Projects

Projects

Learn More About ECEDC’s Project Portfolio

East County Economic Development Council and its sister organization, the East County Economic Development Council Foundation, work with leaders across industry/business, education, and government to identify meaningful and impactful programs to pursue. Click on the projects below to learn more!

Workforce Development Portfolio

Projects with San Diego Cities

Small Business Support

ECEDC champions San Diego small businesses and entrepreneurs through innovative projects, support systems, and purpose driven collaboration.

Small Business Development Center

ECEDC is proud to host the East County San Diego branch of the nationwide SBDC program. SBDC hosts workshops, one-on-one counseling and support for small business owners and entrepreneurs at no cost!

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Workforce Development Portfolio

ECEDC works with leaders from workforce development, education, and industry to identify common solutions to develop a sustainable workforce throughout the region, culminating in the Workforce Development Portfolio. In its Portfolio, ECEDC unites education and industry to create a robust and reliable workforce in the entire San Diego region. These programs increase economic prosperity by providing our workforce (including under-employed, transitioning adults, and veterans) with the skills/pathways required to enter and advance in their careers.

Slingshot Program

Slingshot works to combat restrictive workforce training resources by developing a revolving loan pool for individuals looking to upskill to hire wage positions. The program would create a renewable fund pool to offer risk-free loans for workforce training for in-demand jobs.

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Careers in Manufacturing Series

The Careers in Manufacturing Tour/Panel Series takes students, veterans, and adults on plant tours to show that advanced manufacturing is clean, implements high technology, and offers robust advanced career options. The employer panels provide participants an insider’s perspective to the manufacturing industry by bringing together a coalition of respected employers, workers, and training entities to provide career path insight for prospective workers.

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Manufacturing Expo and Resource Fair

The East County Manufacturing Expo & Resource Fair is an event that displays today’s manufacturing and dispels common misconceptions. The event is hosted annually in October and offers 40+ local manufacturers and resource providers to the general public.

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Projects with San Diego Cities

ECEDC partnered with San Diego cities to distribute aid, supplies, and stimulus funds to small businesses. Many of these efforts dispersed COVID-19 support funds to help businesses survive and rebound from the pandemic.

LEAP Program

The City of La Mesa, in partnership with the East County Economic Development Council, is revamping the La Mesa Entrepreneurship Accelerator Program (LEAP). The LEAP program will distribute $350,000 in grant funds to 35 La Mesa businesses in grants of $10,000 per business. The program is open to for-profit brick-and-mortar businesses located within the incorporated City of La Mesa that have been open for at least a year.

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Santee MAP Grant

The City of Santee created the Microenterprise Assistance Program (MAP) and partnered with ECEDC to assist small businesses owned by Low and Moderate Income (LMI) individuals that were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

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La Mesa Small Business Relief Grant

The City of La Mesa and ECEDC partnered to distribute grants to small businesses impacted by COVID-19 pandemic. Eligible small businesses applied in Summer 2020 for up to $5,000 for rent, payroll, utilities, and more.

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Santee Business Assistance Grant

The City of Santee created this program and partnered with ECEDC to assist small businesses owners that were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic with grants of up to $10,000. The program was live Oct 5th – Oct 11th.

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La Mesa Disaster Recovery Grant

This fund was created by the La Mesa Chamber or Commerce and EDC helped to manage and facilitate the distribution of funds to businesses who suffered looting and rioting following the peaceful Black Lives Matter Protests in May 2020.

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Statewide Collaborations

ECEDC runs several initiatives and programs in partnerships with other nonprofits, educational institutions, think tanks, and government entities. These projects cover an umbrella of topics under ‘economic development’ including, cybersecurity, defense/national security, education, small business development, manufacturing aid, economic opportunity zones, etc.

CASCADE

CASCADE seeks to bolster California’s defense supply chain cybersecurity resilience through business assistance programs and to support the growth and sustainment of its cybersecurity workforce.

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CADENCE

This program helps accelerate statewide manufacturing modernization and innovation spaces through engagement kick-off events defense ecosystems of California.

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Business Attraction

ECEDC works to attract businesses to the San Diego region, improve supply chains and drive economic development. Some of the programs have even been scaled beyond San Diego County to support business development nationwide.

Connectory

A collaborative online database providing endless possibilities and opportunity for industry and technology companies. Connectory provides meaning insight into supply chains to create relationships across sectors.

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