(El Centro) – Assemblymember Eduardo Garcia (D-Coachella), Chair of the Assembly Jobs, Economic Development, and the Economy Committee (JEDE), with Panorea Avdis, Director of the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz) and the Imperial Valley Economic Development Corporation (IVEDC) held a Small Business Resource Fair today in El Centro. Over one-hundred small businesses, community organizations and local governments attended.
“As Chair of the Jobs Committee, I am always mindful that statewide statistics tell only part of the story. Unfortunately, not all regions have fully recovered from the Recession including much of inland California such as Imperial County. Today’s event was a great opportunity for GO-Biz to assist local businesses one-on-one to foster economic growth.” commented Chairman Garcia.
The Small Business Resource Fair included over twenty staffed resource tables to provide information on how small businesses can gain access to capital, find local technical assistance, and compete for state contracts.
"I want to thank Assemblymember Eduardo Garcia for organizing the Small Business Resource Fair and inviting me and my team to speak with local business owners," said GO-Biz Director Panorea Avdis. "GO-Biz is committed to working with our regional partners to improve economic conditions in the areas of California that need it the most."
In addition to the resource fair, local government and community representatives had the opportunity to present economic development projects to GO-Biz and other resource partners, as well as speak one-on-one with GO-Biz about their community priorities. Other activities included a bi-national lunch with leaders from California and Mexico, and GO-Biz Director Avdis touring the Salton Sea to get a picture of the region's renewable energy and redevelopment opportunities.
“Today’s event, spearheaded by the Office of Assembly Member Garcia, was an amazing demonstration by his office and staff along with representatives from the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz) to closely examine the needs of the Imperial Valley region and identify relevant state resources to assist our local small business community as well as entrepreneurs” said Sean Wilcock, IVEDC Vice President of Business Development and Services. “The second focus of this state lead initiative was to reach out to each of the cities in Imperial County to increase awareness of state resources with regards to access to capital for infrastructure financing and new permitting processes for both public and private projects. Imperial Valley Economic Development Corporation would like to express its gratitude to Assembly Member Garcia and Go-Biz for delivering these valuable resources to our community for the overall purposes of job creation and economic growth.” concluded Sean Wilcock.
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Assemblymember Eduardo Garcia (D-Coachella) serves as the Chairperson of the Assembly Committee on Jobs, Economic Development and the Economy. He represents the 56th district, which comprises the cities and communities of Blythe, Brawley, Bermuda Dunes, Calexico, Calipatria, Cathedral City, Coachella, Desert Hot Springs, El Centro, Holtville, Imperial, Indio, Mecca, Oasis, North Shore, Salton Sea, Thermal, Thousand Palms, and Westmorland
