California Economic & Workforce Development - California Community Colleges

Information & Communications Technologies: Key Sector for Growth and Economic Recovery

The ever-changing IT industry continues to present businesses with challenges around workers that have the right skill set for the emerging standards in Information & Communications Technologies (ICT).  ICT encompasses all emerging, evolving and converging computer, software, networking, telecommunications, Internet, programming and information systems technologies; ICT job functions impact all types and sizes of businesses.
 
EWD's Centers of Excellence (COE), in partnership with the Mid-Pacific ICT Center, have been conducting a multi-phase study of ICT to assess its integration into, and impact on, California businesses and workers. In the latest phase, the study draws on input from more than 600 employers throughout California, surveying traditional ICT firms and non-ICT firms on the importance of ICT job functions to their business activities.
 
A majority of employers feel ICT is strategically important to their organizations and that knowledge of ICT is increasingly important for their employees.
 
ICT occupations across all industries represent approximately 5% of California's workforce and earn a median wage of $35 per hour - 41% higher than the median wage across all occupations in the state.
 
ICT firms are expected to outpace the general labor market in two-year job growth. The surveyed employers reported a projected two-year growth rate of 3.8% overall, similar to existing estimates that suggest approximately 4% job growth for the state over the same period. However, within the survey sample, self-identified ICT firms expect growth of 8.5%, while non-ICT firms anticipated flat or declining employment growth over the next two years.
 
The COE will continue to study ICT impacts as it embarks on a series of regional in-depth occupational studies, surveying employers about ICT and its job functions with specific relevance to their region. Research objectives will also address current employment, future growth and emerging trends in these types of jobs.
 
To download the ICT reports, or to view other California industry reports, go to www.coeccc.net.

Read the latest EWD Newsletter: Grow California to learn more about EWD's innovative industry programs.

EWD Focus on ROI

Return-on-investment (ROI) - while there's no hard and fast formula that reaches across all businesses to determine the financial consequences of investments, decisions and actions, just ask any business owner what keeps them up at night and you'll start to hear common themes around what matters most. Sales, cash flow, margin and staff are all among the challenges that businesses face across the globe in all sectors.   
 
Take for instance the financial sector. For the third year, BRW and ANZ commissioned a research report into private companies to examine the challenges, priorities and the outlook for the banking industry.  Key themes concerning private business in 2010 include attracting and retaining good staff, finding staff with management skills, staff performance and business efficiency.  Sound familiar?

Optimism and resiliency can only solve so many challenges. In this edition of GROW California, we share insights from our initiatives and how they continue to leverage resources and strategic partners across the state to build a better ROI for our business customers.  We know that these economic times have taken a toll on our communities, and moving the economic engines of the state is going to take every resource available to help businesses get back into hiring mode and profitability.
 
We take ROI seriously and want our investments to count for you as a California business.  We hope you enjoy the stories from each of our high growth initiatives across the state as to how EWD is accomplishing this.

Read the latest EWD Newsletter: Grow California to learn more about EWD's innovative industry programs.

Investments in State-of-the-Art Automotive Training Facility

One of the hottest emerging industries is green conversion for cars - and clean cars equate to green jobs. While California is in economic rebound mode, the demand for cars that take the sticker shock out of the gas pump and contribute to reducing greenhouse emissions are driving manufacturers to make clean hybrid electric cars, and in some instances, all electric vehicles.

But transferring auto technician skills to these new products takes specialized training to handle the often high voltage, amped-up inner workings. While the Department of Labor predicts the demand for automotive service technicians and mechanics will increase a modest 5 percent between 2008 and 2018, those with an advanced understanding of certain systems, such as hybrid-fuel technology, will be in high demand.

That's why California auto dealers invested in a new $5.1 million facility to ensure that technicians are trained for this endeavor. Hosted at Cerritos College, the 10,642 square foot facility is the only one of its kind on the west coast serving the college's industry partners. Donors include the Southland Motor Car Dealers Association (SMCDA) and the Greater Los Angeles New Car Dealers Association who contributed $500,000 each, with the Conant Auto Retail Group and Los Angeles County Supervisor Don Knabe contributing $100,000 each.

