Chamber Connection (March 2023)

MARCH 2023

CHAMBER CONNECTION

KEEPING SANTA MARIA VALLEY A SAFE PLACE FOR BUSINESS

The labor shortage has impacted many sectors in Santa Maria. Most notably, the health care industries and public safety. The Santa Maria Police Department unfortunately does not have the resources or personnel to respond to the uptick in service calls regarding transients and camps near businesses.

The Chamber recently sat down with Sergeant Felix Diaz, Community Outreach Liason for SMPD, who provided tips on how the local community can be proactive rather than reactive in keeping their businesses safe. Sergeant Diaz encourages citizens to be vigilant, however, he also warns citizens to not try to stop crimes and to ‘leave it to the professionals.’

Continued on p. 2

IN THIS ISSUE

Leadership Santa Maria Valley Topic Day: Business & Economics p. 3

Junior Ceo Program Highlights p. 4

Chamber In Action p. 5

New Members p. 6

Ribbon Cuttings p. 6

February Businesses Of The Month p. 7

SANTA MARIA VALLEY CHAMBER MONTHLY NEWSLETTER

Pictured above: Downtown Santa Maria, Broadway Street. SMPD reports an uptick in calls regarding loitering and trespassing.

SANTA MARIA VALLEY CHAMBER BOARD OF DIRECTORS 22-23

Executive Committee

Chairman: Sandra Dickerson, Your People Professionals

Chairman-Elect: Paul Cook, Coast Hills Credit Union

Vice Chairman: Shannon Seifert, Santa Maria Valley YMCA

Vice Chairman: Laurie Tamura, Urban Planning Concepts

Past Chairman: Danny Deveraux, Calportland

Board Members

Sue Andersen, President And CEO, Marian Regional Medical Center

Dominick Barry, Quintron Systems, Inc.

Michael Boyer, CEO, Boys & Girls Clubs Of Mid Central Coast

Ron Cossa, Tolman & Wiker Insurance

Donna Denham, Santa Maria Country Club

Karen Fothergill, Andre, Morris & Buttery

Gina Gluyas, Realtor, Better Homes And Gardens Real Estate Haven Properties

Emily Kitts, Naughty Oak Brewing Company

David Leroy, Toyota Of Santa Maria

David Merlo, Glenn Burdette

Luke Ontiveros, Santa Maria Bonita School District

Tere Paredes, Maya Restaurant

Era Polly, Era Polly Real Estate

Max Tucker, Best Western Plus Big America

Kevin G. Walthers, Ph.d., Superintendent/ President, Allan Hancock College

Tim Williams, Digital West

KEEPING SANTA MARIA VALLEY A SAFE PLACE FOR BUSINESS

Continued from p. 1

Tips From Sergeant Diaz

• Stay on top of exterior building maintenance to deter trespassing and loitering. This includes landscaping and keeping the front area clear of debris and litter. If the view of the storefront is clear from the street, officers are better able to assess the situation.

• Invest in high quality surveillance cameras.

• Install exterior lights along with cameras. Video footage is no good if there isn’t enough lighting.

• Make sure the alarm system point of contact information is up to date.

• If the business offers shopping carts, make sure employees routinely bring the carts back in.

• Report or address issues immediately, rather than waiting until they get out of control.

• File a Letter of Authority with the City of Santa Maria Police Department. This allows officers to respond to an incident on your property during after hours.

Pictured Above: Sargeant Felix Diaz, Community Liason Representative for Santa Maria Police Department.

LEADERSHIP TOPIC DAY : BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS

Contributed By: Wendy Robles-Garcia, Accounting Manager, Fighting Back Santa Maria Valley

Leadership Santa Maria Valley (LSMV) had the opportunity to learn how business and economics impact the community. In order to make this day happen the planning committee included,Shelby McLean,David Hernandez,Olivia Bernal, Wendy Robles, along with advisors Edgar Gascon, Steven Funkhouser, and JD Scroggin. They organized a day filled with multiple business tours and local speakers.

The day started at Toyota of Santa Maria where the first speaker was Glenn Morris, President & CEO of the Santa Maria Valley Chamber of Commerce. Morris mentioned that the health of the business community is impacted by all other sectors that may attract people to Santa Maria. To improve Santa Maria’s economy new and exciting businesses are brought into the community. When people move to Santa Maria it helps grow its business and economic development to accommodate the growth and retain the people here. Santa Maria should be a place that feels like a forever home to all those that move here.

Afterward, LSMV sat in on Toyota of Santa Maria’s weekly sales meeting. They start by sharing something positive about their day, week, or future plans.

Afterward, they review a section from “The Power of a Positive Team “ as a team and each sales representative shares their thoughts. The weekly sales number are then shared with all sales members and what they were able to achieve. Once their weekly sales meeting ended we heard from David LeRoy, General Manager, on the company culture. He mentioned that the book review is a large part of the company culture and every department does something similar. Additionally, Toyota of Santa Maria partners with Allan Hancock College where most technicians are taught and recruited.....

Glenn Morris, President & CEO of the Santa Maria Valley Chamber pictured above presenting to the Leadership Santa Maria Valley Cohort of 22-23.

THE JUNIOR CEO KICKS OFF SPRING 2023 SESSION

Kids learn how to “be their own boss” in this hand

Junior CEO, is a six-week digital business education course that teaches kids the basics of starting their own business. The program was developed by the Visalia Chamber of Commerce and has been licensed to the Santa Maria Valley Chamber who will be the program administrator for the local version of this program. Junior CEO is created with the theme of opening up a business selling strawberry-themed dessert. At the end of the program, Junior CEO Students will get to open their own dessert stands (or another concept that they created) at the Santa Maria Town Center.

