Photo Credit: Tia Gemmell / CA FWD
More than 800 leaders from industry, community, and the private, public, and nonprofit sectors gathered in Sacramento at the 2024 California Economic Summit to work toward a sustainable, resilient, and inclusive California economy in this time of transition.
The event kicked off with three regional tours organized by Valley Vision, regional co-host of this year’s Summit and member of our California Stewardship Network. The tours highlighted local innovation in the farm to fork to food movement, advanced manufacturing partnerships, and community revitalization.
Along with Valley Vision, the Growth Factory, the California Mobility Center, ZEV Tour, and the CalAsian Chamber, the Summit held its regional welcome reception, which represented the power of innovation and collaboration and how these partners are collectively working to build the future of the Greater Sacramento Region and the state.
On Day 1 of the Summit, California Governor Gavin Newsom, a Summit champion from its start, lauded the progress of California Jobs First (an idea hatched at a previous Summit) and recognized those working to make it a success, “Deep gratitude and respect to all of you. The work you do is some of the most important work done in the State of California. At the end of the day, it’s about us, people, all of us being better off.”
Keynote speaker Heather Boushey, member and chief economist of President Biden’s Council of Economic Advisers & Investing in America Cabinet, talked about the economy’s recovery, especially in California, “One of the things this recovery has brought in the State of California is two million start-ups. Every one of those businesses is an indicator of hope and optimism.” She mentioned that growth is key to an equitable economy that works for all. “We can’t have shared prosperity without prosperity.”
The plenary sessions focused on a variety of interconnected topics, including (but certainly not limited to!):
- Strategizing how the new economy will need to build a sustainable transportation system
- Managing the increased use of California’s electrical grid that was designed for a different economy
- Ensuring that California not only has access to water, but strategies surrounding supply and demand
- Managing an insurance crisis caused by climate change
- Discussing how the government can partner with the community, labor, and private sector to create Community Benefits Partnership agreements
- Regions-up planning and how the role of the regions is to be the translator of state policy
- Aligning industry and business relationships as we focus on regional job-creation
- Developing skill sets for new jobs in the energy sector, and ensuring the new jobs are not just a replacement, but equal or better
- Understanding the role of the creative economy as a job creator with a multiplier effect that creates additional non-creative jobs
- Ensuring that a college credential leads to economic mobility
As the country is facing unprecedented weather occurrences, keynote speaker Spencer Glendon, founder of Probable Futures, showed attendees the consequences of climate change. “As the temperature rises, the Sahara is moving into Europe,” said Glendon. He brought the issue closer to home showing that the number of days above 90 degrees in Sacramento is increasing, “Trees are burning in a lot of these forest fires because they are in the wrong climate.” As the climate continues to change, he advocates for building new systems to tackle the consequences.
We awarded four Steward Leader Awards this year—these annual awards are voted on by partners within our network, and are awarded to those who contribute significantly to collaborating with public, private, and civic sector leaders to advance triple-bottom-line solutions that balance equity, environmental sustainability, and economic growth.
This year’s awardees include:
- California Steward Leader Award: Margaret Cederoth, Director of Planning and Sustainability for the California High-Speed Rail Authority
- California Regional Steward Leader Award: Ashley Swearengin, President & CEO of the Central Valley Community Foundation
- California Young Steward Leader Award: Ciara Thrower, dedicated community builder in the Inland Empire and member of CA FWD’s Young Leaders Advisory Council
We announced a new award category this year, the California Steward Legacy Award, presented to Susan Lovenburg, retired COO of CA FWD and longtime California Economic Summit champion—the Summit is what it is today because of Susan’s dedication and work throughout the past 13 years.
We were honored to have Julián Castro and the Latino Community Foundation host their annual “El Poder Latino” event at the Summit, where they launched their new Latino Capital Accelerator, an innovative initiative created in response to the community’s demand for more control over their economic futures.
The Summit this year included six breakout sessions covering three tracks: Equity, Industry, and Resilient Landscapes. We are excited to share the outcomes and next steps from these sessions—including a partnership with the Possibility Lab at the University of California—in future communications.
We want to extend deep gratitude to all our California Economic Summit attendees, partners, sponsors, speakers, and our Regional Host Committee, who helped make this event possible! Your partnership is invaluable as we continue the momentum of the Summit.
The 2025 Summit will be in Stockton, but in the meantime, watch this space, as well as our newsletter, to keep updated and informed on key projects, new endeavors, and other exciting opportunities coming out of this year’s event.
