​Happy April from the EDC. We are so excited to introduce our newest member, Rancho Water, to our organization.

We kept the momentum going after our Mayor’s Tech Idea Exchange last month and started April with a great discussion at our monthly TechSouthwest meeting about how we can be a tool for growing tech in the region. If you are interested in being a part of the catalyst for tech in Southwest Riverside County, join us for our next meeting on June 6th at 3:30 by signing up here: https://www.edcswca.com/techsouthwest.html.

​The month of April was Innovation Month for Riverside County. We attended our local and regional Quick Pitch Events.

​This is a reminder to all members that our next board meeting will be on May 11th at MSJC’s Temecula Campus. Please look out for our email about parking passes. Tim Dignan from the Temecula Valley School District will be our guest speaker. We look forward to seeing you all there! If you would like to bring a guest, please have them sign up here in advance: https://www.edcswca.com/be-a-guest.html

​Throughout the month, our Executive Director, Connie Stopher CEcD, got to be a panelist for the 2023 Engineering Design and Development Panel Presentation at Vista Murrieta High School. Connie shared her thoughts after a second year as a panelist,  “The caliber of work that the students are producing is outstanding. This type of program helps students launch their careers in STEM fields, and we are lucky to have this in our region. Thank you to the teachers, Mrs. Blaske and Mr. Larkins, for their dedication to this program!”

The winning design team will be awarded $1,000. If there are employers who would like to either contribute to this award or serve as a panelist next year, please reach out directly to Mrs. Blaske: gblaske@murrieta.k12.ca.us

​We would like to thank each of our members for your ongoing support. It is because of our members that we are able to serve the region.

Our 2023/2024 Invoices will go out in late May and Early June. There will be opportunities for annual sponsorships that you can choose from in addition to your membership so that you can prepare your budget accordingly. These enhanced sponsorship opportunities provide benefits year-round rather than at a singular event. Please let Connie know if you have any questions about sponsoring an event.
We are calling for nominations for our Board of Directors Election, which will take place at our June Board Meeting.

Connie will be announcing the open positions at the May Board Meeting.

If you are interested in running for a position or would like to nominate someone, email Connie at cstopher@edcswca.com.

​Contact Us
 
Connie Stopher, CEcD
Email:cstopher@edcswca.com
Office: 951-694-9800
Cell: 951-557-8040

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​This month we partnered with the City of Menifee to host the Mayor’s Tech Idea Exchange at the City of Menifee City Hall. The event consisted of great conversations, moderated by EDC Executive Director, Connie Stopher, about how we can advance tech in the region. We thank our panelists: Lori Raymond of Tourmaline Enterprises, David Pearson of UCR, and Albert Fernandez, an aspiring entrepreneur. We would also like to thank our panelists from the City of Menifee: Major Bill Zimmerman, Councilwoman Lesa Sobek, and City Manager Armando G. Villa.

Last, but certainly not least, we would like to highlight Brookfield Properties for sponsoring our event. The event was an excellent launchpad for continuing to grow tech in our region.

 For those interested in tech in our region, please join us on April 4th for our monthly Tech Southwest meeting. To sign up, please click here: https://www.edcswca.com/techsouthwest.html.

​Our Executive Director, Connie Stopher, had the honor of attending and speaking at the China (Inner Mongolia)-US (California) Import and Export Commodities (Online) Purchasing Fair. This was a huge opportunity to represent the region; over 650 representatives worldwide were in attendance.

As a result, Connie and the EDC were featured in two Chinese news publications. Those articles are available here and here. You should see a pop-up offering to translate the article.

​We attended the Water Inspection Tour in Northern California last week. We want to thank EMWD, Metropolitan Water District, and LA Water District for organizing this event and allowing us to participate in the tour.

​This past week while Connie was attending the Site Selectors Guild Annulal Conference, our marketing specialist Leah represented the EDC at the Kaiser Permanente Bean Signing and the KTM Grand Opening. This is such an exciting time for economic development in our region.

Thank you, Kaiser Permanente, for having us a part of your beam signing for the Wildomar Kaiser Permanent Expansion. We look forward to seeing the project come to fruition in the coming year.

We also want to thank KTM for having us at their grand opening celebration for their new North American Headquarters located in French Valley. This $53 million campus is the largest investment in Pierre Mobility's history, and we are so lucky to have it located right here in our region.

Congratulations to both Kaiser Permanente and KTM on their great success, and thank you for choosing to locate your business in our region.

​We are wrapping up the month at Site Selectors Guild in San Antonio, Texas. Connie is part of a team of Californian economic developers at the conference. Site Selectors Guild aims to share knowledge, exchange ideas, and help Guild members, economic developers, and investment promotion professionals with their business recruitment efforts. Connie is looking forward to reporting on what she's learned and industry trends.

