Y2K Action Weeks

Overview
With help from the Small Business Administration (SBA), the Commerce Department, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), and others, the President’s Council on Year 2000 Conversion led two special Y2K Action Weeks in October 1998 and March/April 1999.

The goal of the Y2K Action Weeks was to stress to businesses, particularly smaller companies, the critical need to make proper assessments of important systems and what needed to be fixed. The aim was not to have small businesses automatically replace their systems but to encourage them take advantage of existing information to assess their risks and to take appropriate action. During the two Weeks, more than 1,000 Y2K seminars and training events for businesses were held across the country at SBA, Commerce, and USDA field and county extension offices. Materials to help business owners and managers take steps to ensure that their companies were AY2K OK@ were also made available though SBA and Commerce Department web sites and toll-free numbers. The National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Manufacturing Extension Partnership also developed a Y2K self-help tool designed for small businesses and provided free help through the SBA, Commerce, and USDA field and county extension offices.