Downtown Business Association lans Chamber move

It’s been almost a year since the Wasco Downtown Business Association began looking into becoming the Wasco Chamber of Commerce.

“The DBA was established in 2016,” DBA President Tania Cordova said. “Right now, unfortunately we are on hold to make sure we investigate other chambers to ensure we provide Wasco with the best experience with a chamber.”

She also said that several city staff members have been supportive about creating a chamber of commerce. Cordova said the DBA used to charge $50 a year to join; however, since they didn’t recruit in 2018, there was nothing coming into the association.

“The DBA was created so that local businesses would have a support group to go to whenever questions arose,” Cordova said. “We did not recruit this year. We don’t have a lot of funds to offer grants that chambers usually have.”

Unfortunately, the DBA doesn’t have a physical location in Wasco. “There is no place to hold meetings,” she said.

While Cordova has spoken to several city staff members who support a chamber, the board has not met with City Manager Daniel Ortiz-Hernandez. “When we take care of filing an Employer Identification Number (EIN) and do some more investigating with other smaller chambers, we will hopefully be ready to meet with the city manager and bring a proposal to the city in front of the city council,” Cordova said.

The community needs to buy into the idea of supporting a chamber, Cordova added. “There are too many struggles to fully make the chamber functional at the capacity that this town deserves,” she said.

Officers for the DBA are President Tania Cordova of the Mister and Ms. Nightclub, Vice President Camilo Vasquez and Treasurer John Kim.

Additionally, when a chamber is formed, the DBA board has selected the following slate to run it: President Camilo Vasquez, Vice President Tania Cordova, Treasurer John Kim, Secretary Sharon Sharp, and Orange Heart Foundation Board members Orquedia Ocampo, Ruvi Ocampo and Traci Mills-Clendenen.

“When we do create a chamber, we hope to be able to provide them with many chamber events such as Dios De Los Muertos, evening mixers and other civic events.

“We as a non-profit organization would have to pull a permit and charge the members to cover expenses,” Cordova said. “We would also have to charge non- members anywhere from $50 to $100 for chamber events.”

Cordova added that a chamber would include businesses throughout Wasco and not just downtown.

The Downtown Business Association’s mailing address is P.O. Box 13, Wasco 93280, and they can be reached at 661-446-9060 or emailed at [email protected].

Currently, the DBA manages the weekly Wednesday afternoon Farmers Market across the street from the KCSO substation located on F. Street.