Business news: Week of Sept. 24, 2012

Business Journal Staff Report
Mon, 24 Sep 2012 12:00:13 +0000
Business News, Business Register, Education, Green, Health Care and Senior Living, Industry News, Manufacturing, Marin Report, Napa Report, North Bay News, Sonoma Report, Wine Industry, Andalou Naturals, Enphase Energy, Napa, North Bay Business Journal 9-24-2012, Novato, OFFBeat Brands, Petaluma, Pivot Charter School North Bay, Santa Rosa, Santa Rosa Family Medicine Consortium, WineCountry.com

Health Care

Continuing its commitment to increasing the numbers of primary care physicians in California, the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development awarded more than $2.89 million to 29 family practice residency training programs. The awards are administered through OSHPD’s Song-Brown Program. In the North Bay, Santa Rosa Family Medicine received $51,615. The awards are funded by the California Health Data and Planning Fund, which was statutorily established to receive and expend revenues in support of health care–related programs. The funds are generated through annual fees collected from health facilities.

Energy

Enphase Energy, Inc. (Nasdaq: ENPH) last week announced the availability of the Enphase Microinverter System at Dynamic Solar, a leading distributor of photovoltaic solutions in the United Kingdom. Enphase recently announced its entrance into the U.K. solar energy market and established a local office in Milton Keynes, England. Enphase M215 microinverters are certified under U.K. standard ENA G83/1-1.

Wine

Napa-based digital wine tourism pioneer WineCountry.com released a new iPhone app. Offering speedy mobile access to a large network of local wineries, restaurants, hotels and visitor-facing businesses, the app provides detailed lodging, dining, wine tastings and activities information for both Napa and Sonoma counties in a fast, user-friendly, and practical interface. Time-savers include location-based listings, preplanned itineraries, door-to-door directions and discount promotions. The calendar function offers extensive event listings and allows users to easily bookmark activities of interest using the favorites list.

OFFbeat Brands of Petaluma was selected by Grant Burge Wines of Barossa Valley as the Australian brand’s exclusive importer in the U.S. OFFbeat, which represents a small number of international wine properties under its Luxury Estates & Domains division, has also been named importer for Drift sauvignon blanc from Marlborough, New Zealand, widely recognized as producing some of the finest and most distinctive sauvignon blanc.

Education

Pivot Charter School, North Bay, a free public charter school that offers full-time programs for grades 6–12 in Sonoma and surrounding counties, will offer new two- and five-day-a-week programs for the 2012–2013 school year. Both programs combine a quality online curriculum that lets students work at their own pace with high levels of student support and assistance. Students attend school at Pivot’s new state-of-the-art facility, located at 1577 Farmers Ln., Santa Rosa, from 12:30–3:30 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays or 8:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m. Monday through Friday while working in an individualized curriculum with credentialed teachers onsite and online. Pivot North Bay is still enrolling for fall 2012. For details, visit pivotnorthbay.com or call 707-843-4676.

Manufacturing

Assemblymember Jared Huffman presented his Sustainable North Bay Award to Novato’s Andalou Naturals in September in recognition of the company’s commitment to creating personal care products that are both good for people and the planet. Andalou Naturals’ skin care, hair care, and body care products utilize innovative fruit stem-cell science, blended with natural and fair-trade ingredients, with a minimum 70 percent certified organic content. The brand is available at Whole Foods, Pharmaca and natural products stores nationwide. Since its launch in 2011, Andalou Naturals has employed 14 full time.