Coachella Valley, California

Economic Blueprint Strategy


Recent events in the national and global economy are unprecedented and have certainly affected all of California and the Coachella Valley. Understanding this reality, the Coachella Valley Economic Partnership (CVEP)—working with key local partners—launched a process to create a new regional Blueprint for the Coachella Valley. Market Street was retained to facilitate the strategy-creation process, which included a number of research components. These were a Competitive Assessment, Target Business Analysis, Marketing Assessment, and Best-Practices Analysis. Paired with a comprehensive public-input process, these quantitative and qualitative research reports led to the identification of priority strategies to focus on in the Blueprint, and an Implementation Plan to guide the activation of these strategies.

The Blueprint plan is an ambitious, comprehensive and forward-thinking strategy that addresses the challenges the Valley faces to be competitive and the opportunities to better diversify its economy, raise local wealth, train youth and adults for high-wage careers and continue to enhance the region’s enviable quality of life. It focuses on four primary goal areas:
  • Regionalism
  • Economic Diversification
  • Workforce Excellence
  • Quality of Place
The four goals are interrelated and must be approached systematically. Failure to achieve results in one goal area significantly threatens the prospects of the others. Moving forward with the Blueprint will require that Valley communities and leadership think differently about what constitutes community and economic development and regional cooperation/participation. While its history has been focused on local growth – predominantly in residential, retail and hospitality development – the Valley’s future must be increasingly directed towards regional solutions.

The Blueprint plan was rolled out at an October 2009 economic conference in the Coachella Valley in which Market Street CEO Mac Holladay reviewed the key research findings and the recommendations in Blueprint strategy. The Valley’s motivation to move forward and implement the plan was emphasized by the tremendous initial funding investments made by a long list of regional public and private companies and institutions.