LONG BEACH ECONOMIC PARTNERSHIP

Lbep led the "launch beach coalition" which is a working group made up of key stakeholders in the service of attracting tech startups to long beach. In addition, the group seeks to create an environment within the city that fosters startup growth and investment. The stakeholders include lbep, sunstone, long beach accelerator, imprint ventures, csulb center for entrepreneurship and innovation and the city of long beach economic development department. The coalition members are provided funding of $25,000 from sunstone. Together the coalition has held regular meetings to determine the following: establishment of a work space environment, curating of speakers and experts in the tech startup space, venture captial attraction, introductions and investment, hosting of panel discussions, meetups and other opportunities to provide startup engagement and interaction. As part of this effort, some of the coalition members worked directly with the city's economic development department to identify funding opportunities to expand on the work of the coalition. The group also held regular meetings and opportunities for the wider public to meet and learn more about the coalition and join the collaboration. Lbep hosted information about the coalition on its website and provided an intake form which generated contacts interested in learning more, which were then provided to the group.