Welcome Jennifer Arnott, the proud owner of CAllie Girl Boutique, to the Mission Viejo Chamber of Commerce and our amazing city!

Please enjoy some photos from the recent Ribbon Cutting and Grand Opening held on October 24th, at CAllie Girl Boutique. 

As always, we thank the City of Mission Viejo, Mayor Greg Raths and First Lady, Lucy Raths, Councilwoman Patricia Kelley, all other governmental offices, and our amazing Chamber Directors, Ambassadors, and members that supported this fine event.

Chances are, your business has more than one target audience, and your marketing program should reflect this. Have you identified all your target audiences? For example, if you’re selling quick print services, your list might include:

• Current and past customers 
• People who inquired about your services in the past but did not buy
• Graphic designers and others who might recommend your services to their clients
• People who “follow” your business through social media sites
• And more

​Contributed by Linda Coss, owner of Plumtree Marketing, Inc. To learn more about her services, please visit www.PlumtreeMarketingInc.com. 

The Board of Directors is pleased to announce that a new Committee has been formed to better serve our membership: the Community Affairs Committee. 
 
This committee will keep up-to-date and inform our members regarding various legislative adjustments that may affect our local businesses. Periodically, key speakers may present helpful information to our members for the benefit of our businesses.
 
Stay tuned for more comprehensive information regarding the new Community Affairs Committee and its volunteer members.

When was the last time you contacted your top customers? How about the 2nd & 3rd tier of your customer list, your database of potential customers and all your other contacts? If you don’t have a formal program for keeping in touch, you should. An email newsletter can be ideal for this purpose. The key is to stay top-of-mind so that when someone has a need for your products or services, you’ll be the one they call.


​Contributed by Linda Coss, owner of Plumtree Marketing, Inc. To learn more about her services, please visit www.PlumtreeMarketingInc.com. 

Please enjoy this special evening of food and wine at a community favorite Chamber restaurant, Piccolino Ristorante!
​
Bon Appetit!

The Moulton Niguel Water District, in partnership with the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, California Native Plant Society, and more than a dozen local water agencies, is excited to announce the launch of the Calscape Nursery Program, a first-of-its-kind initiative to help increase the availability of and information on California native plants. 

Please see the Press Release dated October 14, 2019:

New Pilot Program Helps Southern California Grow Native
Water agencies help increase availability of, information on California native plants
 
The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California and local water agencies have teamed up with the California Native Plant Society to bring more native plants to the region’s homes and gardens.
 
A new pilot program launched by the organizations this fall will boost the number and variety of native plants offered at local nurseries and ensure consumers have the information they need to plant and maintain the water-efficient flowers, trees, shrubs and succulents.
 
“Southern California residents have made tremendous strides to increase their long-term water efficiency to respond to our changing climate, including choosing sustainable gardens over thirsty grass,” said Metropolitan General Manager Jeffrey Kightlinger. “But they sometimes face hurdles finding native plants in their local nurseries and knowing about how to take care of them, including how much less water they need. This program will help remove those hurdles.” 
 
Through the pilot, staff at participating nurseries will receive training on the proper care, maintenance, watering and planting of California native plants. In addition, native plants at the nurseries will be clearly identified and educational materials will be available for consumers to take home.
 
“We want to make it as simple as possible for Californians who are committed to sustainability to grow a beautiful garden of native plants. Having native plants with plant-specific information when they need it, where they need it – at the nursery – will be a big help,” said Joone Lopez, general manager of Moulton Niguel Water District, which helped initiate the program with support from WaterNow Alliance.
 
Native plants typically use about 83 percent less water, produce about 56 percent less green waste and require nearly 70 percent less maintenance, according to a nine-year case study conducted by the City of Santa Monica.
 
“Beyond these sustainability benefits, native gardens are just beautiful,” said Dan Gluesenkamp, executive director of the California Native Plant Society. “Through this program we’ve curated a really special list of plants that you’ll be able to find at local nurseries. The variety of colors, textures, smells and shapes will bring the beauty of California to your own front yard.”
 
So far, the pilot program is available to 60 nurseries in Orange County and Long Beach, and continues to gain interest from surrounding communities. In addition to free staff training – which qualifies for continuing education and professional certification credits – the nurseries will be part of a native plant directory at Calscape.org marketed to millions of people.  
 
Program partners, which includes the Municipal Water District of Orange County, will monitor its success to determine whether to expand it to other communities.
 
Interest in native plants has grown significantly over the past few years. Since 2016, traffic to the Native Plant Society’s website,Calscape.org, has increased by more than 250 percent, and a 2018 survey of the American Society of Landscape Architects expects native plants to be the most requested type of outdoor project this year.
 
This interest has been driven, in part, by Metropolitan’s turf replacement program, which provides consumers up to $10,000 in rebate funding for replacing their grass with native plants.
 
People also increasingly understand the essential role native plants play in the ecosystem, attracting and helping sustain wildlife and pollinators such as bees and butterflies, whose populations are diminishing, according to the California Native Plant Society.
 
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About the Metropolitan Water District
The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California is a state-established cooperative that delivers water to 26 member agencies serving 19 million people in six counties. The district imports water from the Colorado River and Northern California to supplement local supplies, and helps develop increased water conservation, recycling, storage and other resource-management programs.
 
About the California Native Plant Society 
The California Native Plant Society is a statewide organization that advances the understanding, appreciation, and protection of California’s native plants and habitats through science, education, horticulture, and conservation. CNPS has more than 70,000 fans and supporters, and 35 chapters promoting its mission throughout California and Baja California.
 
About the Moulton Niguel Water District
Moulton Niguel Water District, a co-sponsor and early founder of the Calscape Nursery Program, delivers high-quality drinking water, recycled water and wastewater services to customers in Laguna Niguel, Aliso Viejo, Mission Viejo, Laguna Hills, Dana Point, and San Juan Capistrano. A leader in conservation and environmental protection, Moulton Niguel maintains the lowest average water bill in South Orange County.

Most people have a hard time figuring out what to do with punctuation that comes within something that is in quotation marks. Here’s how it works… Commas and periods are always placed before the closing quotation mark. Question marks, exclamation points, and dashes are put before the closing quotation mark when the punctuation applies to the quotation itself, and after when the punctuation applies to the whole sentence.
 

• “I wonder,” she thought to herself, “when the cherry blossoms will bloom.”

 

• Eleanor screamed in exasperation, “I want to go home!”

 

• Do you agree with the saying, “A penny saved is a penny earned”?

​Contributed by Linda Coss, owner of Plumtree Marketing, Inc. To learn more about her services, please visit www.PlumtreeMarketingInc.com. 

On Thursday, October 10th, attendees gathered at the YTEL building in Lake Forest for our final Tri-Chamber Mixer. This mixer was hosted by the Lake Forest Chamber of Commerce.

As attendees came through the front doors, they were warmly greeted by all three Chambers (Lake Forest, Mission Viejo, and RSM) and kindly directed to first take a fun photo with Takata Photo & Design and then make their way to the meet n greet areas where the food, beverages, opportunity drawing prizes, and Chamber tables were located.

It was so refreshing observing the three Chambers interacting and sharing contact information to be used at a later time. The City Mayors were also on hand to support this special event, along with Board members and Ambassadors from each Chamber.

To see all the photos, follow this link: www.takatapd.com/p942096802.

We look forward to announcing our 2020 Tri-Chamber Mixers in the very near future!