The program is produced to communicate at a sixth-grade learning level and covers six main categories:

o Business Fundamentals (Forming a business plan, setting up a bank account, etc.)

o Cost Models

o Safety & Food Prep

o Marketing & Customer Service

o Money Management

o Future Planning

Each virtual session includes a local business leader as a guest speaker. Local business experts will also be available during regular “office hours” to answer questions and provide guidance.

The Chamber last hosted this program in Fall of 2022 with great success!

The fall cohort saw seventy-five total participants, with twenty-one total booths that at the business launch event hosted at the Santa Maria Town Center.

The most profitable businesses during

the Fall 2022 session included Caylee’s Candles (Caylee Suarez), which grossed $2429 in sales, and B’s Berry Dips (Brenden LeRoy), which grossed $1065 in sales.

The Fall 2022 and Spring 2023 sessions are presented by California Strawberries and Community Bank of Santa Maria. Session sponsors include: Coast Hills CU, CalPortland, Dignity Health, L & G Farms, and Your People Professionals.

The Santa Maria Valley Chamber is proud to bring back the Junior CEO Program for spring session. Sponsorship inquiries and comments can be directed to Strategic Intiatives Manager, Yuliana Nelson. She can be reached at yuliana@santamaria.com.

Scan to learn more

JUNIOR CEO TESTIMONIALS

“I loved talking to people, and selling them products I made myself.”

—Sophia

Ambriz-Peralta

“Your Junior CEO program was truly invaluable as the tools provided will help us in our future successes.”

—Gina

Perrault

Here’s what the kids had to say!

CHAMBER IN ACTION

available for local businesses impacted by the January storms.

5. The Chamber hosted the Business & Government Roundtable--bringing a business perspective to transient housing solutions with local, county, and state level officials.

6. Chamber executive leadership attended the WACE Conference in Sacramento, where Glenn Morris received the Pettit Award for Excellence, and Molly Schiff graduated WACE Academy.

7. The Chamber hosted EXPO 2023: Networking #SantaMariaStyle. Thank you all who attended the event!

1. Membership Manager, Cara Martinez, attended the Santa Maria Womens Network Mini Expo.

2. The Santa Maria Chamber became an affiliate of the California Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and met to celebrate and discuss future collaborations.

3. Local High School Career Technical Education (CTE) teachers tour Atlas Copco Mafi-Trench as part of the Chamber’s Teacher Tours program

4. The Chamber and the Economic Development Collaborative met with the SBA Disaster Assistance team to see what resources are

Here’s a look at what our Chamber staff have been up to this past month.

OUR MEMBERSHIP IS GROWING! CHAMBER WELCOMES NEW MEMBERS

As champions for a stronger Santa Maria Valley, the Chamber is excited to welcome more businesses to our growing organization. Please join us in welcoming the following new Chamber members, who joined in January 2023.

Member:

101 Pension Solutions - Susie Flynn, QPA, QKC, QKA (805) 995-9101

Acrepe (929)365-7631

Ameriprise Financial--Terry Dworaczyk (805) 938-9724

Atrévete Al Cambio Integral Wellness Center (805) 554-7106

Barbara Wilson, Art and Photography (805) 266-8009

BK’s Bookkeeping LLC (805) 202-4004

Coastal Home Living (805) 637-2234

Guild Mortgage - Orcutt (805) 623-0693

Inspirations Event & Floral Design (805) 270-4373

Managed Career Solutions, SPC / America’s Job Center of CaliforniaSanta Maria (805) 614-1275

Michael J. Scott Law Office (805) 925-2717

Popolo Catering (805) 543-9543

Uberfleets (661) 293-9508

Vanessa Rae Media (805) 321-0009

What’s Your Story (661) 293-9508

JOIN THE CHAMBER TO ADD YOUR BUSINESS TO THIS LIST!

MEMBER DIRECTORY

CELEBRATING LOCAL BUSINESS: CHAMBER RIBBON CUTTINGS

These Chamber member businesses recently celebrated joining the Chamber or a major business milestone with a ribbon cutting. Join us in congratulating them!

Sunlife Farm Inc 1017 S Broadway St (805)361-0431

sunlifefarms.com

United Way Kiosk at SMTC 1660 S Broadway (805)922-0329

unitedwaylife.org

JointheChambertodaybycalling MembershipManagerCaraMartinez at (805)925-2403, ext. 852 or email cara@santamaria.com

Greta Pankratz, LCSW, owner of Santa Maria Counseling, accepts the February Healthcare Business of the Month Award from Councilwoman Gloria Soto.

Terri Lefeiste, Publisher of the Santa Maria Times accepts the February Longstanding Business of the Month Award from Councilwoman Gloria Soto.

CHAMBER MEMBER TESTIMONIAL

“The Santa Maria Valley Chamber is very busy and active in its quest to help local businesses with all of their needs, but most specifically, the need to have customers and clients in order to survive. The staff at the Chamber takes so much time actively assisting business owners with needs and seeks to create so many networking opportunities such as the ambassador program, the Build Your Business weekly meetings, the

ribbon cutting events, and the mixer events. Each of these events provides ways for the business to showcase its services or products to the attendees to spread the word about their business. The staff really cares and tries so hard to help, and they are all so happy and friendly.”

--Kelly A. Stone | Attorney Carmel & Naccasha LLP

Chamber Connection is the official monthly publication of the Santa Maria Valley Chamber of Commerce. For questions about this publication or to be added to our monthly mailing distribution list, email molly@santamaria.com.

614 S. Broadway Santa Maria, CA 93454

Pictured above: Chamber CEO presents our monthly featured businesses at the February City Council Meeting.