Mayor establishes Creative Economic Council
Fresno Mayor Alan Autry recently introduced the Creative Economy Council to develop recommendations on how the City of Fresno can help attract, retain, develop and support creative professionals, such as software designers, artists, engineers and others whose “sole economic function is to create a new idea.” The 12-person task force will meet weekly for 90 days to develop a report, which will then be issued to the Fresno City Council with recommendations on changes to city policies. The task force includes members in government, non-profit organizations, education, construction and the cultural arts. To learn more, please visit http://www.fresnocec.org.

$100K Business Plan Competition Update
Comerica Bank and Generation Homes are the most recent contributors to the Lyles Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship’s “$100K Business Plan Competition,” each donating $5K towards the $100K cash prize. This brings the Lyles Center closer to its goal of $100K in cash to be awarded to an entrepreneur dedicated to launching a business in our region. Other community sponsors who have generously donated either their funds or in-kind services include: Bennett-Frost Personnel Services, California Business Furnishings, Central Valley Business Incubator, Janzen Idea Corp., K-Jewel, Kaiser Permanente, Manco Abbott Commercial, Inc., and Wawona Frozen Foods.

The $100K Business Creation Competition is the first of its kind in the U.S. and will result in entrepreneurs from throughout the country considering Fresno as a place to launch and grow businesses. Over 1,000 entries are anticipated.

The Lyles Center is seeking additional contributions from local businesses who understand the value of entrepreneurship and the importance of letting the nation know that we are an entrepreneurial community open for business! To be a part of this innovative project, please contact Beth Renge at the Lyles Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at (559) 294-2219 or bethr@lylescenter.com.

Manufacturing Cluster meeting to be held at Grundfos
The next Manufacturing Cluster meeting will be held on Thursday, September 8, 2005 from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m at Grundfos Pumps Manufacturing Corporation, a local business that manufactures pumps for residential, commercial, farm and industrial uses. Guest speaker Michael Obradovich, Production Manager at Grundfos Pumps, will provide a general overview of Quality Systems, as well as the systems in place at Grundfos Pumps. If you are a manufacturer in the Central Valley, please make plans to attend or contact Manjit Atwal at (559) 294-6021 or manjitm@csufresno.edu.

City of Fresno forms 'Economic Development Alliance'
Building upon the success of the multi-jurisdictional focus of the RJI, the City of Fresno has launched the formation of a community-wide Economic Development Alliance. The initial meting in July resulted in 52 agencies working collaboratively to construct a conceptual model of the “ideal” economic development process. Everyone attending was asked to identify which segments of the economic development process, or “spear”, they were associated with, identify possible resource “gaps”, and to present their ideas back to the larger group. All organizations received copies of the day’s work, and left with a clearer understanding of partner agencies available throughout the community. For more information, please contact Lynn Bowness at the City of Fresno at Lynn.Bowness@fresno.gov.