The Valley Economic Alliance in Sherman Oaks has received a grant from Wells Fargo & Co., which will support a revitalization project in the San Fernando Valley called “Valley Main Streets.”
The project will include the development of a Commercial Cluster Toolkit, which will serve as an outline to support community leaders in undertaking their own commercial revitalization projects, as well as an example pilot project called Uplift Lake View Terrace.
The inaugural project will center on the Lake View Terrace Shopping Center in Pacoima. It will offer business assistance to local businesses, promote community engagement to decide on district improvements, launch campaigns to attract new businesses to vacant commercial spaces and increase customer foot-traffic from local neighbors and visitors.
“The small business districts of the Northeast San Fernando Valley will be able to thrive and grow when we join together to intentionally invest time, energy and resources in them,” Sonya Blake, chief executive of The Valley Economic Alliance, said in a statement. “With this grant from Wells Fargo and the broad-based community coalition we have assembled, we are able to identify and meet business and resident needs for a more prosperous, sustainable, and equitable San Fernando Valley.”
The undisclosed grant amount will also support the project in offering assistance for job seekers and first-time homebuyers, as well as providing financial literacy education.
Upon conclusion of the Uplift Lake View Terrace pilot project, additional locations around the San Fernando Valley are anticipated for the future, according to a Valley Economic Alliance statement.
“We are proud to support this grass-roots revitalization initiative and the overall impact that it will have in the Lake View Terrace community,” Jack Olree, senior community relations vice president at Wells Fargo, said in a statement. “We look forward to the success of this initiative.”