The South Bay Economic
Development Partnership (SBEDP) was founded in 1997 as a collaboration
of business, labor, education and government. The primary goal was to
plan and implement an economic development and marketing strategy designed
to retain and create jobs and stimulate economic growth in the South
Bay of Los Angeles County.
Over the past 5
years the Partnership achieved its primary goal. South Bay cities, businesses,
and local colleges and universities are working collectively to ensure
business has easy access to no-cost and low cost assistance programs.
With help from the Partnership communities are developing sustainability
and residents are learning how to access quality jobs in emerging industries.
The Partnership's
regional economic development collaboration develops better tools for
making decisions that affect the quality of life of nearly a million
residents, the welfare of thirty thousand businesses, and the pleasure
tens of thousands of annual visitors from around the world.
The South Bay Economic
Development Partnership is part of a statewide network of volunteer
non-profit organizations working together to ensure California continues
to be the land of opportunity for all businesses, especially those needing
nurturing, technical assistance and mentoring to become all they can
be.
The South Bay of
Los Angeles County is a highly regarded and desirable location of choice
for a wide range of traditional and new economy businesses. It is a
haven for information based businesses in information driven industries.
With great numbers of engineers and other technical personal living
in the South Bay or a short commute away, the region is a center of
the nation's growing technological work force.
Purpose
The South Bay
of Los Angeles County is identified by growing businesses in safe
communities bordered by 23 miles of Pacific coastline. Here fifteen
unique communities offer an inviting array of business and residential
location choices. These communities work together, preserving an incomparable
quality of life while encouraging innovation, educational excellence,
and forward thinking among public and private leadership. The South
Bay Economic Development Partnership is where regional leadership
comes together.
Primary Objectives
- Develop and
implement an economic development strategic plan to ensure the South
Bay’s competitiveness in a global economy.
- Market the
South Bay internally and externally to retain, attract and create
jobs.
- Provide one-on-one
business retention and attraction assistance.
- Work as a public/private
partnership to maximize a business-friendly environment that supports
and improves the South Bay’s quality of life.
- Facilitate
programs with local education and job training partners to ensure
a strong and diverse work force essential to the South Bay’s competitiveness.
- Be the primary
source of South Bay economic development information.
- Communicate
the impact of federal, state and regional legislation and regulations
affecting South Bay’s competitiveness.
- Provide resources
that stimulate cooperation within the South Bay.
2002 Key Objectives
Each spring the
Partnerships officers elect spend many days reviewing the previous
year's milestone achievements to determine precisely how well the
organization met its chosen goals and objectives.
The incoming executive
committee is guided by the Partnership's founding principles that
include providing one-on-one business assistance to wealth creating
South Bay companies, improving the local environment for business
growth, addressing issues negatively affecting the much admired South
Bay quality of life, and marketing the region to interested parties
within and outside the South Bay.
The 2002 Key Objectives
decided upon by the executive committee members taking office July
1, 2001 are:
Goal #1
-- Market the region’s assets internally and externally
Goal #2
-- Increase the Partnership's outreach to South Bay wealth creating
businesses.
Goal #3
-- Address workforce issues of education, training and relationship-building
Goal #4
-- Increase investors/business involvement in the SBEDP
Goal #5 --
Promote cross jurisdictional collaboration among SB Cities and encourage
endorsement of the SBEDP Economic Development
Guiding Principles
Economic Development
Organizational
development, public and private partnering and regional strategic
planning form the basis for South Bay economic development success.
The Partnership engages four specific community economic issues, which
are one-on-one business assistance, workforce development programs,
regional marketing, and development of a set of guiding principles
for use by South Bay cities when developing their specific economic
development plans.
Business Assistance
Programs
Surveys reveal
80% of South Bay businesses are unaware of no-cost products and
services available to help them grow. 85% of our companies employ
fewer than 10 people and 94% fewer than 50 people. Small companies
often lack the resources to take advantage of county, state and
federal programs. The Partnership provides easy access to these
and other resources and technical assistance to companies taking
advantage of these resources.
Partnership Services*
- Expansion and
relocation site services
- Community profiles,
economic and demographic information
- Tax structures
and abatements
- Incentive zones
(Enterprise, Revitalization, Empowerment, Foreign Trade)
- Labor Market
information, job training
- Utility and
transportation services
- Permit assistance
and licensing
- Employee hiring
and relocation
- Public financing
programs (local, state and federal) including industrial development
bonds
- Personalized
briefings and orientations tailored to your specific needs
- Trade coordination
with the San Pedro Bay seaports, LAX, foreign trade zones, railroads
and utility companies
- Coordinated
media programs
- Custom economic
development project design and management
*A list of specific
business assistance programs is included as Appendix 'A' of this document.
Community Engagement
The Partnership
makes excellent use of volunteer intellectual investment, marketing
South Bay assets and creating synergy among our industries. We provide
easy access to regional assistance programs, demographic and other
relevant data. Volunteer programs further develop the South Bay's
ability to provide a solid foundation for economic growth, while maintaining
a much-desired quality of life.
Regional Economic Strategy -
The SBEDP created
a set of guiding regional economic development principles for adoption
by local jurisdictions. They are now being presented to jurisdictional
leadership for use developing jurisdictional specific economic development
strategies.
Regional Leadership
-
Through its
support for regional leadership programs, among other activities,
the Partnership stimulates develop of a new generation of regional
leaders.
South Bay Economic
Digest -
This comprehensive
collective of critical data necessary for informed decision making
is published annually at the South Bay Economic Forecast Conference
held each October.
Industry Cluster
Program -
A strategic
program in development focusing initially on rapidly growing communications
and computer services clusters. The program includes Internet web
site mapping of all South Bay clusters and member companies outreach
to these companies, and development of cluster champions.
Business Outreach
Program -
This is a highly
effective regional outreach program managed by the Partnership reaching
200+ firms a month with more than 20 site visits per month by skilled
outreach teams comprised of loaned executives from the PICs*, SBDC**,
El Camino College CACT***, CMTC**** and SBEDP investors.
*Private Industry
Councils
**Small Business Development Center
***Center for Competitive Applied Technology
****California Manufacturing Technology Center
Entrepreneur
Development -
An annual spring
interactive conference develops South Bay entrepreneurs, helping
them learn what they need to know to take their businesses to the
next level.
South Bay Economic
Forecast Conference -
An annual fall
event bringing world class speakers to the South Bay in discussion
of global, national and regional economies and how business and
government within the region may best plan for the future.
