News from the GCVCC

Long Beach, CA: The Greater Coachella Valley Chamber of Commerce represented the Coachella Valley last week for a meeting with Isabella Guzman from the Governor’s Office, Small Business Advocate.  The meeting was scheduled to allow local chambers of commerce to offer direct feedback to the Governor’s office on opportunities and challenges facing small business in Southern California.

“It was a great meeting,” said Chamber President Joshua Bonner. “We (local chambers) often leave it to CalChamber to do the heavy lifting when it comes to advocacy in Sacramento.  The reality is we also have a strong voice on the local level, but we need to be active in sharing that perspective with all of our elected leaders.  Director Guzman’s willingness to come visit us shows there is an interest in hearing our voice.”

Some of the main topics for discussion were small business, specifically feedback from the chambers on how some of the legislation coming out of Sacramento is not giving any allowance for the disproportionate impact it has on businesses that have 20 or fewer employees.  The group also discussed ways local chambers could be more directly involved in economic development, including gathering local data, disseminating information, and acting directly on behalf of GoBiz inside of the community, and better utilizing iHub’s as a resource for local business growth.

More meetings are planned in the future.  Thank you to all the chambers from around the region that participated: