Since launching in 2020 with a focus on supporting efforts to build inclusive economies in five cities – Fresno, Salinas, San Bernardino, Stockton, and Riverside – Irvine’s Priority Communities initiative has achieved progress towards its goal to create good jobs and foster inclusive economic development that benefits all workers.

This learning and evaluation report from our partners at Engage R+D lays out key findings from the first four years of the initiative’s grantmaking, and highlights progress across several of Priority Communities’ impact goals as well as challenges and tensions inherent to initiatives that involve diverse stakeholders, sectors, and other complexities. It explores what it takes to transform local economies and includes examples from each community to provide more nuance.

Key findings:

• Support from Irvine has significantly shifted the composition of regional economic development tables, with a substantial increase in participation from grassroots organizations that represent worker and community voice
• Robust cross-sector partnerships are reducing silos and promoting collaboration, resulting in billions of dollars in new investments from federal, state, and philanthropic sources
• Regions are piloting innovative projects with promising initial results that pave the way for new jobs in emerging sectors
• Regional partners are building credibility, new narratives, and political will for more inclusive and equitable economic development that leads to the creation of good jobs