"The educational program is badly needed," said Randy Sopp, owner of Los Angeles-based Sopp Chevrolet. Designed to resemble a dealer showroom, the facility trains both students and industry, and houses the college's Advanced Transportation Technology & Energy (ATTE) program, which offers training in the areas of alternative fuels and other advanced transportation careers.

As the only community college in California with three manufacturer-sponsored technician programs (Chrysler, Ford and General Motors), Cerritos College and its private sector investors have created a unique educational partnership with the automotive manufacturers, industry and Northwood University's West Coast program center that offers a bachelor's degree in automotive management and marketing.
 
For more information about the new facility, go to http://cms.cerritos.edu/auto.  For information on the ATTE, contact Peter Davis at (619) 473-0090 or pdavis@cccewd.net.

Read the latest EWD Newsletter: Grow California to learn more about EWD's innovative industry programs.

Internship Participation Brings Biotech Companies High ROI

Employers will bring on more interns this year than they did last year, according to results of a 2010 Internship Survey conducted by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE).  The survey shows a 2.9 percent increase in the number of students taking part in employer-sponsored internships. NACE states while this represents a modest increase, it is a significant turnaround from 2009 when the intern hiring rate dropped by more than 20 percent.
 
Smart business models include internship programs which are a highly effective tool to recruit workforce talent. It's also a proven way to nurture potential full time employees; NACE statistics consistently show that 20-25 percent of new hires are sourced from employers' own internship programs.
 
California biotech businesses that have partnered with the CCCEWD Biotechnology Initiative have benefited from "test-driving" interns. Genencor is one of their corporate partners that recognize the need to provide "real-world" experience to biotech students and build the workforce pipeline. Genencor is a leading industrial biotechnology company that develops and markets innovative enzymes and bio-based products. They provided seven internship opportunities this last school year and have signed up for another round this fall; each student completed 162 hours of internship.
 
Another partner, Mendel Biotechnology hired one of the interns to support their mission of developing genetic and chemical solutions that enhance the row crops industry.  Diagnostic Biosystems, a company that develops antibody reagents for research and clinical pathology in the field of cancer biology worked with three research interns to support their work.
 
"These are just a few examples of the many biotech companies that see the high value in bringing internships into their business model," said CCCEWD Biotech Initiative State Director Jeff O'Neal. "Employers often use intern programs to build their junior ranks; interns are eager and bring fresh ideas and technical skills to the workplace."

For more information about CCCEWD's California Applied Biotechnology Centers, go to www.cccbiotech.org or contact Jeff O'Neal at (916) 484-8052.

Read the latest EWD Newsletter: Grow California to learn more about EWD's innovative industry programs.

Strategies for ROI -- Morro Bay Mitigates Job Losses & Tax Revenue Bases

When San Luis Obispo County wanted to become a bigger player in the California tourism market, their stakeholders turned to the EWD's Business and Entrepreneurship Center (BEC) @ Cuesta College for strategic direction. The BEC partnered with the Morro Bay Chamber of Commerce and the Morro Bay Economic Strategic Team (MBEST) to conduct primary and secondary research that ultimately produced the Morro Bay Tourism Report, a comprehensive analysis and recommendations to advance the Morro Bay Embarcadero and downtown Morro Bay businesses.  The report identified the impacts of further business closures and subsequent vacancies on tourism in each of the respective areas. The overall goal was to identify and recommend alternatives while developing a localized economic stimulus strategy.

The report recommendations aimed to strengthen the Morro Bay economy and prevent further erosion of sales tax revenue bases, Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT), and mitigate tourism downturns and job losses.  Strategies included:

• Promote small environmentally friendly businesses and small, independent fishermen or recreational fishing activities to attract the environmentally conscience outdoor recreation oriented tourist.
• Issue a temporary rent credit for Tenant Improvements on City owned tidelands properties or offer "move in" incentives to new sub-tenants, and encourage private property owners to do the same.
• Reduce rent or provide a temporary credit for marketing and promotion efforts from individual City tenants on tidelands properties.
• Create a tourism campaign.
• Study the opportunities in establishing a conference center in the Morro Bay Embarcadero.
• Analyze other coastal communities and identify key factors for their sustained growth.

