2020 at a Glance

2020 was a difficult year around the globe and especially here at home in Southern Nevada. While continuing to work toward its goal of diversifying and growing the regional economy, LVGEA was committed to supporting small and local businesses through this trying time. Here is an overview of some of the projects, events, and initiatives LVGEA undertook in 2020:

Alongside a statewide coalition of partners, LVGEA provided thousands of businesses with support and access to COVID-19 recovery resources through Nevada’s Business Information Network (BIN).

The BIN webpage was visited more than 12,660 times over the year. Additionally, through a call outreach campaign in conjunction with Clark County, LVGEA helped connect over 3,000 small businesses with COVID-19 recovery resources.

In 2020, LVGEA assisted in the creation of 1,041 new jobs in Southern Nevada from attracting businesses to the area as well as assisting with the expansion of local businesses.

New companies added to the region include wins such as GigaCrete, Lithion Battery and SafeLife Defense, bringing jobs at an average wage of $23.32. This resulted in $16,429,149 in new capital investment with a one-year economic impact of $1,288,000.

To bring essential information to local businesses about the Paycheck Protection Program, LVGEA teamed up with the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) on numerous webinars.

These became the highest-attended LVGEA events ever as over a thousand small businesses were not only able to receive vital updates straight from the SBA but could directly ask their questions to the SBA Nevada District Director.

LVGEA hosted its first-ever virtual signature events in 2020, and they were a success.

In July, Perspective celebrated its 40th anniversary with guest speakers Jim Murren and Jeremy Aguero, broadcasting live to hundreds of virtual attendees. Then, in December, LVGEA once again teamed up with UNLV Center for Business and Economic Research (CBER) on Outlook ’21, forecasting the economy into the following year with guest speakers Dr. Christopher Thornberg and Dr. Stephen Miller.

Virtual webinars continued with the launch of “Creating Equitable Communities,” a conversation hosted in partnership with Urban Chamber of Commerce and Vegas Chamber surrounding the social injustices in minority communities.

Leaders from these organizations discussed equity and economic development over the course of two conversations attended by hundreds of local businesses in an effort to advance equity and economic conditions for all in Southern Nevada.

The LVGEA 50 Board of Directors proudly announced a new Chairwoman, Switch Cities SVP Betsy Fretwell, along with a new slate of executive officers, while also adding two new companies to its ranks, Intermountain Healthcare in Nevada and Dignity Health.

Fretwell, who drives strategic development, implementation, and national expansion at Switch, has been serving as vice chair of the LVGEA 50 Board the past two years.

LVGEA advanced Here You Can, a multi-year quality of life campaign to share the news of Greater Las Vegas’ quality of life, affordable housing, and low taxation for people looking to meet their goals.

This fall, LVGEA launched a workforce attraction campaign to entice remote workers in California to relocate, sharing Southern Nevada’s strengths through a commercial, relocation guide, and digital advertising.

Thanks to a new partnership with Workforce Connections, LVGEA onboarded a new Workforce Development Director.

While greatly enhancing the services available to businesses, the new position also helped organize our new internship matchmaking service known as HireUp.

In the spring of 2020, LVGEA completed a new Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS) with significant stakeholder engagement.

The CEDS report presents a new plan for regional economic development, providing essential guidance to leaders across industry, government, nonprofits, and educational institutions in framing their deliberations on the activities that have strategic economic value for the region. It was developed with broad community participation from many partner organizations, which was essential for developing a shared vision and set of goals for Southern Nevada.

The Vegas Chamber and LVGEA joined forces to host “D.C. in LV” in September, the first-ever virtual fly-in from the organizations.

The event connected attendees with state and federal representatives on issues impacting Nevada’s business community. They had the chance to advocate for their organizations and build relationships within the business community. In addition, attendees had the opportunity to hear from an incredible lineup of speakers, including a schedule of LVGEA-led sessions.