The City of Santa Clarita took home two “Award of Excellence” honors this week at the annual California Association for Local Economic Development (CALED) conference held in Sacramento. CALED is the premier statewide professional economic development organization in California.

The City of Santa Clarita won the second place “Award of Excellence” for the 21-Point Business Plan for Progress in the category of economic development program and also received an “Award of Excellence” in the category of economic development promotions for the Think Santa Clarita marketing campaign. The awards recognize outstanding and innovative programs resulting in a significant contribution to the field of economic development. Examples from previous award winners include export trade programs, business finance programs, and innovative economic strategies.

“Santa Clarita is a premiere City where successful companies do business and we’re proud to receive this recognition of the work we have done to keep our local economy healthy and our businesses strong,” commented Mayor Marsha McLean.

Over the last year, the City’s 21-Point Business Plan for Progress has positively impacted the local economy in numerous ways, including attracting more than 650 new high-quality jobs; generating more than $117 million in tax savings for local businesses through the Santa Clarita Enterprise Zone; assisting more than 15,000 job seekers with free resources including skill and empowerment workshops at the Santa Clarita WorkSource Center; and awarding more than $675,000 in grant funding to local companies for business improvements.

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Think Santa Clarita is a multi-faceted business attraction campaign designed to highlight the benefits of expanding within or relocating to Santa Clarita. Since the launch of the first phase of the business attraction campaign in April 2009, Think Santa Clarita has helped increase awareness of Santa Clarita as a leading business community among Los Angeles markets and resulted in several companies moving or expanding, including Advanced Bionics, Valencia Mold, and Palyon Medical Corporation among others. Advertising and editorial coverage has included the Los Angeles Times, San Fernando Valley Business Journal, CBS’ KNX 1070, KFI AM 640, a 16-page spread in Southwest Airlines Spirit, and a 3-page feature in US Airways in flight magazine.

These awards follow a three-peat grand prize winning streak for the City of Santa Clarita, which included a 2006 win for the Film Program, a 2007 win for the Tourism Program, and a 2008 win for the Small Business Support and Retention Program.

The City has enjoyed a number of economic development successes as a result of community partnerships and strategic planning and programming. The City of Santa Clarita recently received recognition from fDi, an international Finance Magazine in their 2011/2012 American Cities of the Future Awards. The City was one of the top three communities recognized in the Small Cities of the Future category and earned a Top 10 ranking in the Small Cities, fDi Strategy category.

For additional information, contact the City of Santa Clarita’s Economic Development Office at (661) 255-4347.