Seizing Our Destiny

About Us

Seizing Our Destiny: The Movement for Riverside’s Prosperous Future.

Since 2009, community, business and civic leaders have been working together to create an even better quality of life in our community and tell Riverside’s story. The structure of Seizing Our Destiny has evolved over time but the message and goals of this effort has remained the same:

OUR VISION: Riverside, California is a city that honors and builds on its assets to become known as a location of choice that catalyzes innovation in all forms, enjoys a high quality of life and is unified in pursuing the common good.

OUR MISSION: Seizing Our Destiny is creating a prosperous future for Riverside, California through a shared commitment of community. Business and civic leaders work together to creatively tackle local issues, implement innovative solutions, and promote Riverside success stories. Together, we ensure Riverside remains a place attractive to dynamic and diverse families, businesses, students and visitors.

Intelligent Growth

Note from Mayor Rusty Bailey: The sacrifices veterans and their families make when serving our nation is not something that I take lightly. I find it unacceptable that we have veterans living on the streets of Riverside. This year I took a pledge with the President of the United States to end homelessness amongst veterans in Riverside by the end of 2015. Since that time, our city’s Homeless Outreach Team and my office have worked closely on this initiative. We have made great progress, but we still have a few folks in need of housing. One of the largest challenges associated with this initiative has been getting landlords to dedicate housing units for our veterans.

The Office of the Mayor has been instrumental in reaching out to landlords and we will continue to do so until every veteran has housing. My office has also worked with local industries, like Walmart, ACE Hardware, Home Depot, and Habitat for Humanity, to raise funding and supplies to ensure that once a homeless veteran is placed in housing, they have the support they need to be successful. If you would like to learn more about how the Office of the Mayor is taking a stance against Veteran Homelessness, please read the Press Enterprise article that featured this initiative. http://www.pe.com/articles/veterans-773715-homeless-riverside.html

Catalyst for Innovation

Our community leaders collaborate to address issues, which lead to more inventive and multi-disciplinary approaches. The people and educational institutions of Riverside cultivate and support useful and beneficial ideas, research, products, scholars, business people, artists and entrepreneurs. Creativity and innovation permeate all that we do, which makes our community a trendsetter for the region, California, and the world to follow.

Location of Choice

An unmatched landscape, year-round outdoor activities, ample recreational options and attention to healthy living make Riverside one of the most inspiring, livable, healthy and adventurous cities to live in or visit. Our community provides an abundance of opportunities to be amazed, inspired and entertained, including: arts and cultural offerings, well-defined, welcoming neighborhoods, well-paying jobs in strong companies, and diverse education. Our central location means we are within 60 minutes of the beach, mountains, Los Angeles and Orange Counties, Palm Springs, apple picking, horseback riding, backpacking, mountain biking and more.

Unified City

People are brought together around common interests and concerns, while the unique character of Riverside’s neighborhoods and diverse communities are celebrated and valued. We are a caring community that has compassion for all residents, and engages with one another for a better life for all. The long-standing diversity of Riverside provides a comfortable home for people from all backgrounds, cultures and interests. Riversiders respect and value the cultural heritage, distinct needs and varied input of each of our neighbors, while proactively engaging them across historical dividing lines.