The impact of the global Covid-19 pandemic can never be fully tallied. The human cost is incalculable; the economic cost is staggering. In the face of this daunting challenge, the Tri-Valley community pulled together to help one another. First responders and healthcare professionals fought to keep patients alive. Business groups and regional officials labored to keep struggling businesses afloat. Generous neighbors, nonprofits, public leaders, and businesses helped support those affected most by the pandemic. Remarkably, the Tri-Valley spirit of innovation never dimmed in the face of this threat.

A Path Forward

As the region emerges from the worst effects of Covid-19, business and community leaders are working to both address long-standing issues and capitalize on the area’s many strengths to build a strong and resilient future. One example of that work is a new initiative called East Bay Forward, which is articulated in a report of the same name that was released in late September by the East Bay Economic Development Alliance (East Bay EDA).

The East Bay Forward report analyzes how the pandemic impacted the East Bay, what this means for the region’s economy going forward, and asks regional leaders to focus on 12 priorities to address the East Bay’s most pressing challenges. The goal of the initiative is to “move the East Bay toward a new economic paradigm to capitalize on the many existing and potential opportunities our region offers, ensuring that our diverse businesses and residents can grow and thrive,” according to the report.

The Legacy Assets section of the report highlights the innovative and robust network of East Bay institutions, according to Carline Au, Senior Economic Development Analyst, along with “the growth opportunities such as clean tech, biomedical manufacturing, advanced manufacturing, and goods movement. The East Bay is a place that supports an innovative, entrepreneurial ecosystem that touches on a lot of industries. We have a dynamic workforce and economy that supports a diversity of middle wage and career ladder jobs, and we have a lot of untapped potential. That’s something we wanted to highlight in the report along with all the great things that go into the East Bay.”

The 12 priorities outlined in the report include delivering resources and services for East Bay small to mid-sized businesses, “especially those most severely impacted by the pandemic”; promoting the region’s assets and opportunities “to attract and retain a diverse ranges of businesses and quality jobs”; concentrating education, workforce training, and broadband infrastructure investments “that expand equitable access to economic opportunity”; and aligning land use policy and infrastructure investments to “ensure sufficient flexibility to respond to regional trends around remote work, e-commerce, and related innovations.” East Bay EDA plans to pursue the 12 priorities by coordinating with stakeholders in four focus areas: business climate, land use and infrastructure, education and workforce development, and community health and well-being.

Among other things, East Bay Forward provides “informed and data-driven guidance for leaders to maximize the East Bay’s opportunities within the greater Bay Area and Northern California economies and position the diverse subareas of the East Bay to benefit from them,” according to the report. It also promotes “economic recovery efforts that reduce income and wealth disparities by gender and race” as well as “efforts around regional emergency preparedness and safeguarding public health to protect against future economic shocks.”

A Collective Effort

In addition to its focus on economic issues, the report also notes the wealth of cultural and community assets in the region. “The East Bay has a long legacy and history of amazing arts, cultural and civic presence,” says Au. “We have many arts organizations, museums, learning centers, open spaces, and other incredible assets. It wasn't until we brought together the third focus group where a lot of these issues around belonging, quality of life, and community health and well-being became very apparent as a focus area. It’s important that we continue supporting and investing in our arts and cultural organizations, as well as parks and other essential assets to ensure we have a vibrant and cohesive region where people want to raise their families and start companies.”

The idea for the initiative developed over the summer of 2020 as officials at East Bay EDA saw the utility of a strategic effort to bring together public, private, nonprofit, and educational stakeholders to address the immediate recovery needs created by the pandemic. They also recognized the value of creating recovery strategies that went beyond the current situation to address long-term and systemic issues, notes Au, who led much of the work on East Bay Forward. In November 2020, East Bay EDA enlisted Strategic Economics, a respected consultancy in the East Bay, to help with the collective effort.

“We had over a hundred focus group participants involved in our six-month process who provided input and feedback,” says Au. “Ultimately, we ended up with something that we're really proud of and that harnesses the energy and excitement of many of our community leaders who are thinking about and planning for recovery in the near and long term.”

Much work remains to realize the vision outlined in East Bay Forward, according to Stephen Baiter, East Bay EDA Executive Director. “We know that we can't drive every one of these priorities, and frankly, that would not be the right or best thing for us to do. We do think they're all important and there are some natural organizations and entities and networks out there that could lead or already are leading in some of these spaces. There also are some places like business climate and land use and infrastructure where we can do a lot more. We're planning to use the blueprint as a way of fine-tuning and further prioritizing where East Bay EDA invests its time, money, and effort and also, by extension, who and how we partner with different folks across the region to support this broader set of objectives.”

The report cites a number of industries to watch, noting that “the Covid-19 pandemic, global supply chain disruptions, geopolitical considerations, transportation costs, and labor costs are producing a period of potential for a reshoring of East Bay manufacturing, with great opportunity particularly for small to medium-sized manufacturers and the growth of middle-wage jobs.” In addition to manufacturing, creative technology and design, biomedical, clean tech, and goods movement and logistics are also seen as especially promising industries for the region’s future. East Bay EDA and its partners understand the new initiative is only an early step toward the strong and more resilient future so many regional leaders envision. Moreover, they understand that the work for that future must continue to be collaborative.

“The Tri-Valley has been the fastest growing subregion in the East Bay,” notes Baiter. “We need Tri-Valley business leaders and other stakeholders to get involved in promoting some of these priorities along with our other regional partners, which includes Innovation Tri-Valley and East Bay Leadership Council. We don't know where the pandemic is going to take us next. But what we do know is that people are trying to make decisions about major investments. And the more aware we are collectively about efforts that folks are making to try to grow the regional economy, the more we can do to help ensure the conditions that are needed for success.”

For more information about East Bay Economic Development Alliance, please visit eastbayeda.org.

To download the East Bay Forward report, please visit eastbayeda.org/eastbayforward.

For more information about Strategic Economics, please visit strategiceconomics.com.

For more information about East Bay Leadership Council, please visit eastbayleadershipcouncil.com.

For more information about Innovation Tri-Valley Leadership Group, please visit innovationtrivalley.org.