Sacramento Region Awarded $5 Million for Inclusive Economic Planning
Sacramento, CA – October 21, 2022: The Sacramento Region scored a significant win via an award of $5 million dollars in planning money from the Community Economic Resilience Fund (“CERF”) program.
The program – developed and led by the Employment Development Department (EDD), the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (Go-Biz), and the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research (OPR) – advances regional economic recovery and resilience strategies that prioritize the creation of accessible, high-quality jobs in sustainable industries.
“This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to advance our region’s economic recovery and resilience, and will demonstrate the collective value and impact our region has when we work together,” said Valley Vision CEO Evan Schmidt in a statement.
Planning dollars will be used to stand up a High Road Transition Collaborative (“Collaborative”) – a planning group that consists of balanced and meaningful representation from throughout the region – and a regional economic development plan.
In a months-long grant application process, Valley Vision convened multiple open-to-all webinars, workshops, subregional roundtables, and activity-based committees to inform our region’s application. In particular, the Prosperity Partnership, the Tahoe Prosperity Center, the Sierra Business Council, Yuba-Sutter Economic Development Corporation, the Nevada County Economic Resource Council, and the counties of Colusa and Yuba were instrumental in bringing regional stakeholders and community partners to the table.
As the designated Regional Convenor and Fiscal Agent for the Sacramento Region – which includes Colusa, El Dorado, Nevada, Placer, Sacramento, Sutter, Yolo and Yuba counties – Valley Vision is charged with standing up a planning process that engages meaningfully across subregions, sectors, and communities, to advance the goals of the CERF program.
“This announcement signifies a major step forward in economic development, as regional coalitions have come together across California ready to roll up their sleeves and build regional economic development strategies that will create more inclusive and vibrant economies built on a foundation of equity,” said Dee Dee Myers, Senior Advisor to Governor Newsom and Director of the Governor’s Office of Business & Economic Development. You can read the state’s CERF press release here.
A Sacramento Region virtual kick-off event will be held in early 2023. To stay up to date, subscribe to Valley Vision’s Sacramento Region CERF newsletter.
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About Valley Vision
For 27 years, Valley Vision has served as a trusted nonprofit civic leadership organization in the region, bringing communities together to tackle our region’s challenges and ensure a more livable future and creating common ground built on facts through trusted research and meaningful coalition-building.
Driven by a “triple bottom line” approach of co-equally advancing social equity, economic prosperity, and environmental sustainability, Valley Vision has a proven record in bringing diverse groups together to develop long-term solutions to the region’s greatest problems. This history of civic leadership and engagement runs across local, regional, and statewide platforms, and across sectors and disciplines. To learn more about Valley Vision’s CERF work, visit www.valleyvision.org/projects/community-economic-resilience-fund.
Media Contact:
Priya Kumar
(707) 386-8501
priya.kumar@valleyvision.org
The Prosperity Partnership Helps Secure Millions for Inclusive Economic Impact for Greater Sacramento Region
Online webinars to be held starting November 18 for more information on access to funding.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (November 3, 2021) – The Greater Sacramento region successfully scored two very significant wins via state of California legislative bills that will amount to millions in investment for inclusive economic development including: up to $38 million in funding for Green Means Go; and passage of the $600 million Community Economic Resilience Fund (CERF). Both of these victories were bolstered by the collective advocacy and leadership of The Prosperity Partnership which includes: Greater Sacramento Economic Council, Sacramento Asian Pacific Chamber of Commerce, Sacramento Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, Sacramento Area Council of Governments (SACOG) and Valley Vision.
“These two victories at the state-level are critical towards the Greater Sacramento region’s recovery and economic resilience, as they not only deliver on real-time investment for jobs, business and infrastructure, but also demonstrate the collective value and impact we have when we work together,” stated The Prosperity Partnership in a joint statement.
Green Means Go is a multi-year pilot that implements the region’s Sustainable Communities Strategy. The pilot aims to lower greenhouse gas emissions and be a catalyst for economic development in the six-county Sacramento region by accelerating infill development. Green Means Go is led and implemented by SACOG, which recently was awarded over $38 million from the state to fund this one-of-a-kind state program. The funds will be critical to accelerate development within existing communities and reduce barriers to building more housing, increasing mobility options and accelerating EV deployment. Outreach and technical assistance will begin in January 2022 for funding requests with all funds to be used by June 30, 2026.
CERF is designed to build a more robust, sustainable, and equitable recovery across all sectors of California’s economy by supporting regional collaboratives in the planning and implementation of inclusive economic strategies towards both recovery and long-term resilience. CERF is funded by a $600 million one-time federal American Rescue Plan Act allocation. Developed in alignment with priorities identified through California Forward’s Roadmap to Shared Prosperity and supported with direct advocacy of The Prosperity Partnership, it will advance pivotal, place-based initiatives and high-road partnerships that reach into under-resourced neighborhoods, regional networks and rural communities; many of which are identified in the core strategies in the work by the partnership through Our Path Forward: The Prosperity Strategy.
An informational session on CERF and funding for organizations and local jurisdictions in Colusa, El Dorado, Placer, Sacramento, Sutter, Yolo and Yuba counties will be held virtually on Thursday, November 18 from 1:00 – 2:00 PM PT. For more information and to register, please visit valleyvision.org to register.
About Our Path Forward and The Prosperity Partnership
Our Path Forward: The Prosperity Strategy is a strategic framework and action plan for the six-county Greater Sacramento region that prioritizes the region’s core economic initiatives for a more prosperous, equitable and resilient economy. The framework was released in May 2020 as both an economic strategy as well as recovery plan. The framework parallels the goals and strategies of the region’s Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS) and includes initiatives over the next five years that focus on a cluster-based economy, infrastructure investments and developing a sector-based workforce.
The Prosperity Strategy is the collective work of five regional organizations known as The Prosperity Partnership including Greater Sacramento Economic Council, Sacramento Asian Pacific Chamber of Commerce, Sacramento Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, Sacramento Area Council of Governments and Valley Vision.
For updates and to learn more visit theprosperitystrategy.org.
Press Contact:
Traci Rockefeller Cusack at 916-213-4373
traci@trockcommunications.com