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President’s Letter
December 17, 2009
Season's Greetings!
I hope this letter finds you in good health and looking forward to 2010. Although 2009 has been a challenging one, the CEAC in partnership with the Employment Development Department (EDD) has made great progress this year and accomplished many of the goals that we set forth.
In response to your comments about the long turnaround time and many layers of EDD management approval needed to print and mail your flyers, brochures, and postcards, the EAC publication template process has been streamlined. We now realize a 15-day turnaround time as opposed to a lengthy 6 weeks or more that we experienced in the past. I encourage those EACs who have not already done so to give the template system a try. An added benefit is that the CEAC and EAC publications are sporting a new look which more appropriately brands our state-wide organization and assists in our marketing efforts.
Several of you had expressed an interest in obtaining information about using public service announcements, news releases, and the media so a Media Kit section has been added to the EAC Handbook. In addition, we have included a chapter on Annual CEAC Conference Planning Guidelines which should come in handy when your EAC steps forward to host a conference. The "new and improved" EAC Handbook also contains all the information you need to order your EAC publications and is available on the CEAC Web site at http://www.ceac.org. The handbook is filled with helpful, pertinent information to help your EAC thrive.
Speaking of helping your EAC to thrive, to help accomplish our goal of strengthening our membership base, we developed a sample membership drive packet which we recently distributed to the EAC Chairpersons and EAC Coordinators. One common challenge we all face is not only increasing, but maintaining our membership base. Based on the positive feedback from many of you regarding the sample membership drive packet, we hope you will use the "tools" we have provided and include this packet in your marketing toolkit to assist you in your effort to grow your EAC.
Our Annual Conference this past May in Ventura was a great success! As always, the speakers were informative and the raffle baskets were beautiful. This year we had the pleasure of EDD Chief Deputy Director, Pam Harris, open the conference with a welcome speech and attend our Veterans Employer of the Year Award ceremony. Thank you all for attending and making the conference a success.
Planning for the 2010 Annual CEAC Conference, Crossroads of California is well under way. The conference will be held in Ontario, California, at the Doubletree Hotel Ontario Airport on May 5 - 7, 2010. Ontario is home to the 1.7 million square foot Ontario Mills Mall which is Southern California's largest outlet shopping mall and entertainment center. Be sure to save the date and book your flight early so you can attend next year's conference. Don't forget that elections for the executive
Offices of CEAC President, CEAC Vice President, CEAC Secretary, and CEAC Treasurer will be held at the General Business Meeting during the 2010 Conference.
Former CEAC Treasurer Lynne McGinnis is now officially the CEAC Financial Advisor. As the financial advisor, Lynne will assist you with EAC tax matters. If you have any tax questions, contact Lynne at (310) 216-0570 or at . Dennis Maderios was formally approved by the CEAC Board as the interim CEAC Treasurer and will serve until June 30, 2010.
I can't say enough about the excellent job our Webmaster, Alex Hill, has done to transform our Web site into what it is today. I also want to thank you for keeping your web content up-to-date and informative. If you haven't already noticed, there is a new feature on the homepage titled Ask an EDD Expert. We decided to take advantage of our partnership with EDD and give you an opportunity to tap into its areas of expertise. You can e-mail your questions to and they will be featured on our Web site as appropriate. In addition, we have re-established our relationship with the California Chamber of Commerce. You will be able to get a 10 percent discount on all Chamber products purchased through the CEAC Web site via the CalBizCentral link under the Benefits tab.
The CEAC would like to increase its support to our Veterans and in 2010 plans to work more closely with the EDD veteran representatives in their respective regions. We would like to increase our participation in the Veteran Stand Downs and fund more scholarships for veterans among other things.
I understand that EDD Director Patrick Henning will be retiring at the end of this year. Please join me in wishing him the best in his retirement and extending our sincere appreciation for his unwavering support of the CEAC, for his leadership and commitment to employers, and for helping to make our organization a better one.
Last but not least, I want to thank all of the EACs, chairpersons, coordinators, and members for your continued hard work on behalf of the CEAC. Together we are a force to be reckoned with! Wishing you all a wonderful holiday season...
Sincerely,
Laura Harris
CEAC PRESIDENT
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