For the fiscal year 2009 - 2010, it is estimated that 90 jobs were saved as a result of the report recommendations and the actions taken by key constituents and stakeholders.

The Business and Entrepreneurship Centers (BEC) support the natural cycles of entrepreneurship and business development in California by bringing entrepreneurial training and education to existing business owners and future entrepreneurs. For more information, click here, or contact Michael Roessler at (916) 361-2964 or mroessler@cccewd.net.

Read the latest EWD Newsletter: Grow California to learn more about EWD's innovative industry programs.

Investments in Green Training Yields Economic Returns for Remediation Companies

About 20 California students sat in front of a portable office in a simple ceremony that could very well be a major turning point in their lives. Actually, there were supposed to be 42 students present, but 50 percent had already found jobs.

These students were part of two grant-funded projects to train green workers called Brownfields programs - that is, participants are trained to clean up sites with chemical contamination ("Brownfields").  The idea is that the clean-up of blighted areas should employ people that live in those areas; completed Brownfields projects add millions of dollars of revenue to local economies.
 
The grants were secured by EWD's Environmental Training Centers who also developed the curriculum and provided the training. This particular graduating class was unique in that, for the first time, it included students who had taken part in a new Green Building curriculum (constructing an environment in ways that are sustainable and energy saving). The typical Brownfields training lasts about six weeks, but 25 of the 42 students in this graduating class took an extra 160 hours in Green Building.
 
The training that took place has saved local remediation companies such as Kleinfelder Engineering, Tetra Tech, Ninyo and Moore and Waste Management Inc. thousands of dollars in training and has supplied highly skilled and motivated workers for their Brownfields projects. This investment is a great return for California's economic growth, as these workers can expect to make a very respectable living wage of $13 to $20 per hour and provide local industry with a stable, low turn-over and local green workforce. 
 
For more information about EWD's Environmental Training Centers (ETC) and its programs, or if you need assistance with California state compliance issues related to environment, health, safety and homeland security, go to www.envtraining.org for low-cost or free technical assistance, or call Richard Della Valle at (925) 672-2209 or rdellavalle@cccewd.net.

Read the latest EWD Newsletter: Grow California to learn more about EWD's innovative industry programs.

Hospitals Benefit from Workforce Training Investments

As the first of the boomers turn 65 this year, the U.S. Census Bureau estimates that the nation's population over the age of 62 will increase from about 46 million now to about 83 million by 2030. Of that population, 14 million will have diabetes and 21 million will be obese. By 2020, the American Hospital Association estimates that boomers will account for four in 10 office visits to physicians.  Yet, hospitals and healthcare facilities continue to be hampered by the lack of trained professionals.

The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) projects that 90 percent more RNs must be produced in order to meet the predicted need for one million new nurses in the American healthcare system by 2020. The California Board of Registered Nursing (BRN) estimates that California's RN shortage is between 10,294 and 59,027 full-time positions. Central to this issue is a shortage of nursing faculty - there are not enough teachers available to meet the low student-to-faculty ratios required by accreditors and licensing boards for undergraduate nursing degree programs. California RN programs reported 206 unfilled faculty positions in 2006-07, a 5.9 percent vacancy rate.

That's why the Health Workforce Initiative (formerly EWD's Regional Healthcare Occupational Resource Centers) is aggressively investing in training to support the demand for trained healthcare workers in California.
 
In Northern California, the Butte College HWI Center partnered with their Local Workforce Investment Board (NoRTEC) to offer a regional series of RN Specialty Training. The Medical-Surgical Nursing Course in this series is one of the most important incumbent worker training programs offered, as it provides the vehicle for entry level RNs to obtain skills based training in a nurse specialty area. This allows RNs to advance their careers to a higher level position. The program leveraged funding through a WIRED (Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development) grant, to save participating hospitals $645.00 per trainee. The return-on-investment for the small rural hospitals is even higher, as training was not even available in the remote areas.
 
The Health Workforce Initiative Centers are located throughout California and continue to invest in high demand training for health occupations.  For more on this initiative, go to www.healthoccupations.org.

Read the latest EWD Newsletter: Grow California to learn more about EWD's innovative industry programs.

