Ashley Swearengin

Ashley Swearengin, president and CEO of the Central Valley Community Foundation, will take part in a hearing Thursday titled “Equitable Economic Development across California.”

The hearing hosted by the Little Hoover Commission will be held in person at the Riverside Convention Center and can be accessed via Zoom. It will also be livestreamed at the Commission’s Facebook page.

Swearengin will be part of a morning session panel running from 10 a.m. to noon. The topic is “A Statewide Perspective: Regions Rise Together.” Also on the panel are Lenny Mendonca, former chief economic and business advisor to Gov. Newsom and Marek Gootman, senior fellow with the Brookings Institution.

The second panel from 1:15 p.m. to 4 p.m. will examine the Inland Empire as a case study for economic development. A third panel is tilted “Opportunity and Inclusion.”

The Little Hoover Commission is an independent state oversight agency created to investigate state government operations and policy. It makes recommendations to the governor and Legislature.

Members of the public are invited to make public comment at the end of the hearing.

Those who attend the hearing online can make a public comment using the “raise hand” feature in Zoom or email LittleHoover@lhc.ca.gov with a question and the phone number from which they plan to join the hearing.