Bangor

Basics of starting a business

The Basics of Starting a Business, a three-session workshop, will be held from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Tuesdays, Nov. 2, 9 and 16, at Rangeley Hall, Eastern Maine Community College. Topics will include assessing skills for business, business plan outline and marketing a cash flow.

The workshop is sponsored by the Maine Centers for Women, Work & Community and the Women’s Business Center at Coastal Enterprises Inc.

There is no fee for the program. For information or to register, call Jane Searles at 262-7843, or (800) 442-2092.

USDA Rural Development

Michael W. Aube, state director of USDA Rural Development, announced recently that Benjamin Mitchell of Winterport and Rob Cross of Brewer have been promoted.

Mitchell has been promoted the position of area specialist. His new duties will include oversight in the administration of the Direct Housing Program at the Bangor area office. He has been an employee of the agency for 26 years. He holds a bachelor’s degree in agricultural resources from the University of Maine.

Cross also has been designated an area specialist at the Bangor area office. His duties will include responsibility for the Guaranteed Housing Program in six counties, and continued responsibility for the 502 Direct Housing Program.

Cross has been with USDA for four years and was promoted from his previous position as a single-family housing area specialist. He is a 1992 graduate of the University of Maine and holds a bachelor’s degree in agricultural resource economics and an associate’s degree in business management.

Animal training

Don Hanson, co-owner and director of behavior counseling and training at Green Acres Kennel Shop in Bangor, has completed 35 hours of continuing education while attending the Association of Pet Dog Trainers annual educational conference in Denver.

He attended sessions on helping people develop a relationship with their dog, coaching dog guardians, improving puppy classes, how animals think and feel, feline behavior and the science of operant conditioning and training.

Hanson also was one of 27 internationally recognized dog trainers and behaviorists selected to lecture at the conference. His four-hour lecture, “The Bach Flower Essences and Their Use in Resolving Behavior Problems,” was very well-received.

Hanson has been invited to present two lectures at next year’s conference in New Orleans – an eight-hour conference on the use of Bach Flower Essences with dogs and cats, and a 90-minute presentation on the role of complementary medicine in the treatment of animals.

Child care training

BANGOR – The Penquis Community Action Program Resource Development Center will offer three hours of training in “Starting Your Core Knowledge Portfolio” for child care professionals from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, Nov. 6, at Penquis CAP, 262 Harlow St.

The training introduces the Maine Roads to Quality Core Knowledge Training Program. In addition, it presents the uses of a portfolio in professional development and how the portfolio can transform training into college credit. Information includes procedures for documenting learning, orientation to the Maine Professional Registry, introduction to the Child Development Associate certificate and how to keep track of hours of training.

There is a $15 registration fee. Current child care providers may apply to the Resource Development Center’s scholarship fund for reimbursement of this fee. Call 973-3533l to register or to obtain more information.