USC Price Grad Students Impress With Economic Development Plans For Cities

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An approach to help the city of Carson develop a strong aerospace industry cluster took home the top prize April 17 at the Sunstone Economic Development Challenge @ USC Price’s final pitch contest.

The team of three USC Sol Price School of Public Policy students took home the $5,000 first place prize. There were five teams participating in the challenge, which paired cities and towns with USC Price student teams to explore ways to enhance the municipalities’ economic development efforts.

“We were incredibly proud and grateful to take home a win for our team and the city of Carson,” said Team Carson member Sydnee Yu. “The Sunstone Challenge has been a tremendous learning experience truly informed by current affairs cities are facing… We hope to convey the many opportunities for aerospace business attraction strategies to create synergy with broader regional and city goals related to workforce development, city growth, and environmental remediation.”

This is the third year for the challenge, which is a partnership between Sunstone Cities and the USC City/County Management Fellowship. Five cities participated this year – Carson, Cypress, Glendora, Nevada City and Santa Clarita.

“I think time will show that the team met this goal by providing realistic and actionable recommendations that can deliver great benefits for the City and its residents,” said Jacob Collins, assistant planner at the city of Carson. “The fact that students were able to win the grand prize and will have the opportunity to give their pitch to a City Commission is a great first step towards Carson implementing their recommendations.”

Dr. Christopher Boone, dean of the Price School of Public Policy, said the Challenge is a model of education.

“It speaks to the heart of learning,” he said in his opening remarks. “Students work with real city officials and tackle real world problems. It is true experiential learning.”

The student teams have spent much of the last semester studying their cities and working with city leaders to develop ways to solve economic development issues. Each of the five presentations was specific to the city’s situation.

Team Carson focused on expanding the aerospace industry already in Carson by capitalizing on potential redevelopment of brown fields and the strong aerospace sectors in Long Beach and El Segundo. Team Glendora took second place (and $3,000) by focusing on the recent completion of the Metro A-Line light rail system there to create a “Golden Thread Corridor.” Team Santa Clarita was third ($1,500) by focusing on the fact that city does not have a business license system, proposing a high-tech solution to tracking and helping businesses through a commercial application.

Two smaller municipalities rounded out the field. Nevada City, a mountain town northeast of Sacramento with a population of less than 4,000, is by far the furthest city from USC to participate in the three years the challenge has existed. City Manager Sean Grayson said he agreed to participate specifically to see how the school and students would respond.

“A small resort town is a really different challenge,” Grayson said. "I think the results were great. It started the conversation, and we’ve committed to implement at least a portion of the result.”

Team Cypress faced some of the same challenges, with a smaller town dependent on retail for its economy. They offered up a detailed plan to revitalize a specific commercial corridor.

John Keisler, CEO and managing member at Sunstone, came up with the idea for the Economic Development Challenge. He is a USC Price alum and is now treasurer of the USC City/County Management Fellowship.

“Government can be, usually is, the catalyst for economic development,” Keisler said. “It is about collaborative governance, and don’t be surprised if these communities put a lot of this into practice… And now you can go out and point to this real-world experience when you apply for that job!”

Student teams now will prepare memos and potentially make presentations to their respective city councils, city staff and more. Those memos and presentations are posted on the challenge website.

Cities interested in being part of the 2026 Sunstone Economic Development Challenge @ USC Price should fill out the Client City Intake Form. Contact Ryan Phong, the program advisor, at Ryan.Phong@SunstoneCities.com for any questions. For more information about Sunstone Cities’ services, go to https://sunstonecities.com/.