California Lighting Supplier Benefits from International Markets

Three years ago Michael Sanjurjo came to the Center for International Trade Development (CITD) @ Silicon Valley Center to look for new opportunities in the emerging global markets. He was working in the construction field at the time, but interested in international arenas.
 
After lengthy discussions about opportunities in oil, solar energy, carbon fiber, LEDs, and new trends, Michael landed a job with a solar electric/thermal start-up in Campbell, CA where he quickly rose to the top; that company was sold to Real Goods Solar, a publicly traded company. Months after the acquisition, Michael accepted an offer to join a new venture capital backed start-up in the energy saving Solid State Luminaire industry, which utilized his solar energy background.
 
The company, Lunera Lighting, is a unique lighting supplier that sells LED light fixtures to replace the conventional fluorescent office lighting that yields major energy and heat savings. The company manufactures all of its products in Fremont, CA. Michael joined the company with just three employees, and was able to sell his products to Apple, City of San Jose, Kaiser, Marvell, SAP, Xilinx, Bloom Energy, Facebook, Google, Fenwick & West, and AFG to name a few.
 
After growing the company to about 45 employees, Michael explains why he came back to CITD, "With great clients, a dozen trade shows, revenue doubling quarter after quarter, and interest coming from everywhere, I starting to consider how we can scale outside of the United States." It turns out that Michael's father is a Ph.D. research scientist with SRI in Berkeley, originally from Spain who frequently travels and teaches in Chile. With the ability to speak Spanish, the discussion of global market opportunities turned to Latin America, and Mexico in particular.  CITD Director Bernie Weiss had worked at the CITD @ Southwestern College for many years and helped a local window products manufacturer enter the Mexican market; those building industry contacts were leveraged to assist Michael in entering the global market with renewable energy products, thus expanding the company's success.
 
The CITD has offices across California and assists thousands of companies annually in conducting international business. They offer free or low-cost programs and services including one-on-one technical assistance and consulting, market research, training and educational programs, trade leads and special events. For more information, go to www.CITD.org or contact Jeff Williamson at (951) 571-6458 or jwilliamson@cccewd.net.

Read the latest EWD Newsletter: Grow California to learn more about EWD's innovative industry programs.

Lean Processes Reduce Need for Capital Investments

Although at first skeptical about taking time off the job to assess manufacturing processes, employees at Lincoln's Robb Jack shifted their perceptions after reducing machine set up time from 90 to 30 minutes.  A manufacturer of premium rotary cutting tools, the company is now eagerly seeking new ways to boost productivity. The impact of the Lean Manufacturing training, provided by EWD's Center for Applied Competitive Technologies (CACT) @ Sierra College has been highly praised by the company's president.
 
"If nine CNC milling machines are set up twice per day on new jobs, we've saved 18 hours per day," said Robb Jack's President Dave Baker.  "This allows us to expand capacity without capital investment or adding staff."
 
The project started with an initial site visit and assessment by the CACT @ Sierra College's Lean Manufacturing Specialist, Jes Vargas, who used this process improvement system to identify waste and increase productivity. After the initial meeting, three employee teams formed to attack the areas that had the greatest potential for savings. At Vargas' suggestion, the Set-up Team filmed one of the company's top operators to record each step in making adjustments on a machine to run a new job. The team experimented until they cut set-up time by two-thirds.
 
Since then, Vargas has returned several times to review progress, provide additional coaching and outline next steps. According to Baker, the process has been invaluable and the results are having a major impact. 
 
"We are so excited about what our employees have been able to do that the Set-up Team is giving a presentation to the whole company of nearly 100 employees," said Baker. "Other departments have seen how it worked and the initial three Lean teams have grown to seven, including one group that is analyzing the sales process."
 
In addition to on-site customized employee training in process improvement, CACT @ Sierra College is developing Lean to Green training to help manufacturers cut energy costs. Other training topics include high-tech soldering, supervision, communication, business math and project management.
 
"Robb Jack is 100 percent employee owned, so we all benefit from growing the business with existing resources." said Baker. "What we learned from the CACT could completely change our company."
 
