Recommendations for Economic Development in Guadalupe, CA

It is recommended that the City of Guadalupe prepare and implement a small-scale business expansion and retention program using existing service providers in the area. This type of program model seems to hold the most potential for Guadalupe. A mixed-methods approach including in-depth cases studies of existing economic development programs and an analysis of opportunities and constraints in Guadalupe informs a set recommendations for future economic development in the City. Data was collected in three phases: short interviews with a variety of economic development program staff, short interviews with Guadalupe business owners and City officials and in-depth interviews with staff from five selected case-study programs.