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Cathedral City outlines business support programs, Team California partnership and new development dashboard
Summary
Economic development staff presented a quarterly update describing a SWOT study of the automotive industry, a Team California AHEAD sponsorship, new small-business workshops and counseling sessions, an Ignite business program, and a public-facing development dashboard on the city website. The department is staging outreach at the ICSC
Eric, representing Cathedral City’s economic development staff, briefed the Architectural Review Committee on recent business-support initiatives, a consultant-led SWOT analysis for the automotive industry, Team California participation and a new development dashboard on the city website.
“We are very active in our, in our small but mighty department,” Eric said, outlining work the department has underway to retain and recruit businesses. He said Cosmont Companies is conducting a strengths–weaknesses–opportunities–threats analysis of the local automotive sector and that the city received an AHEAD scholarship through Team California—an in-kind sponsorship the presenter described as having a value “more than $20,000” because it includes multiple promotion and site-selector services.
The department has contracted with partners to offer direct assistance and training: the Coachella Valley Women’s Business Center will provide four hours of one-on-one business counseling weekly on Thursdays at City Hall starting Aug. 21 (sessions available in English and Spanish), and Riverside County’s Office of Economic Development will hold small-business workshops on the same day from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Eric said the city seeks to pair workshops with childcare provided by the Desert Recreation District and to publicize services broadly.
“The program provides free grand openings or celebrations for businesses. We provide the 1 on 1 counseling that that I mentioned, the different workshops, and then specialized support,” Eric said, describing the Ignite program and other concierge-style services to help entrepreneurs navigate licensing, capital and compliance questions.
Eric also demonstrated the new Cathedral City development dashboard, accessible from cathedralcity.gov, which presents parcels and project details, status updates and, where available, site plans. “This dashboard is consistently updated through our development services committee meetings,” he said, and staff identified Victor Gomez as the primary staff member responsible for maintaining current information. Committee members complimented the dashboard’s interactive map, filtering by commercial/mixed-use/residential categories, and suggested highlighting a few items for the committee in future quarterly reports.
Eric said the department will promote upcoming workshops, is coordinating representation at the ICSC Western conference and has scheduled an NBC interview to amplify the new services. He also described a planned quarterly update—an outward-facing document that will summarize contacts, project activity and key metrics from the economic development team.
No formal committee action was recorded on the economic development presentation.
