Regional News for Santa Cruz, Monterey and San Benito Counties
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REFLECTING ON MBEP'S STATE OF THE
REGION CONFERENCE
Last week at MBEP’s State of the Region
Conference, 300 education, business, civic
and non-profit leaders came together for the
day to engage in a deep conversation about
the important quality of life issues in our
region. Topics included jobs, affordable
housing, infrastructure, youth health and well-being, education, the environment,
public safety and workforce development.
Bud Colligan, Co-Chair of MBEP, provided a State of the Region keynote laying out
the key issues and providing context for the day (all presentations can be found
here). Below are a few highlights.
The regional economy has been strong in the last few years, with county
unemployment rates falling to the 5%-5.8% range in September 2015. Even in our
cities hardest hit by the Great Recession, employment is growing substantially.
Housing costs for renters and buyers have risen dramatically, taking a larger portion
of individual or family disposable income and carving into other necessities like food,
health care, childcare and transportation. The Housing Panel looked at potential
solutions to increase the supply of affordable housing, including creating more
employer-built housing (e.g. Tanimura and Antle project in Spreckels), establishing
housing trust funds raised by specific taxes or private efforts (e.g. Napa Valley),
streamlining local regulations to reduce time and entitlement costs (study by
Fermanian Institute can be found here), joining the “Make Room” movement for
alternative housing availability, incenting more density (building up) and transitoriented housing, and reengaging redevelopment funds for housing.
On infrastructure: Colligan urged elected leaders to focus on deploying fiber
broadband and conduit in all public works projects and creating public-private
partnerships to help build out a very competitive internet infrastructure. “Fast,
reliable, low-cost internet availability is THE most important infrastructure investment
we can make.” Lenny Mondonca, Co-Chair of CA Forward, laid out opportunities for
Enhanced Infrastructure Financing Districts (see link here) public-private
infrastructure partnerships, student-led design of new transit projects (e.g. Atlanta
Beltline), and converting rivers to integral urbanscapes (e.g. L.A. River).
The region’s progress on youth health insurance is quite impressive, with 96% to
99% coverage in the tri-county region. Even though many stats on youth health and
well-being are headed in the right direction (e.g. high school dropout rates, teen
pregnancy and abuse of alcohol, tobacco and drugs), there is growing food
insecurity, obesity, and lack of meaningful jobs and after-school activities. The Youth
Health and Well-Being Panel pointed out that health is comprised of 100 small
decisions one makes every day. In order to make good health decisions, education is
critical. Lack of education and poverty inhibit one’s ability to have the information,
literacy and time necessary to make good health decisions. Programs like Healthy
Kids, Bright Futures, First5, S4C, and Central CA Alliance for Health are all working
on “whole child” approaches to health and well-being.
MBEP Board member Gary Griggs, Director of the Institute of Marine Sciences at
UCSC, made the point in his keynote that the environment is never saved: “We are
always saving it.” He talked about how even with organic food production rising
dramatically, we must be vigilant about the application of pesticides, depletion of
groundwater, and surface water pollution.
Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom provided the afternoon keynote, describing the
incredible dynamism of the California economy, based around innovation and
creativity. At the same time, he pointed out the challenges around California’s
infrastructure, as well as significant inequality trends brought about by rising housing
costs, low wages in some sectors of the economy, and large differences in
educational opportunities. With dysfunction at the federal level, he extolled the
benefits of state, local and regional action, where lots of progress is being made.
“Leadership can be found anywhere, and things get done with a bottoms-up citizen
leadership model.” He congratulated MBEP on showing the way for what can
happen when regions unite, share best practices and work together.
The afternoon panel on Public Safety discussed discussed the significant gang
problem and the various programs, like Campaign for our Future (CASP), Four Cities
for Peace, Rancho Cielo, Digital NEST, the Santa Cruz/Watsonville Youth Council,
and others, working to inspire youth, provide education, mentors and relevant skills,
and find worthwhile programs, jobs and leadership opportunities for our youth. We
need to redouble our efforts in this area; it’s not just a law enforcement issue.
In the Workforce arena, the panel tackled the significant mismatch between the
skillset of our potential new employees and available jobs. At the high end, there are
not enough workers for jobs in sales, logistics, supply chain management,
engineering and computer programming, and machinery operation and repair. On
the low end, service and field worker jobs are left unfilled – crops were left
unharvested due to the labor shortage among field workers. Our region has a large
pool of potential employees in the middle with high school and AA degrees, but there
are a limited set of jobs that fit their profile. Although there are no easy answers,
programs like Bright Futures provide the “cradle to career” framework that provides a
roadmap to follow. In addition, MBEP is working with ACT to make the National
Career Readiness Certificate a common currency for employers and employees to
find a good match.
