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Thursday, Mar 28, 2024

Economic Alliance Was Born From Ruins of Earthquake

Economic Alliance Was Born From Ruins of Earthquake By JACQUELINE FOX Staff Reporter Prior to the quake of ’92 there was already a move afoot to establish an economic development organization for the San Fernando Valley, primarily to address the decline of the local aerospace industry. But resources were scarce, as was interest. Then the 6.7 tremor hit, snuffing out not just buildings and lives, but significantly setting the Valley’s already fragile economy about many giant steps backward. That’s when local attorney Robert Scott and a handful of other Valley business leaders rolled up their sleeves and essentially made a commitment to conduct a “hell or high water” campaign to get the local economy back on its feet. Scott, now director of the CivicCenter Group, was serving as president of the United Chambers of Commerce of the San Fernando Valley. He said it all began with a few phone calls. “I still remember being bunkered down in my house and Bonny Herman (president of the Valley Industry and Commerce Association) being bunkered down in hers,” said Scott. “We had hour-long conversations about what we were going to do. We began by co-facilitating FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) workshops and reaching out to businesses in an effort to help them get funding for recovery efforts.” Scott and others also met with then U.S. Secretary of Commerce Ron Brown, who is said to have landed in the Valley by helicopter atop the roof of Sherman Oaks Hospital on a mission to assess the quake damage and help cobble together a federal recovery aid package. Creating an organization According to Scott, Brown wanted assurances that federal assistance would go to the Valley and he wanted to nail down one local group to manage the funds. “Ron Brown said ‘Look, we want to bring some resources in here. Is there an organization that we can channel this through or do we need to create one?’ I said ‘I think we need to create one,”‘ said Scott. That was the birth of the Economic Alliance of the San Fernando Valley, which has since become one of the region’s most vital economic and philanthropic organizations, with nine full time employees and an operating budget of just over $1 million. In the end, the Valley received only roughly $350,000 in planning grants from the Feds’ $1.8 million grant made to the city proper, according to Scott. But that money was funneled through the Valley Economic Development Center, not the Alliance, and, for some time, feathers were ruffled and egos clashed. Meanwhile, funds needed to move the Alliance forward were also very tight and, over the course of the next 18 months, the group’s progress came in fits and starts. Then in 1996 the Alliance elected David Fleming as its chairman, whose position as a high-powered attorney helped kick-start a campaign to boost the fledgling group’s image. “He makes things happen,” said Scott. “We wanted to hire an East Coast fundraising firm but they wanted $50,000 just to get started. David essentially underwrote that so they could start raising funds.” Gaining clout The Alliance’s clout and visibility has mushroomed significantly since its early days. In 1999 the organization established a joint partnership with The James Irvine Foundation, which has since funded the creation of several of the Alliance’s numerous publications and programs, including its ambitious master plan for long-term economic development known as “Vision 20/20.” There isn’t an issue on the table for the Valley’s business community that the Alliance doesn’t have some form of involvement in, including transit, education, tourism, quality of life and urban revitalization. “If you look back, the Alliance really had three primary functions when it began,” said Bruce Ackerman, the group’s president and CEO since 2000. “Those were earthquake recovery funding, retention of jobs and boosting the Valley’s image. With all we had going on at the time the quake hit the riots of 1992, floods, a terrible real estate recession the San Fernando Valley was not exactly the coolest place to be.” According to Ackerman, the Alliance has put roughly $7 million of the funds it has raised since its launch right back into the local economy. Business development and marketing the Valley as a destination continue to hold top priority for the Alliance, which, in the last few years has taken over management of the San Fernando Valley Conference & Visitors Bureau and the Valley International Trade Association. The Alliance’s “Valley of the Stars” image campaign, designed to boost tourism and interest in the region, has successfully linked the five cities of Burbank, Glendale, Los Angeles, San Fernando and Calabasas, creating community ties between them and giving the Valley a long-needed sense of “place.” “By taking over those two associations and through Valley of the Stars, we’ve expanded our ability to become a complete marketing agency for the Valley,” said Ackerman. “So what began 10 years ago as a reaction to a crisis has turned into one of the most dynamic organizations working for the Valley’s business community and its residents.”

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