DREAM BIG: A Small Business Empowerment Forum, May 23, 2024
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I am happy to share our first Dream Big news release with you. This year, Dream Big will showcase our Breaking Barriers Town-Hall with KTLA 5, an engaging Beyond Certification presentation, free small business resources, exciting prizes, a networking lunch, and a chance to win $500 at the Dream Big Boost. We are especially proud to host Dream Big at the City Club Los Angeles, a venue that represents overcoming historical racial barriers and now stands as a premier business club in LA.
Together, let's Dream Bigger and make this event a huge success!
Dream Big,
Luis
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Kato Cooks re-elected to local Mensa Board of Directors
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We are pleased to announce that our co-founder and executive director, Kato Cooks, was re-elected to the Board of Directors of Greater Los Angeles Area Mensa (GLAAM), the largest chapter of American Mensa, the high-IQ (Intelligence Quotient) society, at its Board meeting on Saturday, May 4th.
After serving as GLAAM's East Los Angeles County delegate and Membership Outreach committee chair last year, he was elected as East Los Angeles County Secretary (a promotion from Delegate), Diversity Coordinator, and Public Relations Coordinator for 2024-25. As a new Board director in 2023, Kato was also presented the Newbie of the Year award at the May 4th Board meeting owing to his programmatic productivity.
Expect to hear lots about Mensa in the coming year.
More on Mensa here: https://www.us.mensa.org.
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Our first collaboration was with Luis Alfredo Vasquez-Ajmac and his LAVA Force Los Angeles. for Dream Big: A Small Business Inclusion Forum, 2023. | |  |
By June 2023, we were invited to the BuildOUT California Founders Day Gala and Dinner in downtown Los Angeles. Pictured (l-r): Donesha Jackson, Trena Lawson, Gloria J. Davis, Regina Bolton, Kato Cooks, Aubrey Williams, Alexis Eklund, Mark Eklund. | | |
In Sepember 2023, we co-hosted, with Pegbo.com, a National CORE Connector to introduce regional subcontractors to opportunities with National Community Renaissance. Pictured (l-r): Kato Cooks, Amar Amte (president, PEGBO.com). | | |
We hosted an appreciation brunch for staff and sustainers in late 2023 at Truxton's Westchester. Seated (l-r): Sandra Choi, Regina Bolton, Jacqueline Pruitt, Gloria J. Davis. Standing (l-r): Jessie Vidrio, Freddie Hanns, Kato Cooks, Akiko-Ayalla Cooks, Priscilla Bruny, Joseph C. Cooks III. | | |
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The Construction Contractors Alliance participated in the Skanska-sponsored Pitching to the Stars event in Van Nuys earlier in 2024. Our Regina Bolton was on the panel that judged the pitches proffered by contractors in attendance.
The event was both instructive and illuminating. Our thanks to Skanska Civil for supporting the small business community dynamically.
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Chris Bolton, a pest control technician, was our guest speaker at the CCA Board Governance and Orientation Training in January 2024. Chris provided first-person testimony on our Rebound program, from which he benefited in his recovery and return. | |
The Construction Contractors Alliance was proud to support the Construction Inclusion Week Kick-off Reception, hosted by BuildOUT California, in Inglewood, CA in October 2023. | | |
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JHOG Design & Development
Jacob Choi & Sandra Ko Choi
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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 Advisor 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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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)
Jessica Page, CBT, MSW
Clinical Therapist, HealthRIGHT 360
Researcher, Filipino Americans Perceptions of Mental Health, University of Hawaii
Organizer, L.E.A.D Filipino
Former coordinator, UC Davis BRIDGE: Pilipin@ Outreach and Retention
Randy Boggs, Broker
Boggs & Whitener Insurance Co.
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ADMINISTRATIVE SUPPORT
Accounting
Nichole Lovely, CPA
Human Resources Consultant
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, President and CEO
Sunshyne Services, LLC
Mixed Media Projects
Bryce Hudson, M.Ed.
ABH 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
Hope Whintworth, President
Emagined Events
https://www.eventsemagined.com/copy-of-our-story-1
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