On the Business Engagement front, UNITE-LA is pleased to share the following updates:

• UNITE-LA's formal membership with the Valley Industry & Commerce Association (VICA) has been activated to aid in positioning the organization as a key advocacy and development partner at the regional level. 
• Members of the UNITE-LA team met with leadership of the Western Council of Chambers (WC3) in July. This council represents an impressive network of 13 local chambers of commerce and corporate partners. WC3 Chair, Nancy Wood, and their legislative consultant, Ted Green, emphasized the alignment of our organizations' work and have committed to supporting UNITE-LA’s advocacy efforts related to equitable education systems change. We look forward to engaging them on key C2C issues in the months to come! 
• UNITE-LA met with the newly appointed President of the Santa Monica Chamber, Judy Kruger. The Santa Monica Chamber looks forward to strong collaboration with UNITE-LA as they solidify their focus both on advocacy and Workforce and Talent Development programming. 
• As part of UNITE-LA’s efforts to uplift inclusion and equity across our bodies of work, the business engagement strategy includes forging strong partnerships with ethnic chambers across the state. Following our focus on Hispanic and Latino organizations, UNITE-LA accepted a formal invitation to sign an MOU with representatives of the California Asian Pacific Chamber of Commerce, whose Strategic Partnership Network consists of more than 65 organizations in the state. The Chamber represents more than 600,000 Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) owned businesses in California and has an impressive advocacy reach.

If you are interested in learning more about these relationships or other business organization partnerships, please contact Jasmin Sakai-Gonzalez.