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SCED Board & Stakeholder Update
September 10, 2024
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Hello CHERYL,
My newsletter's goal is to keep our board members and stakeholders up-to-date on SCED activities. We will feature project updates, share success stories, provide key SCED facts, and delve into noteworthy economic development topics. Let me know if you'd like to hear about something specific.
Our Mission
Superior California Economic Development provides assistance in economic development planning, coordination and implementation and provides small business training, counseling and financing assistance with the goal of creating, long-term employment opportunities in the private economic sector.
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SCED's Role in Economic Development
Since about two-thirds of our board members have two years or less of experience, it’s important to ensure we all clearly understand what we do. At our May board meeting, we discussed the need for an "elevator pitch" to easily explain our role as an organization. To support that effort, it’s essential to recognize the key elements that contribute to a healthy economy:
- Workforce Development: Ensuring employees have the right skills and training.
- Economic Development: Providing places for employees to work.
- Community Development: Creating vibrant, livable spaces for employees and their families.
If these elements are missing, the economy will struggle to remain strong and resilient. From a high-level perspective, the role of economic/workforce/community development nonprofits is to bridge the gap between the public and private sectors, fostering sustainable growth by addressing market failures, coordinating resources, and advocating for the needs of underserved communities.
Nonprofits focus on long-term strategies for job creation, business retention, workforce development, and improving a region's overall quality of life. Unlike businesses or government agencies, these nonprofits have a unique, mission-driven approach prioritizing community impact over profit.
Why the Free Market and Government Alone Don’t Fill the Role:
- Addressing Market Gaps: The free market often focuses on short-term profits and may overlook investments in low-income or rural areas, small businesses, or industries that require long-term planning. Nonprofits can support these underfunded areas by providing resources, training, and incentives that the market might not prioritize.
- Mission-Driven Approach: Nonprofits are mission-driven rather than profit-driven. They are focused on community well-being and regional growth over the long term, which may not align with the more immediate, profit-oriented goals of the private sector.
- Government Limitations: Government programs can be bureaucratic and slow-moving, with policies that may not be tailored to local needs. Nonprofits can act more nimbly, forming partnerships, attracting private investment, and customizing solutions to the specific challenges faced by local communities.
- Collaboration and Coordination: Nonprofits unite businesses, government agencies, and community organizations to align goals, pool resources, and create synergy for development projects. This coordination role is essential, as government and private businesses often operate in silos with different priorities.
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California Jobs First Initiative
Last week, I attended the California Jobs First Initiative meeting in Anderson. The event drew over 80 in-person participants, with many more joining virtually. The main focus of the meeting was regional planning for the 10-county California Jobs First region.
I'm particularly interested to see how the state's regional plans will align with the federal Comprehensive Economic Development Strategies (CEDS) from SCED and 3CORE. These two economic development districts cover 7 of the 10 counties within the California Jobs First region, creating a strong foundation for collaboration.
We anticipate news in October regarding the Catalyst Fund applications, which will be a significant milestone for the region.
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Wealth Creation Conference
I recently attended the National Association of Development Organizations (NADO) Wealth Creation Conference in Greenville, South Carolina. If you ever have the chance to visit Greenville, I highly recommend it. The impressive downtown features shops, hotels, restaurants, businesses, a minor league baseball stadium, and the beautiful Falls Park on the Reedy River.
One presenter reminded us that Greenville’s downtown transformation took over 20 years of visionary leadership and investment. As economic developers, it’s a reminder of what long-term planning and commitment can achieve.
NADO’s Wealth Creation model is based on the WealthWorks framework, which focuses on building sustainable, long-term wealth by leveraging local assets. This approach looks beyond financial capital to include eight different forms of "capital" that strengthen regional economies:
- Natural Capital – Land, water, and natural resources.
- Cultural Capital – Traditions, values, and community identity.
- Human Capital – Skills, education, and health.
- Social Capital – Relationships and networks that foster cooperation.
- Built Capital – Infrastructure like buildings and technology.
- Political Capital – The ability to influence policies and decisions.
- Financial Capital – Resources available for investment.
- Intellectual Capital – Innovation, knowledge, and ideas.
By focusing on these capitals, WealthWorks helps communities create resilient, sustainable economies. During the conference, we discussed how to integrate these capitals into our Comprehensive Economic Development Strategies (CEDS). My goal is to eventually use the WealthWorks framework to measure the impact of our regional economic development efforts.
As part of the event, we toured the Swamp Rabbit Trail, which connects several towns and provides economic opportunities for businesses along the route. It’s similar to a trail running from Shasta Lake City to Anderson, with businesses along the river benefiting from increased foot traffic.
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2024 IEDC Excellence Awards Gallery
The Econ Dev Show is a podcast and newsletter for the economic development community. I've been listening to the podcast for a few months and have picked up a few actionable ideas. In his latest newsletter, Dane Carlson highlighted some of the winners of the 2024 International Economic Development Council (IEDC) Excellence Awards. I filtered the search by population size to see if we could borrow ideas from organizations serving rural communities. I am intrigued by the Grow Waynesboro Main & Wayne business plan competition designed to find, train, and fund potential entrepreneurs and foster new storefronts in Waynesboro's downtown area. This is similar to a podcast that I listened to on my way to Alturas that talked about how a downtown used a business plan competition to find an entrepreneur to open a main street coffee shop.
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SCED Loan Corner
Think 504 when . . .
- Purchasing an existing building
- Adding an additional location
- Current leased space with an option to purchase
- Buying land to construct a building
- Currently own land to construct a building
- Renovations or expansion on a current building
- Refinance a current building
- Cash out refinance
Stay Updated
Sierra sends a monthly SBA 504 rate newsletter to our lending partners. If you want to stay informed, please click here to get added to her newsletter.
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SCED Board Meeting Schedule - Reserve the Dates
- December 5, 2024 - Noon - Redding City Hall
- February 20, 2025 - Noon - Redding City Hall
- May 15, 2025 - Noon - Redding City Hall
- August 15, 2025 - Noon - Redding City Hall
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News and Notes
- CEDS Update—Points Consulting is almost done interviewing our advisory committee. When they're done, they'll submit a draft report for our and EDA's review.
- California Finance Consortium (CFC)—Our quarterly meeting was at North Edge Business Financing and Community Development (formerly AEDC) in Eureka. As part of the meeting, Susan Seaman, Eureka's former mayor, and North Edge employee gave us a tour of Sequoia Park Zoo, highlighting its economic importance.
- EPA Programs - We are working on our first Brownfields and Recreation Economy for Rural Communities Programs.
- SCED Audit - We are working through the auditor's needs list. Rob will conduct the in-person portion of the audit the week September 30.
SCED Website & Social Media Updates
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Ryan's Ramblings
With summer coming to an end, I was able to take some much-needed PTO and spent a few days visiting my sister in Nashville. I cut the trip short to make it home in time to witness a proud moment—my son’s induction into the U.S. Air Force. He’s now nearing the completion of his Basic Military Training, and soon, I’ll be flying to San Antonio to watch him graduate before he moves on to technical training. My wife and I couldn’t be more proud of him.
Have a great day!
Ryan
P.S. - Schedule a meeting with me here.
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