East Bay Economic Development Alliance (East Bay EDA) is a cross-sector, public-private partnership that promotes strategic economic development throughout Alameda and Contra Costa Counties. The organization was founded in 1990 after leaders from business, government, and the broader community recognized the need to join together to tackle challenges at the regional level. Over the past 30 years, East Bay EDA has become an active, effective organization of more than 150 members.

The organization convenes diverse networks of businesses, local government agencies, and community leaders that embrace the extraordinary value of the region as an unrivaled place to live, work, and do business. “East Bay EDA champions regional collaboration through direct business services, legislative advocacy, and regional networking by connecting efforts that support a healthy and vibrant economy,” says Stephen Baiter, Executive Director. The group works through leadership committees, which focus on issues affecting business climate, economic development, education, housing, infrastructure, international trade, land use, transportation, and more.

East Bay EDA has also published a variety of reports on topics that include the region’s economy, quality of life, workforce, and manufacturing sector. Marketing the assets of the East Bay is one of East Bay EDA's key focuses, according to Darien Louie, who was the organization’s Executive Director between May 2013 and March 2018. “East Bay EDA has been instrumental in attracting, keeping, and growing business in the region, whether it is through business orientation meetings, educational forums, events like the East Bay Innovation Awards, or meetings with international ambassadors.”

A History of Collaboration

Any history of the East Bay EDA should note the organization's convening power and cachet as a cross-sector regional organization with high-level leadership, according to Louie. The group’s status as a trusted partner is unique compared to “other economic development organizations that are more government influenced or business influenced – or where nonprofit leadership has no voice,” she says.

That status did not come overnight and neither did East Bay EDA, which founding Executive Director Brue Kern credits in large measure to the efforts of Joe Callahan, one of the driving forces behind the development of Hacienda. “It was really Joe’s leadership that brought together a community that said we can solve our problems better if we work collectively than if we work against each other,” says Kern.

Callahan was right, and East Bay EDA has played a critical role in bringing disparate groups together. The group helped resolve a channel dredging impasse at the Port of Oakland, for example. By 1991, East Bay EDA had convened and built consensus among fishermen, conservation groups, shipping interests, and others to use spoils from dredging the channel to 42 feet deep to create wetlands. By 2009, the group’s support for dredging the Port of Oakland channel to 50 feet helped make it possible for the newest and largest container ships to make deliveries to the East Bay directly from Asia. The deeper channel increased the appeal of the Port of Oakland, and thus the region, and shortened the industry supply chain. In 2012, the Port of Oakland was the destination for the largest container ship to ever enter the San Francisco Bay.

Another example of the group’s importance can be found in the creation of the Economic Development Directors' Council, according to Louie. The council has given the economic development leadership in Alameda and Contra Costa counties a “vehicle to share best practices, get educated about important issues that impact their jurisdictions, and get introduced to resources and new businesses.”

These two accomplishments and many others occurred during the first 20 years of the group, a time when Kern created “a good foundation of work,” according to Louie, one that future leadership could build on. Part of that foundation includes an improved goods movement infrastructure. In response to complaints from members and local businesses, the group began investigating critical traffic corridors and rail logistics that were crucial for the movement of goods but essentially ignored by the primary Bay Area transit agency, which was focused on the needs of commuters.

“As the area was becoming costlier, warehouse and distribution facilities and logistics companies were moving to the Central Valley,” says Kern. “We led an initiative that established the concept of goods movement as a cluster of activities that needed to be studied.” Seed money provided by the group to explore the issue eventually turned into significant investment from the State of California in the form of infrastructure improvements. “It clearly is a critical issue, and we drew attention to it,” notes Kern.

Promising Future

Before the pandemic struck, East Bay EDA organized a variety of events related to its areas of concern. While some of those events continue online, the organization pivoted in response to the crisis to focus on analyzing and understanding the pandemic’s impacts on the East Bay economy. The group has hosted discussions on how the region might best balance public health concerns against the deepening economic issues that affect both residents and businesses. East Bay EDA was also quick to recognize the need to publicly compile trusted resources on Covid-19 for regional businesses and workers.

Many East Bay businesses have struggled because of the pandemic. Despite the hard times, there are reasons to be optimistic about the future of East Bay EDA, regional businesses, and the area as a whole. East Bay EDA is supported by its members' dues, sponsorships, in-kind, and financial event revenue, according to Louie. For the past seven years, before the pandemic, the group has been financially self-sustaining and has been able to reimburse Alameda County for all budgeted expenses, including personnel costs.

As a result, “East Bay EDA will survive because it has a more sustainable financial base by starting out as being part of Alameda County's annual budget,” Louie says. The situation also “demonstrates Alameda County's foresight in realizing that the strength of the East Bay region is reliant on both counties' economic viability.” Moreover, East Bay EDA has a great reputation with the international business community, according to Louie, and is sought out for location, investment, and commerce advice. “This alleviates a lot of work for the cities, and positions the region for more opportunities.”

Despite the challenges so many face currently, Baiter is hopeful about the future. “What gives me room for optimism is the grit and resilience of the people in the East Bay and their compassion and willingness to look out for others, to bring different people together, and to work for common solutions,” he says. “We have the potential to create new models and new ways to lift up all residents and create broader prosperity.”

Historically, the East Bay has often shown strength when times are tough. What makes it so strong? The region’s ethnic diversity is the source of its strength, according to Kern, and also the reason it has so many innovative companies. That diversity “has positioned the East Bay as a very special place for families and workers and businesses.”

The East Bay Innovation Awards were created by East Bay EDA as a means to help spotlight “the breadth and depth of innovative companies, ideas, and technologies that have been developed in our region,” says Baiter. The 2020 East Bay Innovation Awards will be held as a virtual event this year on Thursday, October 15 at 4 pm. The awards event showcases “the brilliance, creativity, and diversity that makes our region so unique.”

For more information about the East Bay Economic Development Alliance and the East Bay Innovation Awards, please visit www.eastbayeda.org.