Sacramento, CA – The California Office of the Small Business Advocate (CalOSBA), part of the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz), today announced a new partnership with the Eva Longoria Foundation, Stockton Strong/Goodstock Productions and State-supported Small Business Development Centers (SBDCs) as part of CalOSBA’s ongoing “Get Digital CA!” initiative. The “Get Digital CA!” initiative promotes e-commerce adoption by small business owners and drives Californians to support small and local businesses online leading up to the holiday shopping season.

This partnership will create a first-of-its-kind, Digital Pop-Up Festival this December in Central California. The interactive festival will use social media channels to showcase live videos from small businesses as owners tell their stories, sell their products and services, and create new experiences for the customer. In preparation for the digital festival, and the holiday shopping season, the SBDCs will lead digital training bootcamps across all of California for small businesses that are new to e-commerce and digital marketing, and for those looking to improve their digital presence. Small businesses can register for the digital bootcamps at Eventbrite.com.

“With more customers moving to online shopping, it’s more important than ever for small businesses to adopt new technology and get online,” said Isabel Guzman, CalOSBA Director. “The State of California, and our partners, are working hard to help all of our diverse small businesses in every step of this journey.”

In recent surveys, small businesses without pre-existing e-commerce were two times more likely to close – and with consumers increasingly moving online, U.S. e-commerce sales are on trend to double to $1 trillion by 2023.

“Businesses owned by people of color have been disproportionately impacted by COVID-19. The number of active businesses in the Latinx community alone has dropped by 32% since the start of the pandemic,” said activist, actress, director and producer Eva Longoria. “Small businesses form the economic heart of every community and represent a path to income mobility and economic advancement for many women and people of color. Our partnership with CalOSBA will provide essential training and resources to help these entrepreneurs understand the new business landscape and succeed in the digital marketplace.”

“Our Stockton Strong Marketplace launched this year and gave local women entrepreneurs, who faced challenges due to the impacts of COVID-19, the opportunity to grow their online sales,” said Stockton Mayor Michael Tubbs. “We appreciate the state working to expand local e-commerce by empowering even more of our small businesses with the digital tools needed to stay competitive.”

“The Digital Bootcamp program will be a great way to build new sales channels that will generate much needed revenue to support these small businesses as they navigate through these uncertain times,” said Mike Daniel, Regional Director of the Orange County Inland Empire SBDC Network. “There are more than 60 SBDC’s that are situated throughout California and we are here to help small business owners through this program and any other business need they may have.”

During the Central California December festival, CalOSBA will provide technical support and festival playbooks for the initiative. The “Get Digital CA!” initiative also builds off CalOSBA’s work supporting the “Calling ALL Californians: #ShopSafeShopLocal” campaign launched in July and the 40+ free or discounted partner resources offered to support small businesses to get digital. For more information, and to connect to these important resources, visit the Get Digital CA! webpage.