necessarily gives them everything they want but one that listens and understands that for business, time is money.

On those fundamentals, we have solid progress to report but still a lot of work to do together.

Matt Denn
Lieutenant Governor

Statewide Small Business Advisory Committee Meets
Speaks at Delaware School Nutrition Meeting about School Breakfast 

DOVER – Lieutenant Governor Matt Denn’s Small Business Advisory Committee began meeting in January of this year about a variety of issues that impact small businesses.  Improvements to the state’s small business loan programs, providing better information to small businesses about requirements of the Affordable Care Act, controlling workers compensation premiums, and state and county regulations are just a few of the topics that have been discussed.  The Committee’s 17 members represent a variety of small businesses throughout the state.

During tomorrow’s meeting – the last of 2013 – the discussion of how to make credit available to more small businesses will continue with John Fleming and Michael Rossi of the state Small Business Administration’s office and a representative of a local lender.  The committee will likely decide on recommendations that can be made to increase access to credit for small businesses.

A further discussion of the Affordable Care Act and its impact on small business is also on the agenda.  The meetings rotate between Wilmington and Dover, are posted in advance and open to the public.

Tomorrow afternoon, the Lt. Governor will be talking at the business meeting of the Delaware School Nutrition House of Delegates about trying to expand school breakfast to every elementary school classroom in the state.

9:30am – 11:30am     Small Business Advisory Committee meeting

The Tatnall Building
150 Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive, South
2^nd floor conference room
Dover

4:15pm – 5:15pm       Delaware School Nutrition House of Delegates Meeting
Modern Maturity Center
1121 Forrest Avenue
Dover

DOVER –  In his weekly message, Governor Markell focuses on helping Delaware small businesses grow.

“Dupont,  Perdue, and W-L Gore may be large employers now, but each began as the passionate project of some inspired entrepreneurs,” said Governor Jack Markell.  “Every day, new entrepreneurs step forward, launching themselves into the hard but critical work that comes from working for yourself.”

This week, the Governor joined business and academic leaders, as well as National Governors Association Chairman Governor Dave Heineman of Nebraska in Washington, D.C.  for the Kauffman Foundation’s 3^rd Annual “State of Entrepreneurship Address.”   Each semester, the Delaware Economic Development Office and others  bring together dozens of existing and potential entrepreneurs to offer intensive training and guidance through the Kauffman Foundation’s FastTrac program.   The curriculum offers important insight in areas critical to building a business.

“It was clear from this collaborative discussion that some of the old debates and divides that mar economic policy discussions in other places just aren’t relevant at this point in history,” said Governor Markell.  “In the fight to help employers – particularly small businesses– grow, we need to stay focused on how states can enable,  rather than inhibit, growth.  We need to remain committed to making government more responsible, making our public schools stronger, and on creating a business environment that encourages growth and opportunity. Our state is full of so many active and budding entrepreneurs.  Whether as a government committed to creating a climate for success or as individual consumers committed to supporting small businesses with how and what we buy, we need to support small businesses and their entrepreneurial spirit  as we work together to keep Delaware moving forward.”

About the Governor’s Weekly Message:

At noon every Friday, the Governor’s office releases a new Weekly Message in video, audio, and transcript form.  The message is available on:

YouTube: http://youtu.be/0f5FoPUCGgs
Delaware.Gov: http://governor.delaware.gov/information/podcast_video.shtml
By email: Please contact our press team to subscribe to our press list
Facebook: www.facebook.com/governormarkell
Twitter: www.twitter.com/governormarkell

Transcript of the Governor’s Weekly Message: Helping Small Businesses Succeed