As businesses across the city of Milpitas find creative ways to grow and adapt their businesses during COVID-19, the Milpitas Small Business Spotlight program will provide an opportunity for 15 local small businesses to create a 90-second promotional video featuring their business. We have asked the community to nominate their favorite Milpitas-based small businesses and received over 60 nominations. On September 25th the Office of Economic Development held a lottery to select 15 businesses to be “in the Spotlight.” The promotional videos will be shown across the City’s social media channels and a copy of the video will be given to the selected business as well. The Spotlight program will showcase these videos over the next 12-15 months to continue supporting and promoting our local businesses. The names of the 15 selected businesses will be divulged after verifying they meet all eligibility requirements. Link to Business Spotlight Lottery Drawing

 

The City of Milpitas launched the Milpitas Small Business Spotlight Program today to sustain and grow the local economy by supporting our diverse businesses through a “Shop Local” campaign. The program is designed to assist small businesses with promotions and marketing during the economic crisis due to the pandemic.  When local businesses thrive, communities thrive!

ABOUT THE PROGRAM

This unique program provides fifteen small businesses with a 90-second professional video production created by the Office of Economic Development. The Spotlight is stored on the City’s YouTube Channel.  It also runs on the City’s website, City’s Office of Economic Development website, and social media channels like Facebook, Nextdoor, and other promotional opportunities.  Businesses also receive a copy of the video for their own personal use.

HOW IT WORKS

Nominations for the Spotlight program will open on August 21st at 5:00 p.m. and must be submitted by September 21st at 5:00 p.m.  Anyone can nominate a local business by filling out the nomination form at the bottom of this page.

The City will hold a lottery for the random selection of 15 eligible businesses on September 25th at 10am. All nominations will be compiled into an excel sheet, and the City will run an algorithm to randomly select 15 businesses. After the businesses are confirmed to be eligible by the City, they must sign a waiver release form in order to begin the video production process.

ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS

In order to be eligible for the Spotlight program, businesses nominated must foster pride in the Milpitas business community, have a positive local impact, and must meet the following requirements:

  • Milpitas-based retail, restaurants, and service sector businesses with physical storefronts that are publicly accessible without any charge, smoke free environment and provide direct sales or services to the general public;
  • Demonstrate good standing with the City of Milpitas (i.e., valid active business license, no active code violations or code enforcement actions, no active police investigation matters or repeat calls for service (defined as more than 2 in a one-month period), and no outstanding taxes owed) and good active standing with the California Labor Commissioner’s Office; and
  • Have fewer than 50 employees

For more COVID-19 information and updates from the City of Milpitas, visit the City’s COVID-19 webpage. Milpitas-based businesses seeking government and financing resources, information on the Office of Economic Development’s Virtual Business Assistance Center, and/or to sign up to receive Milpitas economic recovery updates, visit the City’s Office of Economic Development’s COVID-19 Business Resource webpage. For any questions regarding the Spotlight program, please send an email to BusinessAssistance@milpitas.gov.

HOW TO NOMINATE YOUR FAVORITE BUSINESS

The nomination period had ended.