 East Bay EDA a Resource for Creating Resilient Regional Ecosystem  When the coronavirus hit in March, Stephen Baiter, executive director of the East Bay Economic Development Alliance, and his team were preparing for their biggest event of the year, the East Bay Innovation Awards. They had to shelve the event. “We pivoted very quickly as the magnitude of the impacts around the region started to become clear,” said Baiter, whose organization provides forums and networking opportunities for businesses to share promising practices, resources and tools. East Bay EDA, with more than 150 members, is a cross-sector, public-private partnership that promotes strategic economic development throughout Alameda and Contra Costa counties. With COVID-19 affecting businesses, the organization quickly convened regional partners, including its business and city members, to better understand how things were playing out on the ground level. In a three-week period, they generated nearly 2,000 responses to a business recovery survey to gather crucial information about how the virus was impacting local businesses. Since then, East Bay EDA has been organizing a response to the small-business community, which has been the hardest-hit by the pandemic. On June 23, the organization hosted a webinar focused on best practices for reopening restaurants and bars. (Watch video recording) They will also be following up and having focused conversations with business sectors that have been impacted the greatest by the pandemic. East Bay EDA is working to provide data and insights to help identify those industry sectors that have resiliency in the midst of the pandemic challenges – information that can be used to shape solutions. “We’re really a regional resource that works across different industry sectors to proactively look at solutions to create and sustain a more resilient regional economy,” Baiter said. “We’re here with a lot of real-time information and data about what’s happening on the ground and are working with many different stakeholders to think about ways in which to respond to our challenges and find new solutions. We want others to join our network and be a part of the efforts we’re undertaking to help shape and position our region for greater resilience and success.”
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