This month's partner spotlight belongs to the Southern California Center for Nonprofit Management (CNM). Recently, CNM named a new president and CEO, Efrain Escobedo, and UNITE-LA has to admit, we are a bit biased here. Efrain is a dedicated UNITE-LA board member, and was named as Board Vice Chair earlier this year! More than that, he is a fabulous human, with a compassionate heart, outstanding leadership abilities and years of experience that fit his new role perfectly. We are so fortunate to have him on our board, providing thoughtful and steady guidance and inspiration, and we are thrilled for CNM to have him at the helm.

Members of UNITE-LA's Policy Team participated in the California Stewardship Network's (CSN's) inaugural Workgroup Leads Retreat in April to build connections across other work groups and policy areas and identify opportunities for collaboration in preparation for the fall summit.

UNITE-LA applauds our partners at the California African American Chamber of Commerce (CAAACC) for their support of AB 789 (Berman), the Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) Bill, which is co-sponsored by UNITE-LA.

The National Strategic Partnerships team is wrapping its "Business Means Smart Justice" work to engage and support member chambers to learn about, adopt and champion justice reform work.

The April edition of the ACCE Education and Talent Development Division Newsletter is here.

The Los Angeles Digital Equity Action League (LA DEAL), the County of Los Angeles Internal Services Department (ISD), the Los Angeles County Office of Education (LACOE), the California Department of Technology (CDT) and the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) invite you to an upcoming workshop to seek input on the development on the State Digital Equity Plan (SDEP) and the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) Five-Year Action Plan.

Los Angeles is poised to establish itself as the nation's capital for green energy and clean technology. The city is home to world-class innovative companies and has the visionary leadership needed to build an unmatched clean energy economy. And Los Angeles' position is only going to be supercharged by the investments made available through bills like the Inflation Reduction Act.

There's just one issue. If you talk with employers these days, they will tell you one of their biggest challenges is finding qualified workers. The workforce challenge is even more acute in the dynamic and fast-growing clean energy sector.

Members of UNITE-LA’s Policy Team met with the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce last month to re-engage them on critical cradle-to-career advocacy.

In March, UNITE-LA partner, the National Association of Women Business Owners - Los Angeles (NAWBO-LA), hosted the Future is Female to honor some of L.A.’s women leaders.