September 2005

As a part of our new Business Education Outreach segment, the Programs Committee invited two speakers to our August General Membership Meeting to educate our chambers on the various programs and services available to businesses within the San Fernando Valley.

Jennifer Menjivar
The first speaker was Jennifer Menjivar who updated our members on the numerous programs Southern California Edison has developed to help small, medium and large businesses in their service area save money through applied energy efficiency solutions.

SCE offers rebates or cash incentives to businesses that replace their old inefficient equipment with newer models or that participate in programs that help them save money on their monthly electric bills. To read about these programs and more, click here (link to Edison Seeks article).

For more information, please visit SCE’s website at www.sce.com.

Maria Murray
The second speaker was Maria Murray, Public Affairs Representative for Metropolitan Water District, who introduced MWD’s Community Partnering Program (CPP). Established by Metropolitan’s board of directors in 1999, the Community Partnering Program was designed to support water awareness and education by sponsoring selected activities for community-based nonprofit organizations, professional associations and public agencies that promote discussion and educational activities for regional water quality, conservation and reliability issues. This fiscal year, Metropolitan will provide $500,000 through breakfast briefings, recognition/awards events, forums, conferences, workshops or similar activities that provides outreach to community leaders, public officials or stakeholder organizations on water related issues. Anyone wanting to apply or to learn regarding sponsorship opportunities, please visit Metropolitan’s website at www.mwdh2o.com and click on the “Community Partnering Program” link.

At our next General Membership Meeting in September, UCC is offering two more exciting speakers. George Hernandez, Mayor’s Business Development Team, will discuss what the Mayor’s administration team is doing to promote business development in the San Fernando Valley. In addition, John Chen will talk about the myriad of programs and rebates that the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power is offering businesses to effectively reduce their energy costs.

Don’t forget to mark your calendars and attend our upcoming committee meetings, General Assembly Luncheons and special events listed in the UCC calendar. Also please keep in the mind that our General Membership Luncheons are open to all members of our local chambers. So please be sure to invite a friend, colleague or chamber member to come and learn more about programs and services that will help our small businesses thrive.