A chance to get free economic development assistance for your city and help the next generation of government professionals at the same time begins Friday, Aug. 14, with an information session about the Sunstone Economic Development Challenge @ USC Price.

This will be the fifth year for the unique, hands-on program connecting local governments with graduate student teams from the USC Sol Price School of Public Policy. The highly competitive process of selecting cities to be part of the 2026-27 Challenge starts with a virtual client city information session. Five cities will be chosen to participate.

Economic development officials from the chosen cities will collaborate with teams of graduate students to develop actionable strategies for small business growth, job creation and other economic development. Cities participating in past Challenges have been able to implement all or part of the approaches developed by the student teams.

“We thought it was worthwhile, really energizing,” Cliff Jones, Mission Viejo’s Planning and Economic Development Manager, said after last year’s team presentations of proposals at the University of Southern California. “It is refreshing to see the new ideas they come up with. It’s useful to get a youthful perspective.”

The Sunstone Economic Development Challenge @ USC Price is sponsored by Sunstone Cities and the USC City/County Management Fellowship (CCMF). Prize money is awarded to the top three student teams after a professionally judged presentation session at the end of the spring semester. Prize money is provided by the Sunstone Community Fund, a donor-advised nonprofit fund.

John Keisler, a USC public policy alum as well as the CEO of Sunstone and the treasurer of CCMF, helped launch the Challenge. Keisler was the Long Beach Economic Development Director before joining Sunstone, and said the real world experience the Challenge provides creates valuable potential employees for municipalities.

“It’s hard to overstate the value of working beside professionals, and dealing with real world problems,” Keisler said. “Students participating in the Challenge have a leg up on their peers. And the participating cities get the benefit of fresh eyes studying the issues they face. It is a real win-win.”

The short (30 minutes) Zoom session on Aug. 14 will explain the logistics of the Challenge and how to apply to become a participating city. In order to register, go to 2026-27 Sunstone Economic Development Challenge @ USC Price – Client City Info Session · Zoom · Luma.

For more information about the program, email Hannah Cruz at Hannah.Cruz@SunstoneCities.com. For more about Sunstone Cities, go to www.sunstonecities.com.