For more information on EWD's Centers for Applied Competitive Technologies, go to www.MakingItInCalifornia.com, or contact Jose Anaya at (310) 973-3165 or janaya@elcamino.edu.

Read the latest EWD Newsletter: Grow California to learn more about EWD's innovative industry programs.

Helping Small Business find ROI in Social Media

While some confusion and resistance may exist in the mind of the busy small or medium business owner/manager over using social media tools, there's mounting evidence that proves it's a great investment in both time and energy. Eric Qualman, author of the blockbuster Socialnomics, sites over 50 examples on his socialnomics blog as to how businesses can generate substantial ROI from social media.  A few highlights include:

• Burger King's Whopper Sacrifice Facebook program incented users to give up ten of their Facebook friends in return for a free Whopper.  The estimated investment for this program was less than $50,000 yet they received 32 million media impressions which roughly estimated equals greater than $400,000 in press/media value.
• Dell sold $3,000,000 worth of computers on Twitter.
• 71% of companies plan to increase investments in social media by an average of 40% because: a) Low Cost Marketing b) Getting Traction c) We Have To Do It!.
• Over 300,000 businesses have a presence on Facebook and roughly  1/3 of these are small businesses.

Twitter and Facebook are 'no cost' services, however a good understanding of the proper role and use of social media and the many new interactive Internet applications will help optimize the ROI for small and medium businesses.
 
A service that NMEI provides to our business community is a Tag Team Lunch where businesses can get solid direction about new media from our team members and Advisory Board. One of our recent sessions was with two partners who own a successful construction remodel business. We invited NMEI Advisory Board member Scott Young, President at ListenToSee, Inc. to lend his vast expertise in Web development and help the partners maximize the company's Website. 
 
The partners' business, with over 50 employees, targets a high-end clientele. Yet, like so many businesses, their Website was highly outdated and lacked an easy system to make frequent updates. Recently, one of their customers mentioned that despite a strong referral, they almost did not call them due to the poor quality of their Website. The strategy session provided clear-cut direction on not only making the site more visually appealing, but how to utilize social media for effective outreach.
 
Like so many initial reactions to social media, the partners resisted. "It's a waste of time!  I don't want any of our employees, including us,  hanging out on Facebook all day!", said one partner.  This was followed by an announcement by the other partner that he had purchased a new MAC computer for his daughter who had recently graduated high school; the condition for the purchase was that she had to completely revamp their Website and help them with Facebook.
 
What followed was a conversational tutorial over club sandwiches about the evolution of the Internet as a 'word of mouth' marketplace where a strategically designed Website, along with good virtual 'listening' and 'response', can make or break today's businesses.
 
The partners have since begun to rethink their priorities on their Internet presence and will likely adopt many of the recommendations from the session including a redesign of their Website, installation of new media tracking software to analyze site traffic, and engagement with social media.
 
If you want to break through your social media resistances or need help with examining your Website effectiveness, then go to www.CCCMEI.net or contact Steve Wright at (805)496 8583 or steve@wrightCA.com.

Read the latest EWD Newsletter: Grow California to learn more about EWD's innovative industry programs.

WpLRC Online Training: Great ROI & Flexibility for Small Businesses

The ASTD's report, Learning in Tough Economic Times, shows that substantial reduction in learning resources correlates with lower market performance and decreased learning effectiveness. Yet, pulling a workforce away from their jobs to train for hours in a classroom on a fixed schedule impacts both productivity and profitability.  Four in ten respondents from the ASTD survey stated that the economy had forced their organizations to reduce learning resources to a high or very high degree. Yet, more than two-thirds (67.2%) of those surveyed said that they were looking for ways to be more efficient and effective with smaller budgets.
 
To increase their return on investment (ROI) businesses have moved towards more cost-effective modes of conducting training including the use of Webinars.  According to Wainhouse Research Group, 61 percent of companies are using Webinars to decrease the number of in-person events and reduce costs. EWD's Workplace Learning Resource Centers (WpLRC) are leveraging these trends and supporting California companies through these emerging technologies.  To date the WpLRC has delivered four Webinars with its partners that have drawn in more than 150 members of the education community and more than 100 from the world of business. Three of these focused on the use of social media, management and leadership, featuring a variety of industry experts from Google, Facebook, eBay and Cisco.
 
