PCV's founders Bud Colligan and Penelope Douglas recently received recognition as pioneers in the area of Compassionate Capitalism in the January 2007 editions of UCLA Magazine and California Magazine. UCLA and University of California Berkeley faculty were canvassed to find what they thought were the best California ideas in recent history. From this survey, they ended up with a list of the 25 most brilliant California ideas of the past 25 years, which includes PCV! To view the article, please visit http://www.magazine.ucla.edu/features/25-brilliant-ideas/index10.html.

In March, PCV, along with three partner organizations (Golden Capital Network, Central Valley Business Incubator, and Lyles Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Fresno State), was awarded a $225,000 seed grant through the Governor's Partnership for the San Joaquin Valley. The California Partnership for the San Joaquin Valley Board awarded a total of 15 Seed Grants – totaling $2.5 million – to advance the work of the Partnership in turning around the region and improving the economy and quality of life for Valley residents. PCV's primary role in this project will be to deliver &8220;Equity 101&8221; workshops to small businesses in each of the eight San Joaquin Valley counties over the next 18 months. The workshops will teach local business owners the basics of private equity financing.

PCV President and Co-Founder Penelope Douglas received the Community Financial Resource Center's (CFRC's) Trailblazer Award at its annual Power Luncheon in Los Angeles on March 27th. At the luncheon, CFRC recognized Penelope's role in bolstering the economic capacity of small businesses throughout California. The Robert A. McNeely Trailblazer Award is an annual award presented to an individual that demonstrates visionary work and strategic leadership in the field of economic development. CFRC holds the Power Luncheon to highlight community economic development progress in Los Angeles. Over 500 guests attended the event, including participants from the public sector, the financial services arena and nonprofit organizations serving greater Los Angeles.

On April 12, PCV Partner Eduardo Rallo was recognized for his leadership in business and community at the University of California, San Diego's (UCSD) tenth annual Fiesta de las Estrellas event, which honors Hispanic alumni excellence and raises support for Hispanic Scholarship Council scholarships. A total of eight UCSD alums were recognized for their impressive achievements at this event, which was held at the NTC Promenade in San Diego. Hispanic Scholarship Council scholarships are awarded in connection with the Chancellor's Scholars Program to outstanding students of Hispanic heritage who demonstrate financial need, as well as to graduates of The Preuss School of any ethnicity who choose to attend UCSD.

Citibank, an initial supporter of PCV's Employee Onramp Initiatives, has renewed and expanded its funding -- from $10k in 2006 to $25k in 2007 – for PCV to conduct on-site financial education workshops for the lower-income employees of our portfolio companies. This funding will support the continued growth of financial education services to a select group of companies in the Bay Area, as well as the extension of this program to San Diego- and Central Valley-based companies later this year. We are grateful for Citibank's continued support in helping lower-income workers at PCV companies make the most out of their income.

If you attended PCV's Forum at the Pacific Athletic Club in Redwood City last September, you may remember Patricia Navarro from the film that was shown. Patricia works at Give Something Back Business Products in Oakland and was a participant in PCV's Individual Development Account (IDA) program. After attending financial literacy training classes and sticking to a steady savings plan over the last two years, Patty applied her final savings amount and the two-to-one savings match provided by PCV towards the down payment on her first home. Congratulations, Patricia!

Associate Portfolio Manager Trevor Smith participated in two recent venture capital events at the USC Marshall School of Business. On March 1-3, Trevor participated as a judge in the 2007 Venture Capital Investment Competition, which serves as a marketplace for entrepreneurs seeking investors and a training ground for future venture capitalists. The event is similar to a network of mini-venture fairs, and includes 40 events in North America, Europe and Asia involving over 500 students, 150 venture capitalists and 100 entrepreneurs. On February 15, Trevor participated in the &8220;2007 Venture Capital Roundtable,&8221; a networking event where MBA students from Southern California universities can meet with many of the area's top venture capitalists in a roundtable format to learn more about the VC industry.

On March 1st, Darren Solomon, PCV's Regional Director in San Diego, spoke on a panel at the University of California San Diego (UCSD) entitled &8220;The Power of Business for Social Good.&8221; The panel was organized by Venture Forty, the student entrepreneurship organization at the UCSD Rady School of Business. Darren discussed PCV's hybrid model and the opportunities for young entrepreneurs to use the tools of business to create social and economic change.

Since 2005, PCV has served as an independent consultant to the California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS). In this role, PCV evaluates annually the community outcomes of CalPERS' California Initiative, a $475 million private equity portfolio that seeks both competitive financial returns and a meaningful impact on the economic infrastructure of California's underserved markets. CalPERS recently released its 2006 report, Impacting California's Underserved Communities: Taking a Second Look, which details the results of PCV's latest evaluation of the CalPERS California Initiative portfolio.

On May 31st, Pacific Community Ventures will deliver its first &8220;Equity 101&8221; workshop to Central Valley entrepreneurs looking to fund expansion and growth. The interactive workshop will address the various aspects of venture capital and private equity funding. The event is designed to be an educational opportunity to help entrepreneurs learn whether they want to seek equity financing, and to prepare for the fundraising process. This workshop is sponsored by Bank of America and will be held at CSU Fresno's Craig School of Business. To learn more about the event and to apply to attend on line, visit www.PCVworkshops.org.

In the first quarter of 2007, we welcomed four new local companies into the Central Valley Business Advisory Services portfolio. To qualify to join PCV's Advised Portfolio, small companies must provide quality jobs -- that provide a combination of good wages, benefits and skills training -- to people from lower-income communities. These companies are now eligible to be matched with a business advisor to work on a specific project and are also eligible to attend CEO Forums, Business Roundtables and other PCV events.

• Star Finishes -- a growing finishing company that provides powder coating and other finishing services to a variety of companies in the Central Valley including medical device and lighting manufacturers as well as marine companies and custom bike shops.

• QED Automation -- a systems integrator that specializes in the design, development and production of reel-to-reel systems and other custom equipment. QED largely serves the medical equipment industry.

• PNM Company -- a large precision machine shop that provides value-added services to its customers. PNM serves the food processing, medical device, automotive and lighting industry.

• OptiStreams -- a growing provider of connectivity services. OptiStreams provides wireless, satellite and hosting services to small and medium sized businesses nationwide. It also provides products and services to the government through the Office of Homeland Security and FEMA geared toward keeping emergency personnel connected during a disaster situation.

In the first quarter of 2007, we strengthened our partnership with the Fresno Regional Jobs Initiative (RJI), a powerful local initiative aimed at generating long-term, sustainable economic development in the Fresno Region using an industry cluster-based approach. The RJI focuses available resources on developing the things most needed to grow targeted cluster industries that already exist in the local economy. We are working with RJI's cluster leadership to implement a referral system for its Business Advisory Services. Our initial focus for referrals is the manufacturing cluster; two companies from this cluster have joined our advised portfolio so far. In an effort to extend our resources to cluster companies, we have also invited industry cluster companies to participate in our 2007 CEO Forums, which are usually only available to PCV's advised portfolio companies.

On March 27th, Pacific Community Ventures held its first 2007 Central Valley CEO Forum, &8220;Is Your Strategy Understood? – Using Management Controls to Implement your Strategy&8221; at the Smittcamp Alumni House at Fresno State. The event was presented and facilitated by Doug Morgan of Morgan & Company, a local strategy implementation consulting firm. Twenty people -- representing 10 companies and two community partners – participated in this valuable and informative CEO Forum.