ESCONDIDO COMPREHENSIVE ECONOMIC ... - City of Escondido

ESCONDIDO COMPREHENSIVE ECONOMIC
DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY (CEDS)
This document is the culmination of a series of reports prepared by the authors that together comprise
the Economic Development Master Plan for the City of Escondido. The Economic Development Master
Plan was also designed to serve as a Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS), as
specified by the U.S. Department of Commerce, Economic Development Administration (EDA).
Preparation of a CEDS will facilitate the process by which the City can potentially access federal funding
for infrastructure and other economic development-related activities through the EDA. At the same
time, the document serves to guide the City’s internal policies and priorities for economic development
over the next five to ten years.
Background reports prepared as part of the CEDS process (and attached, in full, as appendices to this
CEDS document) include the following:
Escondido Market Overview (Appendix A)
Profile of Local Workforce & Training Resources (Appendix B)
Escondido Competitive Assessment (Appendix C)
Escondido Target Industry Analysis (Appendix D)
The main body of the CEDS summarizes the findings of the full (appendix) reports and provides
additional detail regarding the goals and strategies identified during the course of the Economic
Development Master Plan process.
Executive Summary of CEDS Implementation Plan
The CEDS Implementation Plan, detailed in Section F of this report, outlines over 40 individual action
items for the City’s economic development program. Some of the initiatives are recommended new
activities while others represent existing City practices that can be re-focused and given greater visibility
as part of the Master Plan implementation. Some of the strategies relate directly to “core” economic
development functions (e.g., target industry retention and attraction) whereas others are “support”
activities (e.g., initiatives to improve the City’s quality of life) that will serve to enhance the City’s overall
attractiveness to prospective businesses and their employees.
In order to prioritize the relatively long list of potential action items, Section F.2 of the CEDS describes
the recommended initial strategic focus for the Economic Development Master Plan. In this section, the
highest-priority action items are organized under the following themes:
1. Organizational Capacity
2. Identity and Marketing
3. Catalyst Projects
4. Business-Friendly City
ESCONDIDO COMPREHENSIVE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY (CEDS) | The Natelson Dale Group, Inc
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