Report on the DREAM BIG: Small Business Empowerment Forum
May 23, 2024
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Dream Big exceeded our expectations and was a sold-out success. Our initial goal was to have 100 attendees, but we were thrilled to welcome over 130 confirmed guests at the Dream Big Forum, with 75 more joining us for the Dream Big After-Party in the Fashion District. We also received news coverage in the DTLA Weekly and Channel 1 Los Angeles. Plus (television station) KTLA’s David Lazarus was our moderator for the TownHall.
We were delighted to host guests from various cities like San Francisco, Sacramento, San Diego, and the state of Arizona, who flew in to be part of Dream Big. Samantha Contreras, a small business entrepreneur, shared her positive experience:
“ Thank you, City of Angels!! 💫 My heart is full and giddy with excitement! 💗 The Dream Big event to catapult small business entrepreneurs was inspiring, practical, supportive, and fun! Wonderful!”
At Dream Big, we also gave-way over $2000 in cash and gift certificates for participants in the Dream Big Boost to mini-shark tank.
Dream Bigger!
Luis Alfredo Vasquez-Ajmac, President and Founder
LAVA Force Los Angeles
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Southeast Gateway Constructors, (a Skanska Stacy Witbeck JV), is interested in soliciting in good faith all service consultants, subcontractors, material suppliers, and vendors, as well as CUCP/Metro Certified Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) firms related to the scopes of work for the Southeast Gateway Line- Advanced Works project, Construction Manager/ General Contractor (CMGC) Phase 1 Preconstruction. DBE Goal 28%
The Southeast Gateway light rail transit line ("Southeast Gateway Line") is a 19.3- mile LRT corridor that will serve the cities and communities of Artesia, Cerritos, Bellflower, Paramount, Downey, South Gate, Cudahy, Bell, Huntington Park, Vernon, the unincorporated Florence-Graham community, and downtown Los Angeles.
Bid Due Date: June 17, 2024
Project Documents can be accessed and download online at BuildingConnected: https://bit.ly/SoutheastPlanRoom
Estimating Email: bids.socal@skanska.com
Phase 1 Preconstruction – Scopes/Services needed for this CMGC project.
- Develop & Maintain Schedules
- Temporary Traffic Planning
- Constructability Reviews
- Design Support Services
- Value Engineering
- Third Party Coordination
- Project Administration
- Subcontractor Outreach and Engagement
- Community Outreach
- Cultural Competency Consultant
- Website implementation
- Environmental Studies and Plans
- Quality Control
- Testing
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Document Control
SGC is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer and EEO/AA/Vet/Disability employer. SGC will assist qualified subcontractors, vendors, & suppliers in obtaining bonding, lines of credit, insurance, necessary equipment, materials and/or supplies.
Denia Lanza-Campos
DBE Outreach and Compliance Coordinator
Mobile +1 951-675-6137
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By Way of Introduction: Lola Coleman, M.P.A., NASA Science Education Fellow, and a Construction Contractors Alliance Legacy Advisor | |
CCA Board Legacy Advisor Lola Coleman is committed to education and advocacy as change agents, especially in underserved communities. Serving as CCA Education Advisor, Ms. Coleman, a retired urban educator, has worked with Executive Director Kato Cooks in developing the first CCA construction-based certification program in partnership with National University. Ms. Coleman looks forward to CCA playing a key role in expanding educational opportunities in the trades at the secondary level throughout our local communities.
Currently Ms. Coleman, who believes in lifelong learning, is enjoying her role as co-facilitator of the California (CA) Pools of Hope Wellness Forum. With participants located throughout the U.S., the Wellness Forum, hosted weekly on Zoom, is an energetic and enthusiastic place to explore, question, and continually consider the eight dimensions of wellness. Ms. Coleman is a strong advocate for the CA Pools of Hope, a therapeutic pool located in North Long Beach, as a place of healing and movement and a range of community programs..
Connecting her personal, professional, and educational experiences in private, governmental, and the nonprofit sectors has led Ms. Coleman to recognize the importance of networking. She recognizes that striving for diversity, engagement, and inclusion without truly honoring the need to connect different entities in our communities won’t produce the sustainable change many communities need. CCA’s mission to curate connections does matter.
With many years in the nonprofit sector, including program and project management, serving on boards, and training boards, Ms. Coleman also serves CCA on its Board's finance and fund development, and chairs its program committee and education & training subcommittee.
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Dream Big 2024: Dalia Demian, Outreach Branch Manager, Caltrans Office of Civil Rights, speaking with Hasmik Ashgyan, Administrative Services Manager II, Program and Project Management Division, Project Controls Section, L.A. County Internal Services Department. | |  |
Dream Big 2024: Joann Patty, Business Outreach Liaison, Office of Small Business and DVBE Services, California Department of General Services, opened a dialogue encouraging contractors to register for statewide emergency services. | | |
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In Sepember 2023, we co-hosted in San Diego CA, with Pegbo.com, a National CORE Connector to introduce regional subcontractors to opportunities with National Community Renaissance.
Lourdes Landa, AFSB, surety manager and vice president with McGriff Insurance Services, is pictured as she presented masterfully on Bonding and Insurance for Construction Contracctors. Her slide presentation is here, offered with her permission.
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The Construction Contractors Alliance was invited to attend the San Francisco Airport Resource Fair in February 2024. This opportunity owed to our previous presentations at the California High-Speed Rail Supplier Diversity Fair in Sacramento, Calif.
