Advisory Board: Economic Development Committee
Subject: Economic Development Work Program Update
Presenter: Staff
Contact: Alyson (Greenlee) Escarzaga, 925-655-2783
Information:
Staff Report is below.
Referral History and Update:
Since the last meeting of the Committee on December 1, 2025, various elements of the economic development work program have proceeded. This report includes updates on multiple efforts:
• Brownfields Remediation: On December 12, 2025, Economic Development staff from the County and other local agencies released a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) for Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Brownfields Coalition Grant to seek qualified and experienced firms to conduct technical analysis for the EPA Brownfields Coalition Assessments grant. County staff convened a meeting of all the agencies that are part of the Coalition in a meeting on January 21, 2026.
• Business Startup/Retention Assistance: Economic development staff from the County have met with over 25 businesses with: Assistance with access to grant funding for the development of a grocery store (assist job training/placement programs and small business/microenterprise technical assistance programs), access to grant funding for community investment funds (Bay Area Air District Local Community Benefits funding), access to grant funding for the development of affordable housing, access to grant funding for brownfields development, access to potential new markets for networking (access to Diablo Valley Tech Initiative), access to code enforcement complaints (Department of Conservation & Development code enforcement complaint form), invitations to the Manufacturers Roundtable.
• Bludot Customer Relationship Management Email Marketing: Economic development staff from the County have sent out emails to 1) manufacturing businesses, and 2) small businesses that have been opened by over 1,073 businesses (See Attachments).
• MTC-ABAG Northern Waterfront Priority Production Areas (PPA) Project: Economic development staff from the County convened a meeting with the PPA jurisdictions on January 13, 2026 to review the Memos on the Northern Waterfront (See Attachments).
• Business Expansion/Attraction Assistance: Economic development staff from the County have met and supported over 10 businesses with: Assistance with permitting timelines (meetings with Application Permit Center planning staff), assistance with site / zoning enquiries, assistance with incentives (referrals to State of California Employment Training Panel (ETP) funding, State of California GO-Biz incentives, Workforce Development Board of Contra Costa County (WDBCCC) incentives), access to site location assistance.
• Governor’s Office of Business & Economic Development (GO-Biz) Requests for Information (RFIs): Economic development staff from the County reviewed four (4) Request for Information (RFI) from the Governor’s Office of Business of Business & Economic Development (GO-Biz) and submitted responses to two (2) RFIs.
• Green Empowerment Zone: Economic Development staff from the County continue to provide staffing support to the Governing Board of the Green Empowerment Zone, which met on November 21, 2025.
• Diablo Valley Tech Initiative (DVTI): Economic Development staff from the County participated in the Diablo Valley Tech Initiative (DVTI)’s monthly meetings on January 6, 2026, and referred County businesses to participate as speakers and attended the Funders & Founders event in Walnut Creek on January 27, 2026.
• Crockett Chamber of Commerce: Economic development staff from the County visited the Crockett Chamber of Commerce’s newly opened Visitor’s Center located at 628 2nd Ave and open Fridays-Sundays from 12-4pm. Economic development staff from the County dropped in to make connections with newly-opened Crockett business (Ruby Q Smoke Fusion) that were referred to Economic Development from the Application & Permit Center (APC).
• U.S. Economic Development Administration: Economic development staff from the County continued to monitor an application for a $1.2 million grant to support the pre-development strategy for high-performance battery manufacturing on the Northern Waterfront with the U.S. Department of Commerce.
• Walnut Creek Chamber of Commerce: Economic development staff from the County presented at the meeting on January 21, 2026 on the Meet the Consultants Site Selection & Economic Development Forum.
• East Contra Costa Cities Meeting: Economic development staff from the County participated in the East Contra Costa quarterly meeting of economic developers on December 8, 2025.
• Bay Front Chamber: Economic development staff from the County participated in the Mega Mixer (Hercules) on January 26, 2026.
• Other Key Meetings: Economic development staff from the County participated in key meetings with: East Bay Economic Development Alliance Economic Development Directors’ Council (December 4, 2025), Local Government Oil & Gas Working Group (December 9, 2025), San Pablo Economic Development Corporation to discuss resource programs for business (December 11, 2025), Hazardous Materials Commission for connection points to EPA Brownfields Grant (December 11, 2025), TeamCalifornia (January 21, 2026), Pittsburg Chamber of Commerce Business Mixer (January 22, 2026), Bay Area Jobs First Collaborative (January 28, 2026), 3rd Annual State of the Black Economy in Sacramento (January 28, 2026).
Economic development activities are funded by a General Fund allocation of $500,000 dating from 2017-18. As of October 31, 2025, there was a balance of $115,828.14 for Economic Development.
Recommendation(s)/Next Step(s):
RECEIVE Report From and/or Provide Direction to Staff Regarding County Economic Development Work Program