Youth Project Being Revived
Ventura County business leaders hope to revive California Business Week, a summer program designed to help high school students understand the economic system. If the ambitious plan materializes, Ventura County will become headquarters for an annual statewide program.
The event, begun in Santa Barbara in 1986, has introduced hundreds of California youngsters to the world of business and economics during retreats given by executives from such companies as Walt Disney Studios, Southern California Edison and Sport Chalet.
However, the program was canceled last summer due to a lack of funds. Now it is being reorganized by a foundation formed by members of the Ventura County Economic Development Assn.
Ken Gerhardt, a retired First Interstate Bank executive and spokesman for the California Business Week Foundation, said the group has begun raising funds and is recruiting high school sophomores and juniors to attend a session June 20 to 25 at Thacher School in Ojai. “We’ll have top business people there from throughout the state and will hold workshops on such subjects as production, marketing, job opportunities and our market-driven economic system,” Gerhardt said.
About 72 youngsters from Ventura County high schools will be invited to the summer’s weeklong event, Gerhardt said. The students will pay a $25 registration fee, but their tuition, room and board, totaling $250, will be paid by the foundation.
In future years, Gerhardt said, the foundation hopes to lengthen the sessions and invite students from throughout the state. “We’ll stage programs in various parts of the state, but will establish a statewide headquarters with a full-time director in Ventura County.”
Prior to last year’s cancellation, California Business Week was held in Santa Barbara and Los Angeles counties.
Marshall Milligan, president and chief executive of Ventura-based Bank of A. Levy, is chairman of the newly formed foundation. Ed Lyon, owner of Gaviota Maintenance Services Inc., also in Ventura, is the group’s president.
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