The still ongoing -- and hopefully waning -- pandemic hit the greater Coachella Valley as much as it did the rest of the nation and world.
The valley got through it, so far, in large part by coming together and finding out we really are better together.
The Coachella Valley will head into the post-pandemic world the same way -- together -- area chambers of commerce and city officials recently told Desert Magazine.
"We are excited to see our city safely thrive," Palm Springs Chamber of Commerce CEO Nona Watson said. "We are looking forward to emerging out of the crisis and embracing what we have learned from it."
The Palm Springs Chamber is exploring even more ways to help existing businesses grow and to assist new businesses in the area.
"We are excited to see the goals we had set for our city coming to light," Watson said.
The focus also is mostly forward, Desert Hot Springs Chamber of Commerce Board Chairman David Conover said.
"I am personally looking forward to being able to see the community come back together again in person and support those businesses while getting some social interaction," Conover said.
The tourists will be back, Conover said.
"Desert Hot Springs has some amazing hotels and hot springs for people to see and experience, and it is exciting that hopefully soon we can build that back up again," he said.
Optimism wasn't so easily expressed about a year ago as the Coachella Valley and the rest of the world went largely into shutdown. Area festivals and other events were postponed and even canceled. That is still happening, as the BNP Paribas Open, Indian Wells' near-major tennis tournament, was postponed in December and then called off in March due to the pandemic.
With unemployment at crazy all-time highs, businesses teetering on the brink and pandemic numbers getting ever worse, it was all too easy to think of it as a new, gut-wrenching normal.
"I've never talked with so many people in despair before," Rancho Mirage Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Katie Stice recalled. "I really had to dig deep to learn how to process and understand what all of my members and friends were -- and are -- going through and try to respond with grace."
Stice said she also learned a lot about herself over the past year, how to serve the community in new ways and what it really means to be together with and for people also in crisis.
"Just when I didn’t think I could expand my plate any further, I could and did," she said. "My board has been instrumental in the chamber's success and continues to lead alongside staff to help the community through recovery. The City of Rancho Mirage has also been a major partner for economic development and recovery. Together we've really accomplished some remarkable things."
All through its interviews, Desert Magazine heard stories of personal protective equipment, including gloves, masks and face shields, provided to area businesses. Chamber and city officials reached out to area businesses in need, wrangled resources and shepherded grants and other forms of funding to keep businesses afloat.
For example, the City of Palm Springs has been administering the California Small Business COVID-19 Relief Grant Program, which provides $5,000 to $25,000 to area small businesses affected by the pandemic, based on annual revenue.
The City of Indio and the nonprofit Coachella Valley Economic Partnership distributed hand sanitizer, face masks and face shields to more than 1,600 Indio businesses. Among them was Pastion Industries, a local family-owned company that has installed and monitored security and fire alarms in greater-Indio for more than 30 years.
"We appreciate the City of Indio and its contribution to the health and well-being of its residents and local businesses," company Vice President Jason Pastion said in a city news release.
The same chamber and city officials partnered with area nonprofits and other community groups to try to keep the valley's most vulnerable fed and housed.
In March, Riverside County, Lift to Rise and Inland SoCal United Way announced applications were being accepted for the latest round of rental assistance, United Lift Rental Assistance. The announcement followed a Riverside County Board of Supervisors vote in February that approved more than $57 million in federal funding and other resources for emergency rental assistance. That money, combined with previous funding rounds from the federal resources, Community Development Block Grant funds and others, totals more than $90 million.
"United Lift has already helped thousands of renters and landlords in Riverside County who have been affected by the coronavirus pandemic," Riverside County Board of Supervisors Chair Karen Spiegel said in the announcement. "Riverside County is eager to see this next round of assistance administered in a quick and efficient manner to as many residents as possible and is grateful to our nonprofit partners for their work getting these funds to folks who need it the most."
On March 17, the City of Coachella announced Urgency Ordinance No. 1174, which provides local businesses with premium pay of $4 an hour for essential workers for at least 120 days.
The Greater Coachella Valley Chamber of Commerce is backing legislation to support essential businesses and workers, in addition to those working from home as they have sheltered in place.
"Unfortunately, current law has not kept pace with the flexibility and technology that allows remote work, and fails to distinguish an employee working remotely from an employee working at the employer's place of business," the Greater Chamber said in a letter to lawmakers. The letter also was signed by the California Chamber of Commerce and other organizations.
Some in the Coachella Valley have sought to nourish spirits as well as lives. On March 29, Desert Hot Springs announced that its popular classical concerts will continue into April. The online concerts feature artists such as Danny Holt on piano, Daria Binkowski and Kimberly Fitch on flute and viola respectively, and Margaret Irwin-Brandon on historical keyboards.
"The community has really bonded together and shown a lot of support for each other, which has been meaningful to me as a mom, business owner and lifelong resident of the valley," La Quinta Chamber of Commerce Board Chair Elisa Guerrero said.
Guerrero said she has been "impressed and grateful" for the region's strength and creativity to get through what amounted to a global catastrophe.
"Technology has certainly made such a resilient response possible," Guerrero said. "I can’t even imagine how differently this would have played out 20 years ago. Our students have been incredible, our essential workers are amazing, and our community has had such a great attitude of doing whatever we can do to rise above the challenge."
With more than a year of pandemic now a memory, that stressful period will inform the valley's future.
"Overall and aside from the events and economic development, I am looking forward to recovery and certainty for my business community," Stice said. "One of the hardest factors has been the uncertainty – it's been overwhelming."
