A privately funded effort is under way to revitalize Santa Paula's economy and help with other community needs.

Local business leaders have provided financing to help hire an executive to head the "Enterprise Santa Paula" initiative, which is part of the Chamber of Commerce.

The goal of ESP is to "cultivate prosperity" for all Santa Paulans, said John Blanchard, president and chief executive officer of the chamber, who is now heading the project.

The initiative, which originated in the past few weeks, will depend on private funding to help with a range of issues, including local education, public safety, tourism, development and public works infrastructure, Blanchard said.

Private funds, for example, could help fund school programs or training programs for police and fire officials, he said.

"We'd like to try to help the city by slowly doing more things for the city in the areas of economic development," Blanchard said.

ESP is led by a steering committee composed of chamber officials and city representatives. It will soon kick off a fundraising campaign aimed at getting $200,000 within a year from local businesses. The group plans to have one-on-one meetings with members of the business community.

Blanchard said the initiative's function is partly inspired by the Economic Development Corp. of Oxnard, which provides businesses with services and aims at helping improve the city's economy.

Steve Kinney, president of the Oxnard EDC, is an informal adviser for the Santa Paula initiative. He noted that garnering financial support from the business community for the EDC took about seven years after the not-for-profit organization kicked off in 1994. The EDC was funded by the city of Oxnard for years.

But ESP is taking a different route by seeking private funding from companies first, Kinney said.

Blanchard said the city of Santa Paula is helping with in-kind contributions.

The fact that some Santa Paula-based companies, including Limoneira Co., have backed the initiative could get other businesses to be supportive, he said.

Alan Teague, a local resident who has contributed to the undertaking, said the challenge could be bringing more businesses to the community.

The initiative aims to bring new industries to Santa Paula through outreach as a way to revitalize the economy, he said.