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Pasadena has signed on as one of five Southern California cities that will be consulting with student teams from the USC Sol Price School of Public Policy for the second annual Sunstone Economic Development Challenge @ USC Price, according to Sunstone Management, a Southern California private capital management firm that sponsors the challenge.
The challenge pairs student teams from USC Price with municipal governments to develop strategies to drive economic growth through startups and workforce development.
The winning team will receive a $5,000 prize in spring 2024 from Sunstone Management through its Sunstone Community Fund.
“We are immensely grateful for the opportunity to participate in this challenge,” David Klug, Pasadena Economic Development Director, said in a statement released by Sunstone Management. “Building relationships with community-minded investors like Sunstone and emerging talent at higher education institutions like USC has great value to our work in economic development. We’re excited to see what solutions the bright minds at USC propose for strengthening our complex and challenging entrepreneurial ecosystem in Pasadena.”
The Sunstone Economic Development Challenge @ USC Price is a charitable initiative aimed at empowering local governments to create and implement inclusive strategies to support and grow early-stage technology startups and high-tech jobs in their communities.
For the 2023-2024 Challenge, teams of Price students, in collaboration with the five client cities, will develop forward-thinking and feasible strategies to attract and support startups, raise private capital, and create businesses and jobs.
The teams’ pitches will be presented to a panel of judges at the USC City/County Management Fellowship (CMF) Summit and Sunstone Challenge Final Pitch in April 2024.
Sunstone Management said the Challenge was sparked by the USC City/County Management Fellowship (CMF) and John Keisler, CEO and managing partner at Sunstone Management, a USC Price School graduate and a member of the fellowship.
“This program is a great example of the power of partnerships,” Keisler said. “Cities work with educational institutions, with support from the private sector, resulting in stronger job creation for their communities.”
In addition to Pasadena, this year’s participating cities are Culver City, Lomita, San Bernardino, and Torrance.
The inaugural program resulted in economic development proposals for Long Beach, Irvine, El Segundo, and Garden Grove.
USC Price said the deadline to apply for the challenge is Friday, Sept. 29. Teams will be formed and work will begin later this fall.
For more information, visit the Challenge website, https://sites.usc.edu/
Sunstone Management offers early-stage venture capital, real estate, and fixed income funds to qualified investors. The firm has been recognized as one of America’s Fastest Growing Companies by the Financial Times for three consecutive years and ranked 18th in the US for most active venture capital firms by PitchBook.
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