We were introduced to SBA Regional Director Christopher Horton (left), whom we commenced supporting immediately. SBA Bay Area seeks AAPI and other indigenous contractors for an ongoing initiative. Reach out to our Regina Bolton.
And we were THRILLED to have our table next to the BuildOUT California table and its wonderful Paul Pendergast, founder and executive director of BuildOUT California.
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David DeLuz joined the panel at Dream Big this year. He is the Deputy Director of the Office of Civil Rights, California Department of Transportation (Caltrans). From his Caltrans biography: David is responsible for leading the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise, Disabled Veteran Business Enterprise, Small Business, and External Equal Employment Opportunity programs...
David is committed to expanding opportunities to partner with both internal and external stakeholders to highlight successes, address challenges, and eliminate barriers to meeting the goals and objectives of both small and disadvantaged business programs.
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Dorney Chamberlain, Area Manager, Gordian, talking shop with client Hasmik Ashgyan, Administrative Services Manager II, Los Angeles County Internal Services Department.
From this conversation came an initiative to increase opportunities for small and emerging contractors using single solicitation/multiple awards contracting (sometimes called bench contracting). Stay tuned.
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The Construction Contractors Alliance honored its first Sustaining Member of 2023 with a recurring display advertisement in the Small Business Exchange newspaper, print and online editions. Freddie Hanns, managing member of H&F Constructors LLC, is licensed in the carpentry trades in California, Colorado, Illinois, and Michigan, handling large civic projects (stadium seating, power plant equipment installation, and airport baggage claim carousels, for example), rough and finish carpentry, and new building construction. | |
OUR SPONSORS AND PARTNERS | |
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BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Käto Cooks, Executive Director
Juan Garcia, Vice President
Nth Bar-Fields, Treasurer
Margaret Aine White, Secretary
Alexis Eklund, Director
Freddie Hanns, Director
Eddie Torres, Director
Carol A. Williams, MPA, Director
Jessie Vidrio, Director
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STAFF
Priscilla Bruny, CAA, Administrator
Nichole Lovely, CPA, Accountant
PROGRAM LIAISONS
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Akiko-Ayalla Cooks, Southern Nevada
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Regina Bolton, Southern California
- ,Joseph C. Cooks III, Sacto-Bay Area - California
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Donesha Jackson , Central Valley - California
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National University, in collaboration with the Construction Contractors Alliance, announces its Certified Construction Office Administrator course, launching in Summer 2024. Our Education & Training Expert Lola Coleman, with Kato Cooks, our Alliance Executive Director, and National University Continuing Workforce Education Manager Ken Au, began working on this entry-level Construction Office Administratior Certification program in late 2023. Additional curriculum review came from Priscilla Bruny, a Certified Administrative Assistant (CAA) and U.S. Army veteran (92 Alpha), whose job in the military was office administration.
We look forward to everyone from the high school-aged to those re-entering the workforce to benefit from this program.
More details to follow as we move toward the official launch.
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LEGACY ADVISORS
Lola Coleman, MPA, NASA Science Education Fellow; former Underserved Geographic Areas manager and program auditor for United Way-Los Angeles.
Gloria J. Davis, MA, Los Angeles County Commissioner; CEO, Girls Club of Los Angeles
ADVISORS
Bayard P. Fong
Director, Asian American Contractors Association of San Francisco;
Board Member/Past President (2021), Chinese American Democratic Club, San Francisco;
Retired contract compliance officer, San Francisco Human Rights Commission/Contract Monitoring Division;
Board Member, Coalition for Economic Equity
Ben Ocasio, MPA
President/CEO, Pacific Resources Services Corporation;
Former Chief Operations Officer, The Solis Group
Shonda Hornbeck, JD
President, Hornbeck Consulting;
DBE and Targeted Hiring Initiative consultant, California High-Speed Rail Authority
Kecia Washington, JD
Director of Innovation and Strategic Partnerships, Los Angeles Dept. of Water and Power;
Director, Vermont Slauson Economic Development Corporation (Los Angeles);
Former Executive Director, (Los Angeles) Mayor’s Office of Contractor Relations
Jacinda Townsend, MFA, JD
Author (Saint Monkey; Mother Country);
Former President, Ann Arbor Public Schools Board of Education;
Assistant Professor, Literary Arts, Brown University;
Former anti-trust attorney, City of New York;
Journalist (Al Jazeera, Smithsonian magazine, and other publications)
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ADMINISTRATIVE SUPPORT
Accounting
Nichole Lovely, CPA
Human Resources
Monica Miller, B.S., B.B.A, MS-HRM, SHRM-CP
Monarch Solutions, LLC
Fund Development
Maria Holt, COO
Elysian Trust, Inc.
www.ElysianTrust.org
Office Administration/IT Support
Priscilla Bruny, CAA, President and CEO
Sunshyne Services, LLC
Mixed Media Projects
Bryce Hudson, M.Ed.
ABH Griot Photography
Portraiture
Alan Miyatake
Toyo Miyatake Studio
www.ToyoMiyatake.com
Process Server/Courier/Legal Document Preparation
Cherise Rogers, BA, President
For The People Services LLC
www.ForThePeopleServices.com
Real Estate
Andre Hooks, Broker and President
The Real Talk Realtor
San Bernardino, California
Antoinette Cooks, M.Ed., Ed.D. (ABD), Realtor™
Sotheby’s International Realty
Sacramento, California
Event Planning and Branding
Hope Whintworth, President
Emagined Events
https://www.eventsemagined.com/copy-of-our-story-1
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