Rossella Derickson, director of the South Bay Organizational Development Network, said, "Webinars are an inexpensive vehicle to hear top flight speakers and it allows learning right at the employee's desk. Speakers that would normally be unavailable due to geography are now accessible for professional development. Costs are minimized as presenter and audience are attending from their home or workplace."
 
By leveraging the expertise of top community college instructors and business leaders on the cutting edge of technology, the WpLRC is able to deliver training and information to improve the workforce. The WpLRC is currently developing new Webinars scheduled for later this year.  If you would like to learn more about these online events, or have topic suggestions, please visit www.wplrc.org or contact Bruce Whistler at Bwhistler@cccewd.net or (650) 641-0161.

Read the latest EWD Newsletter: Grow California to learn more about EWD's innovative industry programs.

Just what is Economic Development?

Our guest blogger, County Administrator Claire Collins, from the County of Rockbridge, Virginia shares insights into economic development and its importance.

Economic development means different things to different people. We normally hear that it is creating jobs. It is much more than jobs. Economic development is a community process of defining and intervening in normal economic growth to create wealth opportunities and private investment. It is the process used to influence the direction of and make it easier and more attractive for private sector investment (for profit and/or not for profit) to occur. A community benefits from economic development through attracting new and expanding businesses and encouraging business start-ups. The goal of economic development is to increase the tax base, provide better jobs and diversify employment sectors.

To accomplish the goal of economic development, a community defines the type of economy it desires based on its assets and vision for the future and then creates and maintains a competitive product (buildings, sites, infrastructure and amenities) to attract private investment. A positive business climate and message from a community as to the types of businesses and jobs it desires to have and is willing to consider is a defining factor in sustaining and growing a local economy. Sustaining a local economy helps to maintain a stabilized real estate tax rate that without private sector investment would result in no or lost economic growth and investment and jobs. The marketing of a community’s competitive product and brand needs to entice and meet the needs of business by having building and property inventory available for private enterprise interested in relocation, expansion or creation of commerce and/or contributing to a local economy.

Public policy determines the success of any economic development program. Decisions made by government officials to adopt policies and make investments in education, transportation, workforce development, water, sewer and telecommunications infrastructure, social programs, natural resources, public safety, health care and other services impacts the ability to attract business enterprise to create jobs and investment. A pro-business climate promoted by all levels of government and the community is important in promoting economic prosperity, maintaining and enhancing the tax base and adding to the quality of life. Thus, economic development is about building healthy economies. Healthy communities recognize and know how to:

• Maintain and increase the tax base
• Create jobs
• Appreciate and retain businesses
• Diversify the economic base
• Be self-sufficient
• Maximize value of property through highest and best use
• Raise the overall standard of living of residents
• Consume locally produced products in the local market, keeping money in the community

Who performs the work of economic development? All of us do in working with government, private sector, regional authorities, chambers of commerce, regional economic development marketing entities and the state. Every person is a salesperson of their community by encouraging and nurturing private sector investment based on how a community defines itself and creates its economic vision and destiny.

In today’s economy, people are losing jobs. Companies are consolidating operations and cutting costs. While a community may be the beneficiary of jobs being relocated, another community may lose jobs and revenue from jobs being transferred elsewhere. This makes it more important for a community of a region and beyond a region to work together, share information, and define the type of private investment desired.

To that end, when the state or regional economic development agency contacts an economic development representative with an unknown prospect and supplies information on what the prospect is requesting in structure, land, and other amenities and the number of potential jobs to be created, it is up to the economic development representative for the community to respond back with information as available. This does not mean that the community is being considered by the prospect or that the prospect is interested. A prospect only becomes interested when they narrow down the communities to be considered and contacted for discussions to begin that may lead to performance of due diligence. Often the prospect determines if a community is supportive and welcoming of them. When a prospect contacts a community economic development representative and requests confidentiality based on proprietary information, the representative out of respect honors the prospect request until such time a prospect advises otherwise or the proposed private investment is ready to be made public. This is why it is critical for a community or region to identify the type of economic development wanted, create economic development strategies, determine target markets and develop a brand that defines the community and its vision for building a healthy community.