The Valley Economic Alliance has a storied history that speaks to the power of resilience and community solidarity. Born in 1995, it emerged from the rubble of the 1994 Northridge earthquake, a natural disaster that shook the San Fernando Valley to its core. Sonya Blake, the Alliance’s President and CEO, describes its inception as “a story of the phoenix rising from the ashes.” She recalls the chaos and damage that followed the quake, occasioning the need for a centralized force to help rebuild and restore order. In the wake of the earthquake, several local leaders recognized the necessity of a nonprofit entity that could equitably distribute FEMA emergency relief funds and convene stakeholders WTH AND HEART OF 2 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 05, ISSUE 10
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