A Davis delegation has joined business and political leaders from around the region on the Sacramento Metro Chamber’s Capitol to Capitol trip to Washington, D.C.

Davis’ delegates — who include representatives from the city of Davis, Davis Chamber of Commerce, techDAVIS, UC Davis, Yolo County and the local business community — flew to the nation’s capital on Wednesday and will meet with federal decision-makers through next Wednesday.

The Davis/Yolo County team is meeting with the White House, federal agencies and elected officials to discuss opportunities specific to the local area.

“We have dubbed this effort ‘Research to Jobs’ and the discussions will include identifying potential sources for more research funding, highlighting the Davis innovation and entrepreneur ecosystem, and providing details about Davis’ ag/conservation and sustainability efforts,” said Rob White, the city’s newly hired chief innovation officer.

After checking in and getting settled, the team met for a strategy session and dinner Wednesday evening, White said, reviewing the talking points for today’s meetings. Those meetings are with Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, the National Export Initiative and the Economic Development Administration.

Those arriving Wednesday included Davis City Councilwoman Rochelle Swanson; Yolo County Supervisor Don Saylor; Kemble Pope, executive director of the Davis Chamber of Commerce; David Morris of techDAVIS and the Capitol Corridor; Karen Bond of Cedaron; Marj Dickinson of UC Davis; Tim Gaffney of the grassroots group Designing a Sustainable and Innovative Davis Economy (DSIDE); Kari Fry of The Centaur Group; Laura McCollough and Catherine Hawe, recent UCD graduates; and White.

Davis City Councilman Lucas Frerichs was scheduled to arrive this morning.

The Davis delegation will keep local residents informed by posting a short email/blog post each evening that recaps details from the day and what is planned for the following day. Additionally, interested folks can follow the delegates on Twitter: White at @mrobtwhite, Swanson at @RochelleinDavis and Pope at @kemble.

Follow hashtag #DavisinDC to track a continuous feed of pictures and information throughout the day or hashtag #InnovateDavis for some of the specific meetings.

The annual Cap-to-Cap program continues to be the largest lobbying effort of its kind in the nation. Representatives from the six-county region are lobbying congressional representatives, the Obama administration and other federal officials about how the Sacramento region is redefining its economic structures and the federal policy changes needed to support that regional work.

This year’s program includes 14 policy teams made up of nearly 300 delegates, including 43 elected officials and 55 first-time participants. Each team will be advocating their policy papers which, combined, equal a total of 95 policy requests. Team policy papers and a summary of the top priority issues are available online at www.metrochamber.org/captocap.

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