University of Southern California Price Students Triumph in Sunstone Challenge with San Bernardino Startup Proposal

Four students from the USC Sol Price School of Public Policy won first place and $5,000 at this year’s Sunstone Economic Development Challenge, a competition that tasks students with helping local governments create jobs in their communities.

The winning team – Giselle Jazmin Melendez-Cruz (MPA ‘25), Adriana Morales (MPA ’25), Melissa Sarahi Morfin-Acevedo (MPA ‘25) and Manuel Muñoz (MPA ‘25) – developed a plan to help the Southern California city of San Bernardino foster a vibrant startup ecosystem.

“Engaging in this opportunity was incredibly enriching.” Morales said. “Everything from immersing ourselves in researching the city’s background to navigating collaborative work dynamics with stakeholders and team bonding, we learned and grew so much.”

“Together, we delved into understanding each other’s strengths and skills to develop meaningful contributions aimed at cultivating a positive impact for the San Bernardino community,” she added.

The team’s recommendations focused on five strategies to attract, retain and nurture startups:

• Establish a business academy to train entrepreneurs;

• Create workforce development programs tailored to meet needs of employers;
• Implement a marketing-communications strategy to lure and aid businesses;

• Enhance the city’s Sister Cities Program to strengthen international partnerships;

• Open an incubator space to provide physical space and financial support to startups.

The student team toured San Bernardino, interviewed stakeholders and examined demographic, economic and educational data to learn more about the city, which is home to 220,000 people and located approximately 60 miles east of Los Angeles.

They found that much of the city’s population is disadvantaged, including many who live below the poverty line. That informed their strategy of nurturing startups to drive equitable economic growth.

“We saw entrepreneurship as a way to provide that social upward mobility,” Muñoz said. “You might have a street vendor who wants to expand the business or a TikTok influencer who wants to expand their platform. Utilizing those existing seeds of entrepreneurship and letting them grow within the community was a big part of this.”

The Sunstone challenge required economic creativity and the mindset of an entrepreneur, and will impact future generations of small businesses, said Joshua Dramitinos, deputy director of Economic Development for the City of San Bernardino.

“The students worked collectively and traveled to our city to truly embrace the local economic conditions and their effects in the small business community,” Dramitinos said. “Our team is so proud of the students for working together as a team to produce a powerful proposal that complements sound economic development strategies and exemplifies small business community values.”

In presenting their recommendations, the student team referred to San Bernardino as “the hidden gem of the Inland Empire,” Melendez-Cruz said. San Bernardino is a prime location for businesses to access supportive infrastructure and a diverse workforce with a wide talent pool to draw from. Affordable real estate also makes it attractive for new startups to expand without the high costs associated with neighboring areas such as Los Angeles and Orange County, she added.

“There’s just so much that could be done there and we know that it has this potential to grow,” Melendez-Cruz said. “We’re really excited to see what that’s going to look like and we’re just happy to be part of that journey.”