“At Vista Church, it doesn’t matter so much where you are spiritually, but where you want to go,” says Vista Church Pastor, Van Fielden. That type of open-minded, helpful mentality is the foundation for the 500 member, non-denominational community church. Vista Church members enjoy a picnic together presented by the church. Members often request events and programs they would like to participate in and the church tries to do as many as possible. Since 1992 Vista has been serving the Southeast Orlando community, connecting its members with God and each other to strengthen households,... Read more
Metro-Orlando has become the nation's Center for Excellence in Optics & Photonics, with jobs in the photonics industry averaging $57,000 annually. Although the economic terrain seems bumpy everywhere, Central Floridia and East Orlando residents can rest assured that our economic future has already been set into motion. Even with the national unemployment rate hovering around 10 percent, East Orlando in particular is poised to become a major force in the fields of health and life sciences and digital media. Orlando has been named the “top hot spot for professionals” and the... Read more
The City Beautiful recently ranked in the top-ten “start-up friendly” cities in the nation due to intergovernmental and private cooperation and location, among other factors. Orlando, also known as The City Beautiful, ranked in the top-ten “start-up friendly” cities in the nation, as listed by Entrepreneur Magazine in August 2009. The magazine credits intergovernmental and private cooperation as the engine for mining local talent and building opportunities for entrepreneurs. East Orlando sits squarely in the center of the high-tech corridor that is currently taking shape and will... Read more
As the economy shrinks and money becomes tighter, many small businesses are finding it more difficult to gain access to the credit or loans they need to in order survive and grow their businesses. Because this money has become harder to access, many are referring to this time as a “credit crunch” by banks and lending institutions. Yes, it’s true more requirements are being enforced by said parties; but, there is still money to be had and help to be found from both banks and the government. Businesses are struggling to borrow money from lending institutions, but experts say banks... Read more
Many economic forecasts for next year predict improvement in the national economic outlook. I would agree with this overall national assessment based on the length of the current downturn and the increased federal government spending. However, the Central Florida region and its economy will continue to be adversely impacted by an over reliance on population growth and tourism to grow the local economy. Whether we like it or not, these are the main two engines that have, and will, continue to drive the local economy in the near future. Future economic diversification attempts such as the Lake Nona... Read more
