Happy Holidays from your friends at Sunstone Cities. We hope you have a great time with family and friends.
It’s a tradition in many families to send letters to friends this time of year to catch them up on all the news. Here’s our update from the Sunstone Cities family.
Good Start
2024 was the first year for the Sunstone Cities moniker, but not for the work we’ve been doing. Sunstone Cities evolved from the Sunstone Economic Development Department.
We’re pleased to say that the first half of the year was good to us, with consulting contracts with Anaheim and Lakewood. At Anaheim we helped plan and launch a Business Improvement District in that city’s Little Arabia. Lakewood came to us to help with an economic development strategic plan.
We also submitted multiple proposals and responses to requests from several other cities. And we participated in multiple conferences and forums.
Expanding Services
We started with a strong suite of services developed through our Economic Development activities in previous years. In the second half of 2024, we defined the different ways in which we could help our public sector partners, from cities to special districts such as those governing hospitals.
One of the things we are most excited about is the opportunity for Public Infrastructure Financing Solutions (PIFS). We have partnered with American Lending Center, the Small Business Administration and more to help with development of creative Public-Private-Partnerships for the design, build, finance, operation, and maintenance of publicly owned facilities.
Jayro Sandoval, our Economic Development Officer and lead here at Sunstone Cities, also completed the Keys Course, a certificate course about economic development offered by the California Association for Local Economic Development.
Focus On Consulting
While much of what we do is about economic development and creating jobs, we also offer expertise in other aspects of the public-private ecosystem. For example, late this year we signed an advisory contract with Opt Health to introduce them to local governments interested in health and wellness programs, particularly for first responders.
Other areas where we can offer expert consultation include revenue growth, strategic analysis, communication strategies and material template and content creation.
Next Generation
One of the truly fun things we get to do is helping with the Sunstone Economic Development Challenge @ USC Price. This is the third year Sunstone has sponsored the program.
In the Challenge, graduate students from the University of Southern California Sol Price School of Public Policy form teams to partner with cities as consultants to create new strategies for economic development. This year, five cities are participating in the program.
We’re always looking for more cities to get involved with this great program. For information, email Ryan Phong at ryan.phong@sunstoneinvestment.com.
Thanks to you and partners like you, it has been a productive and fulfilling year for Sunstone Cities. With your help, we are making a difference.
For more information about us, visit the website, sunstonecities.com.
Happy Holidays, and here’s to a great 2025!