Coachella Valley, California

Economic Blueprint Strategy

Recent events in the national and global economy are unprecedented and have certainly affected all of California and the Coachella Valley. Understanding this reality, the Coachella Valley Economic Partnership (CVEP)—working with key local partners—launched a process to create a new regional Economic Blueprint for the Coachella Valley. Market Street was retained to facilitate the strategy-creation process, which included a number of research components. These were a Competitive Assessment, Target Business Analysis, Marketing Assessment, and Best-Practices Analysis. Paired with a comprehensive public-input process, these quantitative and qualitative research reports led to the identification of priority strategies to focus on in the Economic Blueprint, and an Implementation Plan to guide the activation of these strategies.

The Blueprint plan is an ambitious, comprehensive and forward-thinking strategy that addresses the challenges the Valley faces to be competitive and the opportunities to better diversify its economy, raise local wealth, train youth and adults for high-wage careers and continue to enhance the region’s enviable quality of life. It focuses on four primary goal areas:

• Regionalism
• Economic Diversification
• Workforce Excellence
• Quality of Place

The Blueprint required that Valley communities and leadership think differently about what constitutes community and economic development and regional cooperation/participation. While its history has been focused on local growth – predominantly in residential, retail and hospitality development – the Valley’s future must be increasingly directed towards regional solutions.

The Blueprint plan was rolled out at an October 2009 economic conference in the Coachella Valley. The Valley’s motivation to move forward and implement the plan was emphasized by the tremendous initial funding investments made by a long list of regional public and private companies and institutions.

In 2010, the CVEP named a new president and CEO; launched its Business Visitation Survey program—designed as an “early warning system” for at risk businesses; developed the Center in Sustainable Environmental Systems at the local University of California Riverside Palm Desert campus; and continued to advance two workforce development initiatives: 1) Career Pathways, which established curricula for careers in life sciences; technology; and arts, media, and entertainment and has attracted almost $2 million in funding so far, and 2) Pathways to Success, which provides scholarships to promising regional students—in 2009 $1.4 million to 280 students, and in 2010 $1.5 million to 300 students.

As the plan approaches its second year of implementation, motivation has not wavered. Three of the region’s nine cities have pledged financial support for implementation with Palm Springs, the most recent investor, pledging $100,000 a year for all five years of implementation. They year 2011 has seen continued community investment: in May, Rabobank, a Dutch bank with a history of agricultural lending and a large presence in Southern California, committed $250,000 to plan implementation.