Join us next Thursday for our April Board meeting. Members, if you would like to bring a guest, please have them sign up here:  https://www.edcswca.com/be-a-guest.html

April is Innovation month for Riverside County’s Office of Economic Development. This is an excellent opportunity for entrepreneurs and innovators to showcase their work. Innovation month is the largest collaboration of incubators and maker spaces. They will host the Southwest Riverside County Regional Fast Pitch on April 12th. To sign up and learn more about Innovation Month, click here: https://www.rivcoinnovation.org/innovation-month

​On Valentine’s Day, we celebrated the groundbreaking of the I-15 French Valley Parkway Improvement Project (Phase 2). The project will be the largest in Temecula’s history, costing around $139 million. The two-year-long project will help relieve traffic congestion and promote better road safety in our region.

​On February 16th, we attended The City of Menifee’s annual Broker’s Luncheon, where they recognized the city’s top broker of the year. 

Next week we are partnering with the City of Menifee to host the Mayor’s Tech Idea Exchange at the City of Menifee City Hall. This event is for anyone who wants to learn more about the resources available to start and grow their tech business, share what is needed in the region to support tech businesses, and network with tech/community leaders. Our speakers will include David Pearson, the Managing Director of Entrepreneurial Programs and UCR Life Sciences Incubator; Lori Raymond, President of Tourmaline Enterprises and Albert Fernandez, Ag-Tech Entrepreneur and member of the TECHSouthwest committee. To register for this event, click this link www.edcswca.com/event. We look forward to seeing you all there. 

The next California Competes Tax Credit (CCTC) application period starts Monday, March 6, 2023. GO-BIZ is hosting two webinars for businesses Interested in applying for at least $99.7 Million in Tax Credits. The webinar will provide an overview of the program, evaluation criteria, and step-by-step instructions through the application process.

March 8th @9:30 am: California Competes TAX Credit Webinar
To register: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_LtDv9YjBQ9SAMxj_lB57AQ

March 16th @3:00 pm: California Competes TAX Credit Webinar
To register: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_z1mA6PDQSB6Bx299gRCy5w

​At the end of March, Connie will attend Site Selectors Guild in San Antonio, TX, from March 29-31. The conference aims to share knowledge, exchange ideas, and help Guild members, economic developers, and investment promotion professionals’ networks. 

​We know many of you are working on budgets for the upcoming fiscal year. While we do not send out invoices until after July 1st, we are happy to answer questions about membership fees and benefits. When we send out invoices this year, we will include the option to pre-register for sponsorship opportunities rather than have those spread throughout the year. Hopefully, this will help you as you build out your budgets. If you’d like to learn more about those opportunities currently, please email Connie at cstopher@edcswca.com
​
Through your generous support, we can keep making our region the best place to live and do business on the west coast!

​This Thursday, March 2nd, will be our next board meeting. We will be having Shaun Bowen from Brookfield Properties presenting. Reminder members we encourage you all to bring a guest! 

As January ends, we have some exciting news to share and plans to look forward to.
To start, we want to congratulate our new board officers.

• Diane Strand-JDS Creative Academy: President
• Adam Eventov-SoCal Gas: 1st VP
• Matthew Hyatt-Millipore Sigma: 2nd VP
• Terri Delhamer-GRE Land & Commercial Real Estate: Secretary
• Ann Shaw-Abbott: Treasurer
• Keith Krzweski-PKC Kuebler, APC- Immediate Past President

​We also want to thank Donald Hitzeman from Reid & Heyler for serving as Immediate Past President.

​We are thrilled to share that we have expanded our team. We want to introduce our newest team member, Leah Slyne, who will serve as our marketing specialist. Leah recently graduated from San Diego State University this past May with a B.S. in Business Administration, where she studied management and marketing. Leah is highly creative and will curate all new content for our various media channels. We are so excited to have Leah on our team to elevate our media and increase our brand awareness in the region. Her experience and perspective will be pivotal in helping us achieve our 2023 goals.

We are thrilled to announce our most recent business recruitment success.

An Australian tech company called Deploi has chosen the Temecula Valley Entrepreneur’s Exchange (TVE2) as its first US location. Deploi’s mission is to revolutionize healthcare for military veterans and their families. The military and tech nature of the company makes Temecula the perfect place for Deploi to make its first US presence. Deploi will be a great addition to the expansion of the tech sector and higher-paying jobs in the region. 

Reminder, our next board meeting will be this Thursday, February 2nd, 2023. We look forward to the meeting as we will have Matthew Mena from the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development presenting.

We highly encourage all members to bring a guest.