MBEP is following up on the discussions and ideas that came out of the conference
and will track how we are progressing as a region. MBEP believes that a new model
is emerging — a model that relies on partnerships between the public and private
sectors and leverages the centers of excellence and collective understanding
wherever they may be. Please join in this effort. To learn more about becoming a
member of MBEP, click here and find out how to be part of the regional solution.
Photo courtesy of Monterey County Weekly.
CONFERENCE BUILDING COLLABORATION, MOMENTUM
Judging by the media coverage and feedback MBEP received, last week's State of
the Region event provided abundant food for thought as well as fuel toward solving
some of our region's most challenging issues.
Here are some of the comments from attendees, sponsors and speakers:
"MBEP's presentation of the State of the Region was outstanding, and the
crew who put it all together should be congratulated. As a relatively new
organization, you're off to a great start. Thank
you and congratulations to all involved in this
'entrepreneurial' regional effort." - John Dunn,
City Manager, City of Seaside
"Just wanted to say that yesterday's event was
top-notch. Great job. Very proud that we are
sponsors." - Joe Foster, Government Relations
Representative, PG&E
"It was a remarkably thoughtful conversation of
both quality and texture. The speakers and
panelists were excellent. Perhaps one
measure of success of something like this is
the energy one finds they have to bring the
message into the world. I talked my wife’s ear
off last night about the many things we discussed and learned. And today here
in the agency, I am regaling anyone who will listen." - Michael Milward, CEO,
Hospice of Santa Cruz County
“Congratulations on an outstanding summit and further momentum towards the
transformation of our region!” - Shyam Kamath, Dean College of Business,
CSUMB
"A big 'kudos' to you for all your hard work for producing a quality policy-driven
and effective conference. Today you had a mixture of synergy, 'thrive' and
passion to make positive change for our region." - Casey Beyer, Executive
Director, Santa Cruz County Business Council
"I left so inspired. I am ready to hit the street with a little more passion in my
pocket. Thank you and MBEP for providing a fantastic event. The work you are
doing is transformational and needed in our region. Thank you, thank you,
thank you!" - Kalyne Foster Renda, Director of Fund Development, Monarch
Services
Nearly all of the attendees who turned in our evaluation forms (95 percent) said they
"would recommend this event to a colleague."
A sampling of the media coverage MBEP's State of the Region Conference
received: KSBW, KION, KSBW on public safety panel, Santa Cruz
Sentinel/Monterey Herald, Monterey County Weekly, Santa Cruz Tech Beat, Silicon
Valley Business Journal
One more piece of feedback is worth sharing, as it goes beyond the event itself and
speaks to the holistic thinking that MBEP strives to inspire: "Thank you for putting on
such an incredible event. The caliber of everything - speakers, conversation,
participants … was so high. I left buzzing with ideas for how our museum can be a
more effective partner in tackling the big issues facing our region. I also realized that
being part of MBEP has changed my perspective on our community. I used to think
of myself as a “Santa Cruz” representative on the board. I now see myself as a
representative (and hopefully, a community builder) across the Monterey Bay region.
Thank you for opening my eyes, my mind, and my heart to the challenges and
opportunities we all share." - Nina Simon, Executive Director, Museum of Art and
History in Santa Cruz.
View presentations from the event on our website; podcasts and videos will be ready
over the next few weeks.
"There's lots to still process, such as how we will incorporate the panel findings and
other learnings from the event into MBEP's priorities and actions going forward,"
says MBEP President Kate Roberts. "Momentum is building! I look forward to
continuing these important conversations in the coming weeks and months, to a
strong finish to the year, and more good things to come in 2016."
RESHAPING THE WORLD OF WORK
Call it what you will – the gig, on-demand,
freelance or sharing economy – but
whatever label you choose, the workforce
transformations brought on by mobile
devices are hard to ignore. Six million
Americans chose to work part-time in 2015,
according to the U.S Bureau of Labor
Statistics, and predictions are that 40
percent of the workforce could be part-time by 2020. "With the advent of the
smartphone, people are now able to work anytime, anywhere, opening up a wealth
of new opportunities not bound to a physical office," reports Gigwalk in a new study
of the future of work.
Control over one's schedule was the perk most often cited in its recent survey of
freelance workers (57%), followed by the ability to be one's own boss (43%), the
ability to make more money (42%), more time to spend with family and friends
(29%), and more time to pursue passions and hobbies (28 percent).
