Economic Development
Progress Report – August 2003
Strategy #1 - Expand telecommunications and other infrastructures to support new and existing industries.
1.Identify infrastructure needs for high tech/communications and technology cluster groups/CSUB-Business School.
2.Inventory existing public and private high tech and communications infrastructure.
3.Develop and implement a technology plan for Greater Bakersfield to include public and private wiring grids, digital access, technology support structures, building codes, etc.
4.Apply for grants (California Trade and Commerce Agency, HUD, etc.)
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 developed outcomes, goals, and strategies based on the earlier assessment. Phase III included development of an 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 were funded by a State grant applied for and administered by New Valley Connections of the Great Valley Center.
In Phase III the Steering Committee identified several potential projects to improve e-business infrastructure, and/or knowledge of it, in the County. From the list of potentials they focused initial efforts on three projects:
1.Rural Telecom – One group is charged with searching out opportunities to expand broadband into rural areas of the County. Efforts to pursue improved service in the Kern River Valley and the Arvin/Lamont/Weedpatch areas are underway.
2.Real Estate – This group is working on a system of displays that can be used by builders and others to display broadband options available in the construction of residential and commercial office structures. It is anticipated that the display concept developed by this group will have application for other educational and training venues related to uses for communication technologies.
3.Workforce Education – This group has provided a list of workforce training entities in the County that can be used to market the County to industry.
Lead Organizations: City of Bakersfield Economic Development and County of Kern Community Development
Timeframe: Initial steps completed, progress is ongoing
Strategy #2 - Attract new types of businesses consistent with our Vision.
1.Complete a cluster industry analysis specific to Greater Bakersfield; identify new industries to target and a marketing strategy for their attraction/growth.
2.Develop Cluster Task Forces to identify and recommend incentives necessary to attract investment capital in those sectors.
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 nine industry clusters eight of which have been targeted for expansion/attraction. The Kern Economic Development Corporation (KEDC) and Kern County Board of Trade have been assigned and taken responsibility for forming industry cluster groups for each of the recommended clusters. Thus far, industry cluster groups have been formed for Financial Services/Call Centers, Plastics/Chemicals, and Tourism/ Retirement/ Film. Focused industry groups will eventually be formed for all of the recommended clusters.
Lead Organization: KEDC (City and County economic development supporting)
Time Frame: 2004
3.Target growth companies that meet clean air requirements, and create sustainable employment in jobs paying higher wages.
5. Develop a marketing plan, specific to targeted companies, that addresses issues identified.
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.
Kern EDC and Kern County’s community development department have met with a consultant to identify what technologies existing Kern County companies will need over the next ten years, who supplies that technology, what opportunities exist to recruit those suppliers to Kern County, and which local suppliers can meet that technology need. Kern EDC has applied for a grant from the Gas Company to cover the costs of this assessment.
Kern EDC has developed an economic development plan to in technology. The plan includes the technology assessment and the labor market study as well as the formation of a technology industry cluster supported by Kern EDC. The plan has been presented to City of Bakersfield and County of Kern elected officials. The plan will be implemented once funding is available for the assessment and to hire a technology business developer at Kern EDC.
Lead Organization: KEDC (City and County economic development supporting)
Time Frame: Ongoing
4.Conduct a review of companies, that fit the criteria identified over the last three years but that chose not to relocate here to determine the specific reasons for not selecting Bakersfield
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.
Lead Organization: Kern Economic Development Corporation (KEDC)
Time Frame: Ongoing
6. Ensure the development of a regional technology group with public and private membership.
The Steering Committee established to guide the “Connecting Kern County” study (see report on Strategy #1) includes representatives from Government, Education, Health Care, Real Estate, Major Employers, Small Business, Telecommunications and Community Based Organizations. This Steering committee, may evolve into the envisioned regional technology group.
Lead Organization: Bakersfield and Kern County Community Development
Time Frame: 2005
Strategy #3 - Build on existing economic base: Agriculture (for example; applied technology, value-added agriculture, Genetic technology) and Energy (for example: natural gas, micro-energy generating).
1.Form a Joint Economic Commission (Cluster Group Task Force) to review existing industries identified as industries to build upon, and create synergy with other horizontal or vertical groups to support the building on the strength of these industries via incorporation and use of technology.
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.
Lead Organization: KEDC (City Economic Development supporting)
Time Frame: ongoing
Strategy #4 - Create a post-graduate Research and Development partnership with industry and universities.
1.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.
No progress noted
Lead Organization: High Tech Cluster Group, KEDC, Workforce Investment Board (WIB)
Time Frame: 2001
2.Form an advisory group to assist in the planning and implementation of the newly approved CSUB Engineering Program.
Progress: The Chancellor has determined that there will not be an Engineering program at CSUB. Bakersfield College has engineering preparatory courses and CSUB has developed collaborations with other universities for transfer students. However, general progress has been made in the development of business partnerships with UC Merced, CSUB, CSU Northridge and Fresno. This effort is particularly focused on promoting math, science, and engineering related educational programs in the County as part of a larger effort to protect and promote the missions of Edwards Air Force Base and the China Lake Naval Warfare Center. The Aerospace Office out of Lancaster has acted as consultant to the County to produce a Base retention Plan for Edwards Air Force Base. A similar plan has been prepared for China Lake. Plan implementation now involves the effort of several East Kern Representatives on the Edwards Community Alliance, and others on the Math, Science, and Engineering Consortium.
