The Envision Tahoe Economic Summit was hosted this week by the Tahoe Prosperity Center. The annual Summit is an opportunity to catalyze change and take action for the benefit of the Tahoe Truckee regional economy while supporting our community, quality of life and environment. The 2022 Summit brought together over 100 community leaders to engage in conversations about economic resiliency and implementing the Envision Tahoe Prosperity Playbook. The Envision Tahoe process was a collaborative regional economic recovery and resiliency strategy, funded by the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) and completed over the past year, following the pandemic and the devastating Caldor Fire.
This year’s event featured two keynote speakers with the EDA and U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). The focus of the keynote speakers was how these two federal agencies can partner with our bi-state region on future investment in the Tahoe Truckee region, including implementing the resiliency and recovery strategies in the Prosperity Playbook.
First to share their work and how it can positively help Tahoe’s small businesses was SBA Region 9 Director Elmy Bermejo, who shared how supporting small businesses is critical to a regional economy, including the success of her family’s San Francisco restaurant in business for 56 years. She also brought members of her team to the event so local business owners could directly interact with SBA representatives and answer questions about the important programs SBA offers.
After Bermejo’s presentation, Sheba Person-Whitley, director of the EDA Regional Office in Seattle, shared information on some of the recent large investments in California and Nevada. Specifically, Lake Tahoe Community College will receive $1.2 million from the $21.5 million Good Jobs award given to the California Community College Foundation for the Resilient Careers in Forestry program. Additionally, Nevada was awarded $14.9 million for the Equity in Employment Project, which covers some of the Tahoe region. Sheba also brought the California and Nevada EDA representatives for the region, which was incredibly valuable for our local community, business and government leaders.
Thank you to Ish Herrera from CA FWD and the California Stewardship Network for attending and helping to support the Tahoe region as we work to implement the Prosperity Playbook and improve our regional economy and community.
Heidi Hill Drum is CEO of the Tahoe Prosperity Center
