The Oakland Tribune reported this past week that local business leaders from San Bernardino are fighting to keep their enterprise zone benefits.

Wendy Clement, manager of the San Bernardino Valley Enterprise Zone, and local business owners traveled to Sacramento on Wednesday to ask lawmakers to continue funding the enterprise zone program, which gives tax breaks to businesses that relocate to or create jobs in a specific area.

Clement claims that there have been over 1,035 new jobs created in their enterprise zone, and the EZ program is one of the main catalysts for that growth.

Craig Johnson, president of the California Association of Enterprise Zones, said some lawmakers and state officials have proposed scaling back the enterprise zone program and its tax breaks, with the aim of bringing in money to balance the state’s books.

“They’re all scrambling for dollars,” Johnson said. “A lot of folks look at the tax credits that are taken and they believe that by abolishing the program, those credits will translate into more dollars in the treasury.” But that’s not true, Johnson said. Without the program and its tax breaks, some businesses would leave California and others would go out of business, he said.

Jim Costa, the congressman representing the Fresno area, announced that $1.7 million dollars has been awarded to the Fresno Area Hispanic Foundation in order to help stimulate the local economy. Specifically the funds will help to expand a local commercial building which assists local businesses to take advantage of the Fresno enterprise zone. The US Department of Commerce was the government division that designated the funds. “Small businesses are the backbone to the City of Fresno’s local economy,” Costa said. “This funding will be a shot-in-the-arm to our enterprise zone, encouraging entrepreneurship and furthering the important work of the Fresno Area Hispanic Foundation”

From micro-loans to business advice, this expanded location will help local members of the hispanic community to develop new businesses as well as enhance pre-exisiting enterprises. Estimates currently suggest that 900 new jobs will be created by this project.