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State of the Vision – January 2002
Economic Development**Strategy #1: Expand telecommunications and other infrastructures to support new and existing industries.
Significant progress noted, efforts are ongoing.
Action Items 1,2,3 &4: “Connecting Kern County” is a joint County of Kern Administrative Office and City of Bakersfield Economic Development Department collaboration to inventory existing infrastructure, identify needs, establish a plan to address needs, and seek grants to fund the plan. In Phase I, a consultant facilitated workshops with representatives of education, government, health care, large employers, community based organizations, real estate, utilities and telecommunications to assess needs. In Phase II, these same representatives are developing outcomes, goals and strategies based on the earlier assessment. Phase III will be the development of the implementation plan, including a geographic display of existing telecommunications infrastructure and recommendations for phased improvements. The steering committee for this planning process may become the Regional Technology Council for the countywide effort, and the technology industry cluster group. Funding for Phase I was provided by the County and City. Phases II and III are being funded by a State grant applied for and administered by New Valley Connections of the Great Valley Center.
Strategy #2: Attract the new types of businesses consistent with our Vision.
Progress noted, efforts are ongoing.
Action Items 1, 2: The County of Kern and the City of Bakersfield have adopted an economic development study, the Natelson Report, as their guiding economic development strategy. This report identifies seven industry clusters that should be targeted for expansion/attraction. Business representatives from each of the report’s industry clusters are meeting with economic development experts to form Industry Cluster Groups to develop strategies to attract and retain related businesses, identify and recommend customized incentives, and effect other changes, in local and/or State policies and procedures necessary to attract complementary businesses and business services.
The Kern Economic Development Corporation (KEDC) and Kern County Board of Trade have been assigned and taken responsibility for forming these groups. Industry cluster groups have been formed for Financial Services/Call Centers, Plastics/Chemicals, and Tourism/ Retirement/ Film. The formation of the remaining cluster groups is planned for early 2002.
Action Items 3, 5: KEDC, The City of Bakersfield Economic Development Department, and the Board of Trade continue to work towards attracting companies that meet clean air requirements and provide high wage employment. Significant success on this action item is at least partially dependent upon the success of many other strategies and action items in the Vision 2020 Plan, including improvements in technology/connectivity infrastructure, image, transportation, education, and quality of life. We expect that the high technology related industry cluster group or groups will also contribute to the success of this action item. In December 2000, the Board of Supervisors adopted an Economic Incentive Program, which provides incentives to certain business types meeting specified investment and employment thresholds. The program is designed so that incentives are maximized for businesses that meet the county’s economic development goals. Employment wages and environmental standards are among the criteria evaluated to determine the incentive amount a business will receive.
Action Item 4: The KEDC has developed a tracking system for assessing known expansion or relocation efforts that did not materialize. As this is a new effort, historical data does not exist. Information from this assessment will be used in future strategies to attract targeted industry expansion/relocation efforts.
Action Item 6: As discussed in Strategy #1, a “Connecting Kern County” Steering Committee was formed and may evolve into the Regional Technology Council as envisioned in this action item
Strategy #3: Build on existing economic base: Agriculture and Energy.
Progress has begun.
Action Item 1: KEDC is currently developing the value added agriculture industry cluster. This is the first step in pursuing industries that will capitalize on the existing agriculture industry base to attract and grow related businesses, which will enrich the value of existing agriculture products via processing. As these “value added” products are exported to domestic and foreign markets they will improve Kern’s economy even more than the raw agriculture products from which they are produced.
**Strategy #4: Create a post-graduate Research and Development partnership with industry and universities.
Progress stalled, efforts are ongoing.
Action Item 1: No specific progress noted to “Develop a high level task force to discuss focusing research and postgraduate programs on adding value to existing industries such as high tech agriculture to create an alignment and a competitive advantage similar to that found in Silicon Valley-Stanford and Sacramento-UC Davis.” However, general progress has been made in the development of business partnerships with UC Merced, CSUB, CSU Northridge and Fresno.
Action Item 2: The CSU Chancellors Office has put the CSUB Engineering School on hold. Business, community members, and organizations have sent letters of recommendation to the Chancellor to implement the school. Business leaders continue to work with all levels of the education system to demonstrate to the Chancellors office the suitability of Engineering School at CSUB. In addition, CSUB has created an alliance with CSU Northridge and Fresno to offer courses in engineering, UC Merced is planning to offer Engineering classes at its Bakersfield Campus, and Bakersfield College offers accredited pre-engineering instruction.
Action Item 3: Pending resolution of action item 1 of this Strategy and Strategy 12.
Strategy #5: Encourage and provide business development and entrepreneurial opportunities.
Progress noted, efforts are ongoing.
