The Valley Economic Development Center (VEDC) was organized in November, 1976 to improve the downtown Van Nuys, California business district. The focus of this company was to develop a relationship with the community along with contracting business with the City of Los Angeles and other companies in the state of California. The goal of the company was to organize programs that would support the rebuilding of commercial business, assist with business loans, and assist in economic planning for the community (VEDC.org, 2014).
VEDC hosts entrepreneurial training programs, assists with women’s businesses, hosts business workshops, and work as a consulting service. The company works with small businesses owned by women and minorities to assist them in creating and growing their businesses, and assisting them with consulting, training, and acquiring working capital (VEDC.org). The business workshops are reasonably priced or free, and are designed to work with management skills for small business owners in the San Fernando Valley and the downtown Los Angeles area.
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In December, 2004, Roberto Barragan, was President of the VEDC and wrote an Executive Summary report about the importance of check cashers in the San Fernando Valley. The purpose of the summary was to challenge the myth surrounding check cashers, which are small liquor stores, retail outlets, federal financial institutions, small local chains, and local markets. He lists four major chains that have more than 10 locations in the San Fernando Valley; Cash Works, Inc., Vons, Popular Cash Express, and Advance America as well as other smaller chains. VEDC would like to bring more traditional financial services to the under privilege areas, which are often overlooked such as the SF Valley area. Mr. Barragan believes these check cashers drain money from the communities, target low-income communities, target Latinos, and target communities with low levels of education and financial knowledge (Varma, A., 2004).
Viewing the blogs at http://www.yelp.com/biz/south-valley-economic-development-center-albuquerque shows examples of favorable feedback and opinions from the public on the new VEDC office in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The company website (http://www.svedc.org/) also mentions a new program recently launched called The Sandbox. The Sandbox is the South Valley’s first co-working office space and is designed for community members to work on projects, take classes, and receive support from local professionals. One review claimed, “I’m a native South Valley resident and my clients love it that my office is in the South Valley. And I love this facility – the design is great and the support staff have been very helpful. I started my business in March and it is growing and growing.”- Fred Pohl Owner, Complete Financial (svedc.org).
The company focus is to create jobs, and locate businesses that want to create jobs and grow their businesses. The SVEDC has already “incubated” more than 100 businesses since it opened in 2004. The building is a 17,000 square foot center, and the SVEDC empowers local growers and businesses through providing a place for manufacturing value-added products and establishing networks among businesses, growers, distributors, and retailers. Over the past few years, the SVEDC has also created over 350 jobs, returned $8.2 million in payroll back to the local economy, showed a success rate of over four times the national average, and has assisted with over 250 potential entrepreneurs a year (sved.org).
