The Monterey Bay region is a place of scenic beauty, with breathtaking coastlines, rolling fields, and shady redwood forests. It’s also an exciting place of culture, history, and innovation.
Its challenges are equally vivid. Housing costs are increasingly out of reach. Jobs in leading industries leave workers struggling to make ends meet. A Digital Divide hinders progress and inclusivity and exacerbates economic and educational inequalities.
Those are among the complex issues that led to the formation of the Monterey Bay Economic Partnership (MBEP) in 2015. A regional, member-supported nonprofit, MBEP brings together a cross-sector network of stakeholders from public, private, and civic entities to collaborate around regional challenges to improve the economic health and quality of life in the Monterey Bay region.
There’s a popular saying about stepping up: Be the change you wish to see in the world. MBEP is driven to make that change happen. That’s been MBEP’s vision from the start, and as we prepare to celebrate our 10th anniversary, MBEP’s impact is deeply felt across the region.
We work to increase awareness through advocacy, education, and engagement, convening multi-sector stakeholders toward collective impact in programs and policy work to eliminate barriers to progress.
Our vision is a region where high-quality, affordable broadband is considered an essential utility, every resident in Monterey, Santa Cruz, and San Benito counties can access telehealth, every child can do homework and access educational resources, and businesses of all sizes can remain competitive. We’re working to ensure each resident has access to affordable, reliable, high-quality internet and is empowered with the devices and digital skills needed to use it.
MBEP works to secure funding so that local internet service providers can extend access to underserved and rural areas. This improves economic opportunities for thousands of residents, students, and businesses, as well as public safety in high fire-risk areas. Last year alone, we secured $60 million in broadband infrastructure funding for our region.
An early advocate for classifying broadband as an essential utility for how we live, learn, and operate as a community, we continue to foster public-private partnerships as an essential step toward closing the Digital Divide.
We’ve secured funding that enables community partners to make positive change happen, like digital literacy instruction and distribution of new or refurbished computers to more than 500 residents.
Through inclusive economic development initiatives, MBEP is working to ensure that our region can support and develop sustainable high-quality jobs that foster economic growth.
Recently, MBEP secured Economic Development District (EDD) designation for the tri-county area of Santa Cruz, Monterey, and San Benito counties. This is the U.S. Economic Development Administration’s first new EDD designation in California in 15 years. The designation streamlines access to significant funding and sets a precedent for regional economic development, amplifying efforts to build a more resilient economic base.
Working alongside its partners as part of the Uplift Central Coast Coalition, MBEP has developed strategies to catalyze inclusive economic growth and the development of sustainable industries that create high-quality, broadly accessible jobs across a six-county region. Through its Regions Rise Together initiative, MBEP has led the collaborative development of an inclusive economic development plan for the region, identifying $510.5 million in priority investment areas.
As a founding partner of the Monterey Bay Tech Hub, MBEP is bringing together key regional stakeholders to create opportunities for advanced air mobility-based economic growth and job creation in the tri-county region, addressing the future workforce needs and policy frameworks to support AAM market growth.
Our housing crisis impacts virtually every component of our local communities, from low-income families struggling to pay rent to major businesses seeking to recruit and retain workers. MBEP works with a broad, regional coalition of individuals and organizations to advocate for the construction of all types of housing. To jumpstart affordable housing production, we created the Monterey Bay Housing Trust. Partnering with Housing Trust Silicon Valley, which provides a 4-to-1 match for every dollar we raise locally, that revolving loan fund has leveraged an initial $2 million regional investment to nearly $30 million for affordable housing development.
MBEP’s research, expertise, and advocacy efforts are helping to drive policy changes to streamline housing production and improve housing affordability. MBEP is also working with our members to ensure the creation of much-needed workforce housing so that everyone in our region — from farmworkers and teachers to retail workers, nurses, and physicians — has access to safe, affordable housing.
The region has come a long way over the last decade. There is much more to do in helping create a thriving, healthy, and prosperous economic region for all. Please consider joining the Monterey Bay Economic Partnership in funding regional solutions at www.mbep.biz/donate. Questions: 831.465.5000 or
adoptions@spcasc.org.
Comcast is proud to sponsor this column, which features the great work of non-profit groups supporting the Santa Cruz community.
