Business Portland News & Event Round Up, July 13

Recent business stories of note:

• Governor Kitzhaber has announced a workforce-readiness strategy

Oregon now has a blueprint for integrating economic development and workforce training

• A beach is being proposed for Portland

A Portland man is proposing a swimming beach on Portland’s waterfront

• Oregon's first salt harvesting facility since Lewis & Clark

A new food project on Kickstarter

• Beaumont Village is debuting a new retail program

On Wednesday, businesses in Beaumont Village are debuting "Shop the Block"

• Oregon has improved its rank as place to do business

CNBC ranks states based on publicly available data on 51 measures of competitiveness

• Cloudability has raised $8.7M in venture capital

The Portland startup will use the funds to double its workforce

• Portland's Elemental Technologies is set to stream the Olympic Games

If you plan to watch the Olympics this summer on a phone, tablet, or PC, you’ll be able to do so because of Sam Blackman

• Start-up CPUsage wants to harness idle computer power

The company's supply side is anyone who wants to make a bit of cash when his or her computer is idle

• Hacienda Community Development Corp is developing a “Mercado” in Lents

Sometimes a little seed money is needed to spur growth in a neighborhood

• City bikes by subscription

Portland, Oregon-based company operates in four cities. Can it make it in the Big Apple?

• America21 is trying to address the disconnect between Black America and the tech-driven economy

In the past year, America21 has generated a remarkable amount of attention and excitement locally and nationally

• Behind the scenes at Little Big Burger

The colors at Little Big Burger should look familiar; they’ve been co-opted by almost every fast-food chain

• Portland's Own launches a store that gives back

Portland’s Own has a simple mission: keep it local

• Portland's office vacancy rate increased to 10.8%

This trend is compared to the U.S. national office vacancy rate, which decreased to 12.1%

• Oregon startups - Growing fast, immune to recession

Oregon's startup community by the numbers: tiny, but strong

• Economic growth slow, Fed chief says

In a presentation to Portland community leaders

• Developers bid to build convention center hotel

Portland moved a step closer on Thursday to building a long-awaited convention center hotel

Some business announcements and events of note:

• St. Johns Main Street Coalition is hiring an Executive Director

• OSCON 2012 starts Monday, July 16

• Green Hour is July 25

• The 2012 BizGrowth Summit and Small Business Awards is July 26

• SEMPDX’s Rooftop Networking Party is August 14

• The Oregon Small Business Forum is August 21

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