Strategy #5 - Encourage and provide business development and entrepreneurial opportunities.
1.Identify needs of small business and existing family businesses and develop an action plan to encourage and provide business development and entrepreneurial opportunities.
Progress noted, efforts ongoing: The CSUB Family Business Institute (FBI) has established an incubator in conjunction with the Small Business Development Center.
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.
Lead Organization: CSUB-Family Business Institute and Weill Institute, Small Business Development Center.
Time Frame: 2004
Strategy #6 – Align the offerings of higher education with the needs of the new economy.
1.Survey high tech and other industries to determine what industry standards and what skill sets will be required to prepare students to work in the “new economy”.
Kern EDC, in partnership with Goodwill Industries of South Central California, contracted with the Wadley-Donovan Group to conduct a Labor Market Analysis. The analysis assessed the labor market dynamics that an incoming employer is likely to encounter at a Kern County worksite including depth of the labor pool, adequacy of training resources, ability to recruit and relocate professional talent. Considerable emphasis was placed on the staffing needs of distribution centers, customer service/contact centers, manufacturing enterprises, and technology operations. The analysis was funded by a grant from Pacific Gas and Electric Company and the Workforce Investment Board..
The Workforce Investment Board has surveyed all industries inKern County. Results are posted on the following web site address:
Lead Organization: KEDC
Time Frame: ongoing
2.Develop courses that focus on meeting the industry standards and workforce skill sets identified by surveys of high tech and other industries (outcomes of Action 1).
Progress: 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.
Lead Organization: CSUB, BC
Time Frame: Ongoing
3.Partner with high tech and other industries to develop internships for students.
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.
Lead Organization: CSUB, BC, WIB
Time Frame: Ongoing
4.Develop marketing plan to educate the public about the higher education programs currently in place that prepare students for the new economy
Progress: See #2 Above. Also, the WIB has approved the Career Services Center (CSC) Marketing Plan to promote CSC as a community resource for all job seekers to use throughout their lifetime to learn and/or enhance job skills. It also establishes the CSC as a single source contact for employers seeking information in all aspects of employee expansion, retention, reduction or retooling.
Lead Organization:CSUB, BC, WIB
Time Frame: Ongoing
5.Inventory, evaluate and prepare a plan to apply for existing federal funding, grants and foundation awards, which can fund technological training programs in our community college, state university and private institutions.
Progress: Employers' Training Resource is implementing a grant received for Career Technical Training. Purpose of the grant is to address the skill shortages being experienced in our community. ETR is working with Larry Fanucchi at Bakersfield College to enroll students.
Lead Organization: WIB (CSUB, BC supporting)
Time Frame: Ongoing
Strategy #7 - Create a permanent on-going nexus between community business employment needs and local educational requirements.
1. Utilize the Workforce Investment Board to identify current and future employer needs. One critical source of data is “cluster groups” teams comprised of business representatives from current and targeted growth industries (for example: oil, film, tourism, high tech, communications, retirement, value-added agriculture).
2.Produce an annual “State of the Workforce” report detailing strengths and weaknesses of the local workforce, its preparation system, metrics and action plans for improvement.
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.
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.The objective of this report is to provide an analysis of the policy of implications for achieving workforce excellence based upon the region’s competitive advantages, key workforce issues or challenges and on regional trend indicators.
Lead Organization:WIB
Time Frame: Ongoing
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 (soft skills).
1.Develop plans to expand business and education programs such as Academies, School-to-Career, vocational classes, business mentoring, job shadowing, and internships.
Progress: ??
Lead Organization: WIB (KCEOC supporting pre-school)
Time Frame: 2001
2. Develop a Public Relations program educating the community on various career, education and training opportunities in the community.
Progress noted, efforts are ongoing.
Action Items 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. A new public relations/information program “Careers in Kern County” has been launched by the Workforce Investment Board.
Lead Organization:WIB
Time Frame: Ongoing
Strategy #9 –Develop a plan to promote, publicize, obtain adequate funding, and implement a technology incubator.
Complete: This strategy has been completed and the lead organization is going for re-funding.
Strategy #10 - Identify, support and coordinate existing private-public collaborations such as KEDC, Greater Bakersfield Convention & Visitors Bureau, Vision 2020.
1.Develop “mega-group” to help coordinate existing efforts and eliminate duplication.
Ongoing: It has been determined that this action item is implemented by the Vision 2020 Facilitation Team.
2.Establish and communicate a specific legislative agenda for economic growth, including potential public funding.
Ongoing: The Greater Bakersfield Chamber of Commerce, Governmental Review Committee recommends legislative action.
Strategy #11 - Develop a Fast-track process for establishing a business, in Greater Bakersfield.