How new Stanislaus County program ensures businesses are ‘good’ to reopen under coronavirus
As businesses and restaurants reopen and California begins to ease COVID-19 restrictions, owners are looking for a way to tell their customers they’re “good to go” and up to date on all the necessary safety protocols.
Enter Good2Go Stanislaus, an online training program and resource that provides businesses with information about how to safely reopen and ensure the well-being of their customers and staff. The program, a collaborative effort between Opportunity Stanislaus, Stanislaus County, as well as local leaders, aims to walk businesses through the steps required to effectively reopen and follow county and state guidelines.
“We knew that the big chains would have their own guidance,” said David White, the CEO of Opportunity Stanislaus. “The small mom and pops, they don’t have that capacity and we wanted to help them, particularly, understand how to be safe.”
The program was developed by Opportunity Stanislaus, representatives from the county, as well as local businesspeople from various sectors. Following a number of virtual meetings, the group created a working document that outlines the safety precautions various industries must take to reopen, said Stanislaus County Supervisor Kristin Olsen, who helped create the program.
The guidance is available to business owners online, and includes comprehensive recommendations for various industries, from restaurants to hair salons to childcare facilities. Each subsection of the document, Olsen said, was created by representatives of that industry.
“These are industry experts who understand and know the ins and outs of their businesses much better than any of us would,” Olsen said. “We really left it up to each sector leader to determine how they wanted to go about getting input to draft their plans.”
Modesto’s OF Logic designs e-training
In addition to specific sections geared toward different industries, the Good2Go team also developed an online training component in cooperation with OF Logic, a Modesto-based software company that designs e-learning programs for businesses. The training, which is accessible online and takes approximately 30 minutes to complete, walks business owners through a series of informational slides about proper guidance on safety, followed by a short quiz.
The training, which has been available since May, is voluntary and free for businesses to complete. It’s designed to make information about best practices accessible to business owners by putting them all in one place. According to Opportunity Stanislaus, 78 businesses had completed the training as of Monday afternoon.
The material is adapted from the guidance put out by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said Tim O’Brien, a partner at OF Logic. Once business owners have completed the training, they are sent a confirmation email and access to various Good2Go marketing materials they can use to advertise their compliance on their websites and social media accounts.
Good2Go will then mail the business a decal they can adhere to their storefront window, helping potential customers recognize businesses that are following safety precautions. Other cities across the state, like Anaheim, are also providing businesses with decals and stickers to show they’re ready for a reopening.
Feedback has been positive, Olsen said, with business owners appreciative they can prepare ahead of time, rather than receiving the state go-ahead to reopen and having to start their plans and preparations that same day.
Chicken Barn among many going through program
Amy Bradley, owner of The Chicken Barn’s Modesto locations, echoes that sentiment.
“Somebody thought very carefully about how to make it business-friendly, user-friendly in a bunch of different levels, from the person signing up the trainers and the managers to the trainers taking it,” she said.
Bradley said the information in the training wasn’t necessarily new to her — since it’s largely a reformatting of the CDC guidelines — but that the way it was presented made it easy to communicate to entry-level employees. She added that her employees now feel like they have “tools” to successfully run the restaurants with all the coronavirus precautions in place, like the proper use of disinfectants and masks.
Other businesses have run into difficulties with the training, as the software was released earlier than expected due to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s accelerated reopening. Organizers recognize there were issues with the initial release, which experienced a “rocky start,” White said.
Terri Coonce, owner of Olde Tyme Pastries in Turlock, said she had trouble with the training software (it would not let her mark the module as “complete”) and after a few attempts, no longer had time to keep trying to finish the course. Still, she said the idea of the training was a good one, and that the setup was simple and informative.
Since then, changes have been made to the online training — including only requiring the owner or manager of a business to complete the module, not 80 percent of all employees — and the experience for owners has been a smoother one.
Program will adapt to state, county changes
Going forward, Olsen said, the training and longer guidance document will adapt to changing regulations on a state and county level, and the county will continue to support residents and businesses as California moves further through the stages of reopening. The majority of the county’s businesses are small businesses, she added, who need the assistance to help recover from economic and workforce losses.
“We believe our short-term, mid-term, long-term economic strength and vibrancy is largely dependent on the ability of our small businesses to be able to bounce back,” Olsen said.
Businesses can find more information and sign up for the voluntary training on Good2Go’s website.
This story was produced with financial support from the Stanislaus Community Foundation, along with the GroundTruth Project’s Report for America initiative. The Modesto Bee maintains full editorial control of this work.
This story was originally published June 10, 2020 at 7:12 AM.
