1 TO: City Council
FROM: Ryan Smoot, City Manager
PREPARED BY: Brianna Rindge, Community & Economic Development Director MEETING DATE: September 19, 2023
SUBJECT: Discussion and Consideration of the Sunstone Economic Development Challenge at USC Price
RECOMMENDATION
Receive and file.
DISCUSSION
The University of Southern California (USC) Sol Price School of Public Policy established the Sunstone Economic Development Challenge in 2022 in partnership with the USC City/County Management Fellowship through a grant from Sunstone Management, a private capital firm in Southern California that invests in diverse, early-stage technology entrepreneurs. The challenge, now in its second year, serves as a charitable program designed to help local governments develop and implement strategies to attract and support early-stage startup businesses, raise private capital, and create jobs in their communities.
The program proved a success for its first year client cities, El Segundo, Irvine, Garden Grove, and Long Beach. The winning team worked with the City of Garden Grove to develop a proposal to use existing workforce development assets with online recruitment and training, fund reallocation for marketing, and a hospitality industry-wide job fair to address the need for more hospitality workers in all areas. The team also recommended a plan to partner with high school and community college hospitality programs and attracting a satellite campus of the Los Angeles Hospitality Training Academy also should be considered.
Participation in this public-private educational partnership incurs no direct cost to the City and in fact augments the City’s economic development efforts. The expectations of each client city are as follows.
Item No. 8a
CITY OF LOMITA
CITY COUNCIL REPORT
2 1. Team selection in December 2024
2. Two meetings with the student team in spring 2024
3. City Hall tour for the student team in March 2024
4. Attendance at Challenge’s final pitch event in April 2024
5. Student team final pitch presentation to City Council in May 2024 Community and Economic Development Director Brianna Rindge worked with USC staff to land Lomita on the client cities list for the Challenge’s second season and will manage the program for the City. More details are available in Attachment 1 to this report.
OPTIONS
None. Information only. Receive and file.
ATTACHMENT
1. Complete Challenge details
Reviewed by: Approved by:
Gary Y. Sugano Ryan Smoot
Assistant City Manager City Manager
Prepared by:
________________
Brianna Rindge
Community & Economic Development Director
LETTER OF INTENT (LOI)
For supporting the USC City/County Management Fellowship Program:
SUNSTONE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CHALLENGE @ USC PRICE
Updated: August 29th, 2023
BACKGROUND
The Sunstone Economic Development Challenge @ USC Price is an initiative aimed at empowering local governments to create and implement inclusive strategies to support and grow early-stage technology startups and high-tech jobs in their communities. It is a partnership between the USC City/County Management Fellowship Program, USC Sol Price School of Public Policy, and Sunstone Management, Inc.
The Sunstone Economic Development Challenge @ USC Price is supported by a five-year grant gifted by the Sunstone Community Fund. Teams of university students, in collaboration with local government clients, will develop forward-thinking and feasible strategies to attract and support startups, raise private capital, and create jobs. Final projects will be presented to a panel of judges and the winning team will be announced at an award ceremony in mid-April 2023.
VISION, MISSION & OBJECTIVES
Our collective vision is to further economic development in client cities, and our mission is to provide students opportunities to attract, retain, and grow early-stage technology businesses in their chosen community and to engage with industry leaders and professionals in their chosen field. To achieve this vision and mission, we have established the following objectives:
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5. Business Attraction – create innovative strategies for cities and counties to attract and retain early-stage entrepreneurs to grow businesses and jobs in their communities.
Capital Access – create innovative strategies for cities and counties to attract and grow private sector capital investment and provide capital access to early-stage entrepreneurs in their communities.
Technical Assistance – create public-private partnerships that provide technical assistance and support to early-stage entrepreneurs (e.g., incubators, accelerators, innovation hubs).
University Partnerships – build innovative partnerships between cities and universities or colleges to cultivate entrepreneurship and retain entrepreneurs in their cities or counties following graduation.
Social Impact – develop greater impact on addressing diversity, equity, inclusion or environmental, social and governance categories.
RESPONSIBILITIES
A coalition of public, private, and non-profit sector partners is required to achieve our vision, mission, and objectives on behalf of stakeholders involved in the Sunstone Economic Development Challenge @ USC Price. Therefore, specific responsibilities of each partner are presented below:
Attachment No 1
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(1)
(2)
USC City/County Management Fellowship Program (CMF). The CMF will be responsible for hosting the information sessions, coordinating the student registration and team selection, and managing the speaker series and the CMF Summit & Sunstone Challenge Final Pitch.
Client Cities. Client cities agree to review all the student proposals for their city and choose one team to be their consultants in December 2023. Client cities also agree to participate in two meetings with the student team regarding community and economic development plans and challenges for their communities as follows: (i) virtual meeting in February 2024, and (ii) in-person meeting/city hall tour in March 2024, with a total duration of no more than three hours.
Additionally, client cities will appoint a designated point of contact from the client city to ensure clear and effective communication with the student team and the program leads throughout the challenge and commit to attending the final challenge event. Student teams will present their pitch to City staff, City Council, Council Committee, or Advisory Commission.
Lastly, client cities will indicate their agreement by executing the non-binding Letter of Intent as a demonstration of commitment and agreement to the terms outlined. • Sunstone Management. Sunstone Management will be responsible for being the liaison between the CMF and client cities for the Sunstone Economic Development Challenge @ USC Price.
Sunstone Management will also identify speakers for the speaker series and provide administrative services to support the Challenge’s activities. Finally, Sunstone Management will be responsible for coordinating grant funding from the Sunstone Community Fund to support the Sunstone Economic Development Challenge @ USC Price over the 5-year period.
PROJECT TIMELINE
The Letter of Intent is the first step to establishing the Sunstone Economic Development Challenge @ USC Price. The following Actions & Timeline is for illustrative purposes only and may change.
Actions & Timeline
• Letter of Intent Executed September 2023
• Public Announcements September 2023
• Speaker Series #1: Government Proposal Process October 2023 • Speaker Series #2: Capital Access & Economic Development November 2023 • Proposal Deadline December 2023
• Client Cities Pick Top Proposals December 2023
• Student Teams Begin Pitches January 2024
• Virtual Meeting with Student Team February 2024
• Speaker Series #3: Policy Analysis, Research, and Writing February 2024 • In-Person Meeting/City Hall Tour with Student Team March 2023 • Speaker Series #4: Business Attraction Strategies & PPPs March 2023 • USC CMF Summit & Sunstone Challenge Final Pitch April 2024 • Student Teams Present to Client City Staff/Council/Commission April 2024 • Staff Memos and Presentations Given to Client Cities May 2024