Just who are these workers? Agewise, it's demographically diverse, with workers
age 60+ making up 30 percent of the freelance workforce. And while people are
increasingly familiar with Uber and TaskRabbit, driving and running errands make up
just 23 percent of the freelance pie: Professional services comprise 58 percent of ondemand jobs; education, 42 percent. In fact, more than 70 percent of freelancers
have completed college or graduate school, while just 47 percent of today's
workforce has an associate degree or higher, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Those changes are apparent in the Monterey Bay region, which supports a growing
number of coworking spaces, including Next Space and Cruzio in Santa Cruz,
Satellite in Scotts Valley and Felton, and the UC MBEST Center in Marina.
BUILDING TECHNOLOGY TALENT
There are several new aspects to the
Startup Monterey Bay Hackathon taking
place Nov. 20-22 on the California State
University, Monterey Bay campus. Formerly
known as The Ideas of March, it's moved to
November so that its tech participants could
be involved in the university's other major
entrepreneurial events: Startup Weekend in
January and the Startup Challenge in March, says Mary Jo Zenk, program manager
at CSUMB's Institute for Innovation and Economic Development (iiED). "We hope to
see aspiring entrepreneurs participate in all three events," says Zenk, "from
developing tech skills in the Hackathon, to developing a business idea in the Startup
Weekend, to developing their business and competing in the Startup Challenge." It's
also moving to the university's new Business & Information Technology (BIT)
building, the new home for the College of Business and the School of Computing
and Design.
But at its core, the Startup Monterey Bay Hackathon is the same intense, exciting
event, a three-day frenzy of collaboration, competition and coffee, where student
teams work under the guidance of mentors and local software engineers to build
mobile apps for local nonprofits and small businesses. The Hackathon experience
allows students to gain real-world work skills, such as rapid software and interface
prototype development, project management on a very short deadline, community
engagement and collaboration and communication in an intensive, startup
environment. Participation is open to students from any regional college or
community college. Leading this year's Hackathon will be CSUMB professors Miguel
Lara and Krzysztof Pietroszek, experts in education technology and digital games
development, respectively.
Startup Hackathon Monterey Bay is a joint project of the School of Computing and
Design and the College of Business, and managed by the Institute for Innovation and
Economic Development at CSU Monterey Bay. Given the increase in technology
startups, developing technology talent and skills, such as app development, is
essential for the regional entrepreneurship ecosystem.
Local nonprofit organizations and small businesses that wish to pitch an idea for an
app should register by Nov. 16. The public is invited to come hear the teams present
their apps from 1-3 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 22. For more information visit csumb.edu/iied
or register now.
Photo courtesy of the Institute for Innovation and Economic Development (iiED).
MAGAZINE CELEBRATES THE REGION'S
SMALL BUSINESS SUCCESSES
The Monterey Bay has a flourishing small
business community, and a new magazine
aims to both celebrate and nurture
it. Regional Small Business Monterey
Bay rolled out with a 44-page issue available
at no cost to subscribers, in newsstands and
online.
The magazine will be published six times a
year by business partners Michael Meara
and Andy Van Valer, managing partner of
small business incubator Slingshot SV. The magazine will allow entrepreneurs to
share their stories and learn from one another's experiences while enjoying articles
on small business know-how, finance, technology and important regional news,
writes Meara.
The premier issue spotlights tech innovation, "The Solopreneur Economy," office
artwork and advice on social networking, securing capital and strategy. Soquelbased mask maker Chris Zephro talks passion and persistence, entrepreneur Scott
Gold explains why he isn't embarrassed to fail, and in a guest column, "Invent Your
Future Here," MBEP co-chair and South Swell Ventures founder and CEO Bud
Colligan envisions a region where we play upon our strengths and stakeholders
collaborate to build a strong, vibrant community with a flourishing economy and
strong infrastructure, adequate and affordable housing,
Image courtesy of Regional Small Business Monterey Bay
MBEP SPOTLIGHT: GEOMAPPING TOOL
A great new tool on the Monterey Bay
Economic Partnership website turns detailed
data about our region into an interactive
map. Drawing from the U.S. Census
Bureau's 2009-2-13 5-Year American
Community Survey (ACS), the Monterey Bay
Geomapping Tool gives viewers a visual
representation of our region for a variety of
areas: population, median household
income, unemployment data, and statistics
on renter-occupied housing, median gross
rent and median gross rent as a percentage of household income. The Monterey
Bay Geomapping Tool can be sorted by specific data set, region or county. Additional
data will be added soon.
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P.O. Box 1445 Monterey CA 93942
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