Chula Vista was awarded two Gold Rank Excellence in Economic Development Awards for its Annual Report and Department Work plans by the International Economic Development Council (IEDC), the city recently announced.
The Excellence in Economic Development Awards is granted to the world’s best economic development programs and partnerships, marketing materials, and the year's most influential leaders, according to the IEDC. The city received a Gold award in the Annual Report Category, the City’s first Gold award honor from IEDC.
Following a nomination process held earlier in the year, a diverse panel of economic and community developers judges these awards. According to the organization, it received over 500 submissions from four countries.
“Our department prides itself on demonstrating principles of excellence, transparency, and accountability to the community and the businesses we serve. The work plan strategically presents our guiding priorities and performance metrics to expand business support, improve collaboration and outreach, strengthen economic vitality, drive innovation and sustainability, and most importantly, advance equity and inclusion,” said Eric Crockett, Director of Economic Development and Deputy City Manager in a news release.
The Choose Chula Vista Small Business Economic Recovery app earned the city an additional Gold Award in the Digital Media Category. The application provides businesses with an exciting new way to attract more customers and increase revenues as the community recovers from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to Miranda Evans, a Special Projects Manager for the city, over 109 businesses registered to participate in the app which had over 2,200 downloads.
“The City of Chula Vista realized very early on in the COVID-19 pandemic that local businesses were being hit particularly hard. Our economic development team got creative and implemented an innovative mobile tool to provide support to small businesses and reward residents to shop, dine and stay local,” Evans said.
