California’s Jobs First regional plans recognized by federal government, creating new opportunities for state economic investment and coordination

​SACRAMENTO — Today, Governor Newsom and the California Jobs First Council Co-Chairs announced that the United States Economic Development Administration (EDA) has formally accepted all thirteen Jobs First regional plans as Comprehensive Economic Development Strategies (CEDS). This acceptance marks the first time in California’s history that all 482 cities, 58 counties and every community have a federally recognized strategy, creating new opportunities to attract and leverage investments in the implementation of these plans.

“This is a significant milestone for communities up and down the Golden State – giving our regional partners access to additional federal funds, in addition to state, private, and philanthropic resources, that will help us grow and strengthen California’s world-leading economy. This is the Jobs First vision of an inclusive, bottom-up economic development strategy come to life.” — Governor Gavin Newsom

The U.S. EDA, along with many other federal agencies, requires an approved CEDS for communities to be eligible for funding from a wide variety of programs that promote economic, infrastructure, and workforce development. The approval of these plans also positions California’s regions to further advocate for financial resources from many funders, including philanthropy, private investors, Community Development Financial Institutions, and Community Reinvestment Act bankers.

“Over the past two and a half years, communities have worked tirelessly to develop these regional plans, and this acceptance is a major accomplishment that comes at just the right time as we pivot from planning into action,” said Dee Dee Myers, Senior Advisor to Governor Newsom and Director of the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development. “We look forward to supporting our regional partners as they work to attract more investment and economic activity to their communities in the coming years.”

In 2022, California invested $5 million into each of the thirteen Jobs First entities, to establish collaboratives made up of a variety of stakeholders including local governments, business and labor leaders, environmental justice advocates, workforce professionals, and more. These collaboratives then developed region-specific, data-driven, community-led economic development strategies focused on creating good-paying, accessible jobs and sustainable growth.

These thirteen strategies laid the foundation of the statewide Blueprint and marked the first time that California had ever made this type of investment to promote regions-up economic planning, clearing the way for newfound regional and cross-regional collaboration.

“Having led the development of local and regional CEDS across California, I can attest first-hand how incredible it is for all our communities to have received this acknowledgement,” said Stewart Knox, Secretary of Labor & Workforce Development. “Now, it’s time for us to get to work on making sure these new opportunities result in good-paying jobs up and down the state.”

California’s Economic Blueprint

These approvals are a direct result of the recently released California Jobs First Economic Blueprint, a statewide plan built with input from thirteen regional strategies to drive sustainable economic growth, innovation, and access to good-paying jobs over the next decade.

Made up of ten strategic industry sectors, this framework will help streamline the state’s economic, business, and workforce development programs to create more jobs, faster. The state’s thirteen economic regions engaged more than 10,000 local residents and experts who collectively identified these sectors as key to driving local economies into the future.

California’s economic dominance

California remains the fifth-largest economy in the world. With an increasing state population and recent record-high tourism spending, California is the nation’s top state for new business starts, access to venture capital funding, and manufacturing, high-tech, and agriculture.

Learn more

More information about California Jobs First and the Economic Blueprint can be found here. For ongoing updates, follow California Jobs First on LinkedIn and X.