Reason to shop from us!

As Northern California continues to grow demographically and economically, the Center for Economic Development (CED) at CSU, Chico is committed to helping communities prepare and plan for future growth. Helping communities and businesses in such areas as planning, community development, employment generation, natural resource management, workforce development, alternative energy, and leadership training, is the CED’s goal to assist Northern California communities in sustained growth, and to promote empowerment and expertise among its residents. With these goals in mind, it is the philosophy of the CED to:



To provide the highest quality economic development assistance to the communities of Northern California.

To respect the individuality of each person and the communities in which they live.

To promote the transfer of information and knowledge from the university and other sources to economic development and planning practitioners, as well as the general public.

To establish and foster partnerships between workforce development entities, community and vocational colleges, policy makers, communities, and all organizations that are in support of assisting growth in Northern California.



In addition, the CED has become the recipient of a grant from the Small Business Development Administration (SBA) to be the lead Small Business Development Center (SBDC) for the Sacramento region’s network of six local SBDC’s. The lead SBDC provides services to strengthen the small business community network and promote economic growth within the twenty-three county service region in Northern California. The lead SBDC and six SBDC’s provide counseling and training to all small business populations.