2003 was a particularly exciting and active year at Pacific Community Ventures. We deployed $4 million to four growing companies. One of these investments was in our first Southern California portfolio business. Located near Los Angeles, Radiovisa is a producer and national syndicator of Spanish language radio programs and services targeting Latino Americans of Mexican origin. During 2003, our business advisory services continued to thrive. We established new partnerships and conducted numerous forums and roundtables.
That same year we published a white paper on the challenges and opportunities we’ve seen as one of the first community investors, and offered strategies and ideas for others to follow suit. We completed fundraising for another project aimed at creating good jobs: the launch of an Individual Development Account (IDA) program. Through this matched savings initiative, employees of our portfolio businesses will have the opportunity to build assets by having their own monthly savings matched by philanthropic sources. IDA account holders also attend financial literacy training workshops and agree to save their money for a specific use, such as a home purchase, retirement or post-secondary education.