Action Items 1, 2: The new Family Business Institute at CSUB and the existing Small Business Development Center (SBDC) of the Weill Institute are specifically charged with this responsibility. In addition, a joint effort of the Workforce Investment Board, CSUB, BC, Small Business Development Center, KEDC, and others is underway to develop a “One Stop” Business Services Center to better encourage business development and expansion.
Strategy #6: Align the offerings of higher education with the needs of the new economy.
Progress noted, efforts are ongoing.
Action Item 1: The Workforce Investment Board has surveyed all industries in Kern County. Results are posted on the following web site address: www.usworks.com/centralvalley. In addition, the Workforce Investment Board will include specific skill set questions in the next survey with results published in the Fall of 2002.
Action Items 2,4: CSUB School of Business has been approved for a new e-business concentration which is also available on-line. Bakersfield College’s Applied Science and Technology Division is also focused in this area. CSUB is committed to providing appropriate courses based on outcomes of the survey (item 1 above). In addition, the CSUB Extended University now has a marketing person on staff to educate the public as to availability of courses relevant to the new economy. The Education and Business Sector Groups from the Connecting Kern County project are also working on action items that address this strategy.
Action Item 3: CSUB, and Workforce Investment Board, and KEDC have taken responsibility for identifying internships. The Workforce Investment Board recently submitted a request for funding to the Governor’s Office for internships programs.
Strategy #7: Create a permanent on-going nexus between community business employment needs and local educational requirements.
Significant progress noted, efforts are ongoing.
Action Items 1, 2: This is an objective of both Workforce Investment Board and Kern Economic Development Corporation (KEDC). As one example, the Workforce Investment Board has a business-led Board of Directors with representatives from all levels of education. The WIB currently has two Ad Hoc committees focused upon meeting business employment needs through the development of an advanced technological high school and the development of career technical programs in the high schools.
Additionally, both KEDC and the Workforce Investment Board have assigned staff to work with employers to establish cluster specific strategies regarding the number of new jobs that need to be created to achieve the goals for reducing unemployment, increasing the county medium income and training/attracting a skilled workforce. Other goals include designing cluster specific workforce education/training programs; optimizing cluster specific marketing; and serving as a forum for the exchange of ideas within and between clusters.
In September 2001, the Workforce Investment Board presented the first annual State of the Workforce Report.
Strategy #8: Develop a system-wide workforce preparation program, pre-kindergarten through University system that integrates quality academic instruction, relevant vocational education, and workforce responsibility skills.
Progress noted, efforts are ongoing.
Action Item 1, 2: This is a stated objective of the Workforce Investment Board. Progress is being made in some key areas. As a result of the collaborative efforts of the Workforce Investment Board, the Kern High School District, and Employers’ Training Resource, a new Career Academy for Arvin High School has been funded. There are more Career Academies in Kern County then anywhere else in the State. The Regional Occupation Center of the Kern High School District continues to provide high demand vocational education programs. As mentioned above, an Ad Hoc Committee of the Workforce Investment Board (WIB) Youth Council, consisting of WIB members and business and educational leaders, has been formed to explore innovative High School Career/Technical/Vocational programs for the community. A new public relations/information program “Careers in Kern County” has been launched by the Workforce Investment Board.
Strategy #9 –Develop a plan to promote, publicize, obtain adequate funding, and implement a technology incubator.
Significant progress noted, efforts are ongoing.
Action Item 1: A technology incubator is in place through CSUB – BREC and Bakersfield College Weill Center. Efforts for continued promotion and additional funding are underway.
Strategy #10 - Identify, support and coordinate existing private-public collaborations such as KEDC, Greater Bakersfield Convention & Visitors Bureau, and Vision 2020.
Progress noted, efforts are ongoing.
Action Items 1, 2: The Vision 2020 Economic Development Vision Force has agreed to monitor and communicate coordination needs when necessary among the various collaborations, since most organizations involved are represented in that group.
Strategy #11 - Develop a Fast-track process for establishing a business, in Greater Bakersfield
Accomplished.
Actions 1,2: While a single, consistent permitting format does not exist between the city and the county, the process is streamlined and simple in both cases. Information and application procedures are now on-line through the common web portal.
**Strategy #12 - Develop and implement a plan to develop statistics measuring the economy and other relevant data for Greater Bakersfield.
Progress noted, efforts are ongoing.
Action Item 1: A collaborative group co-chaired by Mark Evans, CSUB and Guy Greenlee of the County, is identifying where the data can be obtained and who will maintain and report it on an on-going basis. Thus far the group has identified an appropriate set of economic development related data, which agencies should be assigned responsibility for designating the most appropriate source for specific components of the data set. The group is also working to identify a specific set of statistics that can be used as benchmarks of the local economy. They are also developing a set of demographic data for Metropolitan Bakersfield.
