About eight months ago Councilman Dwight Robinson and I sat down for lunch at Our Place on Muirlands Ave and talked about ways the City could better serve the business community. One seed of that conversation bore fruit this past Friday when the City launched their “Introduction to Government Contracting Workshop”, a 3 ½ hour event co-hosted by the SBA and the LF Chamber of Commerce. The topics included –
· Lake Forest Chamber of Commerce Overview
· Doing Business with the City of Lake Forest
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· Doing Business with the County of Orange
· Doing Business with the State of California
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· Preparing for Contracting
Speakers included Mary Visconte (President, LF Chamber), Debra Rose (Deputy Manager, LF), Melva Gipson (OC Procurement Office), Michael Aguillio (DGS, CA) and Iris McCameron (SCORE).
More than 70 people showed up for an educational and informative workshop, as well as some great refreshments. From what I could tell, very few of the participants were aware of the multitude of ways in which they could be accessing the system to improve their business prospects.
Kudos to Jessica Gonzales (LF Economic Development Manager), the LF Chamber of Commerce (Mary Visconte, Lisa Tooley, Margie Matsil), and Councilman Dwight Robinson for giving us a good workshop. Now let’s hope that the businesses follow up and some City, State, and Federal monies start flowing in their direction.
For those of you who didn’t attend, here are some of the resources mentioned in the meeting –
· To get on the City Vendor List – email tedwards@lakeforestca.gov
· To meet with a business counselor – visit www.lakeforestbusiness.com/SCORE
· To register your business – visit www.lakeforestbusiness.com
· To launch a grand opening – visit www.lakeforestbusiness.com/grandopening
· To check out the LF Chamber of Commerce – visit www.lakeforestchamber.com
· To promote your business in the city – email economicdevelopment@lakeforestca.gov
If you're a business owner in Lake Forest you'll certainly want to take the time to attend the next workshop.
