Thank You for a Great Event!
Registration for 2024 Immigrant Entrepreneurs Expo
CVIIC invites Central Valley immigrant families and the public at large to register for the 2024 Immigrant Entrepreneurs Expo, which will take place in the Fresno Convention Center on August 29. This first-ever event will offer two major services: access to dozens of agencies with information and resources to assist aspiring and established business owners; access to a free immigration legal services workshop. The event is free and will take place from 1:00 pm to 6:00 pm.
Who should attend?
Immigrant families and any Central Valley resident interested in: a) opening a business or improving an existing one; and/or b) access to free immigration legal services.
How much does it cost?
The event is free and open to the public.
Can you tell me more about the Expo?
The Expo is designed as a family event for Central Valley immigrants and members of the general public who are aspiring entrepreneurs or wish to learn how to further develop an existing business. The event features dozens of agencies, informational panel presentations by experts and immigrant business owners, and business legal assistance (how to set up an LLC).
The event also offers a free immigration legal services workshop. Multiple nonprofit immigration legal services agencies and pro bono attorneys are participating to assist immigrant families with many different services.
The Immigrant Entrepreneurs Expo is organized by the Central Valley Immigrant Integration Collaborative (CVIIC), in collaboration with nonprofit, public sector, and private sector partner agencies, including the following:
Expo Co-Sponsors:
- City of Fresno
- State of California DGS Office of Small Business and Disabled Veteran Business Enterprise Services
- Education and Leadership Foundation
- Build from Within Alliance
- Santa Clara University My Own Business Institute
- Central California Environmental Justice Network
Partial List of Participating Agencies:
- Academy of Financial Education
- Access Plus Capital
- AT&T
- Belen Sanchez Insurance
- Business Services Center (Fresno Regional Workforce Development Board)
- California Department of General Services
- California Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GoBiz)
- California Immigrant Policy Center
- California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation
- CDC Small Business Finance
- Central California Environmental Justice Network
- Central Valley Immigrant Integration Collaborative
- Centro Binacional para el Desarrollo Indígena Oaxaqueño
- Centro La Familia Advocacy Services
- CHIRLA
- City of Fresno
- Club Conscious Collective
- Downtown Fresno Partnership
- Education and Leadership Foundation
- Educational Employees Credit Union
- Fresno Area Hispanic Foundation
- Fresno County Economic Development Corporation
- Fresno Metro Black Chamber of Commerce
- Fresno Pacific University
- Hmong Business Incubator
- Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC)
- Immigrants Rising
- Jakara Movement
- Kids in Need of Defense
- Kern Women’s Business Center
- Latino Media Network
- Law Office of Jesus Martinez
- Moreno Seeds Foundation
- New Business Community Law Clinic
- Oasis Legal Services
- Office of Community Affairs – City of Fresno
- Pear Suite
- Ramon Nava Law APC
- Red Cross of California
- San Joaquin College of Law
- SCORE
- Sequoia Adult School
- SIREN
- Small Business Administration
- Small Business Majority
- State Center Adult Education Consortium
- State of California Military Department
- State of California Office of Community Partnerships and Strategic Communications
- State of California Office of Small Business Advocate (CalOSBA)
- State Trade Expansion Program
- TMC Community Capital
- The Fresno Center
- Univision
- Valley Community Small Business Development Center
- Valley First Credit Union
- Valley Women’s Entrepreneurship Center
- West Coast Mennonite Central Committee
- Wilner and O’Reilly
Special Guests
As Region IX Administrator, Elmy Bermejo will oversee SBA programs, offices, and operations in the SBA’s Pacific region, serving Arizona, California, Guam, Hawaii, and Nevada.
Ms. Bermejo has a passion for building and strengthening relationships while assisting people and organizations attain their goals. She has been a senior government official with more than 25 years of experience at the executive level and has established a successful record of collaboration with public and private stakeholders on a range of issues including workforce development, disaster relief, and small business. Ms. Bermejo recently served as the Northern California Director for External Affairs for Governor Gavin Newsom; before that, she served as a Senior Adviser and Outreach Director for Lt. Governor Eleni Kounalakis of California, the first woman ever elected to this position. Ms. Bermejo also served in President Barack Obama’s administration at the U.S. Department of Labor as the Regional Representative to the Secretary and as Director of Intergovernmental Affairs. She serves on the San Francisco Commission on the Environment, The Women’s Foundation of CA, and as an Advisory member of Hispanas Organized for Political Equality (HOPE) and the Leo T. McCarthy Center for Public Service and the Public Good.
Clair Whitmer is the Assistant Deputy Director leading the Regional Economic Engagement team. She concurrently serves as the Northern California Regional Advisor for the Office of the Small Business Advocate at the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development. Whitmer recently served for two years as a FUSE Corps Executive Fellow for the City of Fresno Economic Development Team, helping the city to devise a strategic framework for inclusive economic development. She also ran her own small business, UpBay Express, from 2020-2023. Prior to being tapped as a FUSE Corps Fellow, Whitmer was Head of Consumer Experience for Maker Media, publisher of Make: and producers of Maker Faire, from 2014 to 2019. Whitmer has worked in Silicon Valley since the 1990s, holding positions at several major brands in product management and tech-focused journalism. While living in France, she also served as Director of Voter Outreach for the Overseas Vote Foundation. Whitmer graduated summa cum laude in Political Science from San Francisco State University and is a dual citizen of France and the United States. Her mission is to help grow her region’s entrepreneurial ecosystem in pursuit of an economy that works for everybody.
Immigrant Expo Participating Organizations
We invite you to visit our websites: CVIIC.org | ValleCentral.org | InmigrantesEmprendedores.org
