President Diana Z. Rodriguez believes in fostering innovation through education, and has signed onto the National Association for Community College Entrepreneurship's Presidents for Entrepreneurship Pledge (PFEP). 
 
San Bernardino Valley College is part of the Inland Empire/Desert Regional Consortium, which provides assistance and services to the faculty, staff, and administrators at the 12 community colleges in San Bernardino and Riverside counties. On Feb. 8, the consortium's presidents virtually signed the PFEP, committing to taking five steps that advance entrepreneurship in their communities and campuses while supporting local small businesses and startups. 
 
The steps are: form teams to focus on entrepreneurship; connect with entrepreneurs in the community; collaborate with industry in the region; focus on business and job creation; and hold events to spread the word about success stories. 
 
"It's been said that community colleges are the key to the post-pandemic recovery, so I think it's important that we bridge the education that we're providing today with the work that's going to be needed tomorrow and beyond to create new jobs, to create new markets, that will work in the post-pandemic environment," Rodriguez said. 
 
To move forward, "this work is going to require us to be entrepreneurial, and for our students to be successful they will have to have at some level an entrepreneurial spirit as well," Rodriguez continued. "Education, Valley College, will play a vital role in these efforts as we transform our communities. It's going to be exciting to see what we can do as a region with this transformation." 
 
During the virtual signing, the consortium's presidents were asked to share what entrepreneurship means to them. Rodriguez believes it involves "building your dreams now with great discipline: ever growing, ever innovating, ever improving. Entrepreneurs are dreamers who can never be satisfied with the status quo."