Entrepreneurship and Economic Mobility Task Force: CVIIC Executive Director Appointed

CVIIC's Executive Director, Jesus Martinez, has been appointed by California Governor, Gavin Newsom, to the California Entrepreneurship and Economic Mobility Task Force (EEMTF). He will be joining a group of nearly three dozen more California leaders in the task force. It is also his second appointment to a state task force, having previously served on the California Complete Count Committee, which provided input to the state authorities on the strategies and programs adopted by California to ensure a complete and accurate enumeration during the 2020 Census. The Task Force was presented to the public on November 27, 2022, as part of the 2022 California Economic Summit held in Bakerfield.

Presentation of the Task Force

Presentation of the State of California Entrepreneurship and Economic Mobility Task Force10 27 22

The mission and purposes of the EEMTF are described by the State of California as follows:

The mission of the 2022 Entrepreneurship & Economic Mobility Task Force (EEMTF) is to propel inclusive entrepreneurship by recommending policies and programs to ensure that all California small businesses have access to the resources they need to grow and scale. The Task Force is supported by the California Office of the Small Business Advocate and serves as a bridge to SMBs to help California maintain its entrepreneurial and innovation leadership. Task Force leadership and members will be engaging in a historic conversation on three primary goals to help California maintain its global leadership: • Democratizing Access to Capital • Diversifying the Innovation Economy • Driving Economic Mobility through Entrepreneurship

The appointment to the task force is a recognition of the work that the Central Valley Immigrant Integration Collaborative (CVIIC) has been carrying out on behalf of immigrant families and immigrant-serving organizations based in the region since its creation in 2014. Since then, CVIIC has been promoting and implementing a model of regional coordination and collaboration to maximize the impact of the limited resources that have existed in the region to address the needs, interests, and rights of local immigrant families. In particular, the task force participation will help strengthen CVIIC's knowledge of existing resources and initiatives related to entrepreneurship and economic mobility. This will prove valuable to continue to enhance CVIIC's Immigrant Entrepreneurs Program, which was originally established in 2020 and is now in its third year of existence. The Immigrant Entrepreneurs Program has permitted CVIIC to offer technical assistance and trainings to five separate cohorts of participants in the program, to assist them in obtaining the appropriate business licenses in order to formalize their existing ventures or to fortify already existing enterprises, to inform them of existing opportunities for financing and grants, and to develop a regional network of entrepreneurs. Participation in the California Entrepreneurship and Economic Mobility Task Force will also permit CVIIC to establish relations with other community leaders, government agencies, and businesses that are committed to the improvement of conditions for immigrant families in our state. For more information on CVIIC, please visit our websites: https://CVIIC.org | https://ValleCentral.org | https://InmigrantesEmprendedores.org