TITLE
Recommendation to approve the City of Long Beach’s (City) Draft Blueprint 2.0 for Economic Development to guide the City’s overall economic development work plan for the next ten years. (Citywide)
DISCUSSION
The City’s initial Blueprint for Economic Development was created by the Economic Development Commission (Commission) and adopted by the City Council in April of 2017 and served as the Economic Development Departments’ framework for five years. As we emerged from two full years of a pandemic, the economic impact and loss have played out in different and difficult ways across Long Beach. With the totality of these circumstances in mind, the Commission began planning to advance the Blueprint for Economic Development 2.0 (Blueprint 2.0). Blueprint 2.0 was developed through a collaborative process that included a detailed economic analysis by California State University Long Beach’s Office of Economic Research, Public Economic Recovery Roundtables, and public study sessions with experts.
Between January and August 22, 2022, the Commission held a total of 25 Economic Recovery Roundtables and 20 study sessions to review reports, receive presentations and input from industry leaders in the areas of the creative economy, development environment, business licensing, digital connectivity, workforce development, international trade, economic inclusion, and infrastructure. City staff presented and solicited input at community meetings, attended events focused on local and regional economic development to learn about best practices, and reviewed other local and regional strategic plans for economic development to inform the planning process. An online option was created to solicit public input for the Blueprint 2.0 using the Economic Development Department’s online 4BIZ@longbeach.gov
address. The draft Blueprint 2.0 was reviewed and provided feedback by the Economic Development Commission on August 22, 2022, and the Economic Develop...
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