We will be partnering again with the City of Menifee for the Mayor’s Tech Idea Exchange on March 9th. For this event, there will be three different sponsorship opportunities:

​If you are interested in sponsoring, contact us at cstopher@edcswca.com.
​

We are continuing to work on our Pre-Location Assistance program (AKA "Trailing Spouse Program"). We are already working with two companies to assist with relocating staff and families to the region. 

Below is an example of some of the housing and community information we recently developed for the program. Here is a shareable link to the graphics: 
​

For Immediate Release
 
MEDIA CONTACT:     
Connie Stopher, Executive Director
(951) 694-9800          
cstopher@edcswca.com
 
Australian Tech Company Announces Expansion to Temecula, CA
 
Deploi will be located in the Temecula Valley Entrepreneurs Exchange (TVE2) while they grow their U.S presence.
 
Temecula, CA – January 27, 2023 – Deploi, an Australian tech company, announced their first U.S. location in Temecula, CA.  Deploi’s mission is to revolutionize healthcare for military veterans and their families.
 
Deploi’s Co-Founder, Nick Desilas, shared how they landed on Temecula as their first U.S location.
 
“With assistance from the U.S Commercial Service team here in Sydney, Deploi was selected to be part of the Australian delegation to the SelectUSA Investment Summit where we were lucky enough to be introduced to the team at the Economic Development Coalition for Southern California. Having spent extended time in the USA during our service in the Royal Australian Navy, we were confident we would find a home in California due to the strong veteran and military community here. Being a Veteran founded company, we are aware of the complexity required to navigate and access required services at speed, so we are confident that the platform we are building will bring a new level of technology and innovation to the military healthcare space. The alignment with our values and vision, as well as the environment of technology and healthcare innovation was clear that SoCal and the TVE2 incubator were a great match for us to help begin our mission to disrupt the veteran healthcare space."
 
Deploi is a military-focused health-tech platform that is built by military veterans. The platform uses technology to reduce complexity when navigating veteran services, whilst facilitating data sharing and wellbeing insights on a secure platform.
 
“We are thrilled Deploi has chosen Temecula Valley Entrepreneurs Exchange (TVE2) as their first home in the U.S. The Economic Development Coalition was a key part of California’s delegation to the SelectUSA Investment Summit last year – they engaged with global innovators from around the world, including Deploi, who wanted to learn about the many unique opportunities afforded to businesses in the region. We couldn’t be happier that Deploi has chosen Temecula – and California – to grow their U.S. footprint” shared Emily Desai, Deputy Director for International Affairs & Trade at the California Governor’s Office of Business & Economic Development.
 
The California Governor’s Office of Business & Economic Development or GO-Biz serves as the State of California’s leader for job growth, economic development, and business assistance efforts and regularly partners with local and regional economic development offices for recruitment and retention efforts.
 
“We are excited to welcome Deploi to the region. This will be a great addition to our tech sector and for the many veterans who call Southern California home,” said Economic Development Coalition Executive Director, Connie Stopher. “The local and state-wide collaboration was key to the success of this project.
 
The Economic Development Coalition (EDC) works with communities in the Southwest Riverside region of Southern California to attract new businesses and grow existing industries. Technology is one key sector that they have strategically targeted.
 
The Temecula Entrepreneurs Exchange (TVE2) is a business incubator and regional resource center that fosters business growth and economic vitality for entrepreneurs. In addition to the incubator, the TVE2 house the Inland Empire SBDC, and offices of the EDC.
 
“The TVE2 is where entrepreneurs can learn new skills and gain experience in their field by working with other budding entrepreneurs and attending dynamic and relevant workshops. Here at the TVE2, we offer mentoring and networking opportunities that help start-ups grow and thrive. We welcome Deploi to the TVE2 and the entrepreneur community within the Temecula Valley.”  says TVE2 Manager, Mary Cervantes.
For more information about Deploi, visit their website: deploi.io
To learn more about the Economic Development Coalition and the Southwest Riverside County region, please visit us online at edcswca.com.  
 
About Deploi
Deploi is a military-focused health-tech platform that is built by military veterans. The platform uses technology to reduce complexity when navigating veteran services, whilst facilitating data sharing and well-being insights on a secure platform.
 
About the Economic Development Coalition
The Economic Development Coalition (EDC) is a non-profit organization that works with the public and private sectors throughout Southern California, formed to unite public and private stakeholders to leverage the region’s competitive advantage, attract business, and supporting a high-quality of life. The EDC serves the cities of Lake Elsinore, Wildomar, Menifee, Temecula, and the unincorporated areas of southwest Riverside County.  
 
 

Connie Stopher, CEcD
Economic Development Coalition, Executive Director
P-951-557-8040

​PO Box 1388
Temecula, CA 92590
http://edcswca.com