Video by Angel Hernandez & John Guenther
For three years now, the California Economic Summit has been an ongoing partnership between Calfornia Forward and the California Stewardship Network to gather like minds and stakeholders with the singular goal of advancing the state’s economy in a thoughtful, methodical and logical way. One cornerstone of this approach is that in order to craft economic policy that beneifts the entire state, we must attack Californa one diverse region at a time. It sounds contradictory on the surface, but it’s easy to understand that what is good for the ag-centric Central Valley might not necessarily provide the best results for the tech hub of Silicon Valley.
This year, the Summit held a one day event called Capitol Day. Summit Action Teams met in the morning to discuss accomplishments over the past year and where to take their work in the coming year. The afternoon conversations took up three huge challenges for the state’s economy: water, workforce, and creating enough housing and transit options for that workforce. Read more about those big themes of the day in their recap “Three ways to ensure California’s prosperity emerge from Summit’s Capitol Day.”
While prior events have been held in San Jose and Los Angeles, this year’s took place in Sacramento to encourage participation from busy Legislators, and turnout did not disappoint.
Speaking in front of the hundreds of attendees, Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins (D-San Diego) reaffirmed the priorities of the Summit gathered from around the state. “Your goal—economic prosperity, environmental quality, and expanding opportunity for everyone—is right on target,” Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins told Summit leaders Tuesday. “I believe one of our most important jobs in the Capitol is finding the right balance, a balance where California has a strong business climate that generates jobs and revenue, where we’re also safe, healthy, and financially able to live, work, and raise our families. That’s really it. The solutions aren’t so easy.”
Take a look at the above video to understand the evolving challenges of California and how they are being tackled this year into the next.
