The Sacramento Metro Chamber is a member of the Regional Economic Association Leaders Coalition, comprised of 15 of California’s largest local and regional chambers. The Metro Chamber, both with the REAL Coalition and independently, has been hard at work advocating on behalf of both public/private partnerships and publicly funded projects throughout the Sacramento region.

This persistent advocacy has created an opportunity for the Metro Chamber to help bring additional needed funding to regional infrastructure projects that are ready to go within 120 days of receiving federal funding. These funds often are the public sector’s portion for public/private partnership projects.

Recently, Metro Chamber President and CEO Matt Mahood, met with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and other members of the REAL Coalition to discuss the importance of advancing public/private partnership projects throughout California as soon as possible to provide much needed improvement to our state’s infrastructure and to stimulate our economy by creating jobs.

As a result of this meeting, the Metro Chamber is now working with the governor and the Coalition to expedite and access possible funding streams for important, regional projects. After reaching out to many of our regional partners, the Metro Chamber compiled a list of nearly 40 shovel-ready projects from around the region, which was recently provided to the governor and his staff.

This collaboration with Schwarzenegger’s office offers an enormous opportunity to leverage funding for regional public/private partnerships and several publicly funded projects as the federal government contemplates additional stimulus packages. By pursuing and potentially receiving funding for regional projects, our local economy will be injected with a financial investment that will benefit our region’s infrastructure and create jobs, which in the end, will help boost our regional business climate and economy.

For more information on the REAL Coalition, contact Senior Vice President for Public Policy Michael Faust at 916-321-9115.