CORONA BUSINESS NEWS
CORONA Chamber Fights for Businesses in D.C. By Jeff Miller
A Unique Financial Partnership with Corona is Helping Norco Reduce Homelessness By Karen Roper, City of Corona Homeless Solution Manager
F
ighting for you in Washington DC over this past month, we capped our efforts by leading the most significant and successful National Corona Policy Summit in the Chamber’s history. Working personally with US Representative Ken Calvert (R-Corona), US Representative Mark Takano (D-Riverside) along with the senior policy staff of California’s Senior Senator Dianne Feinstein and US Representative Darrell Issa (R-Temecula), the
VOL 8 | #6 NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2022
CORONA Chamber advocated for local, regional, and important national policy changes that will help you develop your operations, help empower you to make the decisions
you need to make, protect your employees and our community from overregulation, and fight the prolonged inflation each of us face. Our County ... Continued on page 4
he League of California Cities wrote a two-part story on the successful Homeless Solutions Partnership between the Cities of Corona and Norco. The first story focused on the City of Corona’s 33% reduction in street homelessness since the implementation of its homeless strategic plan. The second story focused on Norco’s Homeless Solutions Partnership with the City of Corona and the edited highlights are below:
T
California’s homeless crisis is affecting cities of all sizes. Smaller cities must contend with unique challenges, such as how to deliver services over a larger geographic area with much less money. Consequently, homelessness is rising in smaller communities and in some cases, outpacing larger, nearby urban centers. The small city of Norco has found a way to buck this trend. Dubbed ... Continued on page 12
filling jobs and providing training to students, veterans, and anyone that wants to serve our country. If you want more information for supporting Reservists or military, connect with Bobby@ MyChamber.org.
The picture shows Multi-Chamber Workforce Development Meeting in collaboration with LTC Matthew Upperman of the U.S. Army Recruiting Battalion Southern California and Bridget Blehm (Civilian Aide to the Secretary of the Army).
Workforce Development In Action
A
s a Chamber of Commerce, it is key to focus on workforce development programs that connect people to jobs and trainings. Recently, Riverside County Supervisor Jeff Hewitt selected our CEO, Bobby Spiegel to serve on the Riverside County Workforce Development Board. The regional and national Workforce Boards are transforming the nation’s workforce system to be responsive to the demands of a global economy. Through strong strategic partnerships with
private-sector businesses, local government, community-based organizations, institutions of higher education and K-12 education, WDBs remain in a prime position to serve as the pipeline for a skilled labor force necessary for economic recovery and longterm growth. To further our Workforce Development efforts, the CORONA Chamber is proud share its partnership with neighboring Chamber for a three-county effort (Riverside, Orange,
and San Bernardino). The CORONA Chamber is very pro-military, and we are looking forward to working with the U.S. Army Southern California Battalion Recruiting Company and the surrounding Chambers on
CORONA Chamber helps Employers Secure $200K REIMBURSEMENT FOR TRAINING
I
n March of 2021, the CORONA Chamber embarked on a new program to benefit you, the business owners! In coordination with Training Refund Group, we received approximately $200,000 from the State of California to help companies pay for employee training. This program, funded by the Employment Training Panel, has provided over $1.6 billion in the last 40 years to companies with employees in CA. Most industries can be a part of the program, but the priority industries include manufacturing, construction, healthcare, information services,
and farming. The funding for this program comes from the Employment Training Tax which is $7 per year per employee. Every company pays this tax as part of their unemployment insurance. Almost any type of training can qualify for the program. For example: • Business skills include all the soft skills necessary to run a business • Commercial skills training includes almost anything necessary to produce a product or service • Computer skills training includes all software necessary to operate
your business • OSHA 10/30 The money is not a grant but “earned” based on the amount of training that you do. Most companies use internal staff to do their training. For example, a 1-hour class attended by 10 people would be 10 hours of training and the reimbursement rate is $23/hour. So, this class is worth $230. The
attendance must be documented through a sign-in sheet in order to qualify. In the program we just completed, the range of refunds is from $120,000 for a construction company with 600 employees to $4,500 for a 30-person company. The smallest reimbursement was just under $700. How much you receive depends on how much training the company provides to its employees. If you have an interest in learning more about this benefit the Chamber is bringing to you, please contact Deserie Ramirez, VP of Operations at the CORONA Chamber (Deserie@ MyChamber.org).
In This Issue Mayor shares on Dos Lagos (Page 2) Milestone Members (Page 6) Meet ELR Class 2022 (Page 8) Chamber Advocacy Update (Page 9) New Members (Page 10) Update on Magnificent 13 (Page 15)