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CERF RFP Communications Partner

CERF RFP Research Partner

The Greater Sacramento Region’s Workforce: A Status Report

Valley Vision, in partnership with the Greater Sacramento Center of Excellence and other stakeholders, conducted the Employer Survey and Livability Poll in 2022 to understand and inform workforce and economic development planning, including current regional efforts for community college workforce initiatives. This report details a compilation of workforce-specific findings from the research with key takeaways.

2022 Employer Survey Report

Valley Vision, in partnership with the Sacramento Area Council of Governments (SACOG), the Centers of Excellence, and local transportation agencies, sought to implement an ongoing series of surveys to understand the most pressing needs of the Capital Region’s employers. In August 2022, the first survey of this series was launched to measure the changes in location-based work, hiring & onboarding challenges, and training opportunities.

Questions were centered on three major topics: respondent demographics, transportation needs, and hiring/training challenges. Results from this survey will be referenced to guide transportation and career education investments.

Yolo Food Hub Buyer Survey – Executive Summary

As part of the Yolo Food Hub project, this survey collected specific information from institutional buyers in the region​. The results will allow the Yolo Food Hub Network to create a facility that is equitable, sustainable, and offers a wide range of valuable services to consumers and producers. The results will also inform the feasibility study of the Yolo Food Hub as well as the business plan.

Early Childhood Education Workforce Needs Assessment

The Greater Sacramento region Center of Excellence and Valley Vision released the Early Childhood Education (ECE) Workforce Needs Assessment in October 2022. This report details the current landscape of the industry, upcoming market pressures, and sets forth a series of recommendations for further investigation and possible implementation.

White House Conference – Recommendations from America’s Farm-to-Fork Capital

This document summarizes key issues and recommendations from more than 75 community partners in the Greater Sacramento region who gathered at an input session for the September 15th, 2022 White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health. The session was convened by Valley Vision, in partnership with the Sacramento Region Community Foundation and Mulvaney’s B&L. Organized under the banner of our community food system network “We are Farm to Fork,” participants included a vibrant cross-section of over 75 leaders representing food banks, restaurants, school districts, nonprofits, local, state, and federal agencies, tribal and many more.

Fall 2021 Forest Sector Workforce Study Report

At Valley Vision’s Spring 2022 Forestry Management Industry Advisory, Melissa Kovacs, Senior Project Analyst at the Center of Economic Development, CSU Chico, presented her findings from the 2021 Forest Sector Workforce Needs Survey. Created in partnership with the Statewide Wildfire and Forest Resiliency Task Force and yielding 113 responses, the survey encompassed forestry management entities across four major task areas: Northern, Sierra & East Side, Coastal, and Southern.

Download and read the full report here.

Yolo Food Hub Grower Survey – Executive Summary

As part of the Yolo Food Hub project, this survey collected specific information from growers in the region​. The results will allow the Yolo Food Hub project partners to create a facility that is equitable, sustainable, and offers a wide range of valuable services to consumers and producers. The results will also inform the feasibility study of the Yolo Food Hub as well as the business plan.

Remote Work Survey Analysis (2021)

The COVID-19 pandemic upended the traditional structure and distribution of work teams. In collaboration with Los Rios Community College District, the Centers of Excellence, and Orr Consulting, Valley Vision sought to survey the region’s employers to quantify and begin to understand the changes and implications brought on by the rise of remote work.

Building upon the Remote Work Survey that was presented at the ICT Regional Advisory Meeting (2021), this report looks at the potential impacts of remote work, its biggest obstacles, and the skills that employers are looking for in a remote workforce. The following white paper highlights the result of these efforts:

Sacramento Region Food System Action Plan (2021)

2021 Sacramento Region Food System Action Plan

The Greater Sacramento region is at the heart of one of the world’s largest agricultural economies, producing products for people at home and around the globe. With its renowned food and agricultural assets, the region produces a large diversity of high-quality crops and products and values its agricultural heritage, while looking to the future as a global innovator and leader in sustainable agriculture, food, and health.

Yet, in spite of our great abundance, the region experiences persistent levels of food insecurity, lack of access to healthy affordable foods, and lack of equitable access to economic opportunities, among other conditions. The Sacramento Region Community Foundation (Foundation) engaged Valley Vision to prepare phase one of the 2021 Sacramento Region Food System Action Plan (Regional Action Plan), which assesses the capital area’s food landscape and offers recommendations to grow its capacity and resilience – efforts made more urgent by ongoing health and climate crises.

The project team also developed an eight-page document (below) containing summaries of key assets, challenges, and recommendations across the six strategic focus areas in the full Regional Action Plan (above).

Companion research and analysis on regional food security status, community food guides prepared by UC Davis, and a listing of new and expanded state and federal resources that can support recommendations and actions are available on Valley Vision’s website.

To stay engaged and informed about the Regional Action Plan and Phase Two, email us at FoodAndAg@ValleyVision.org.

Skills for a Ready Future Workforce (2021)

Valley Vision has been examining Future of Work trends for many years. Our latest research was made possible through funding from the City of Sacramento CARES COVID Relief and in partnership with Burning Glass Technologies.  This analysis sought to answer the question, where should resources be targeted to provide the most effective skills acquisition and training, especially to disproportionately impacted community members, to enhance and accelerate recovery from the pandemic.

Building on previous work, Automation Risk for Jobs in the Capital Region (March 2020), this report looks at the potential impacts of automation in our nine county region, recovery from the pandemic and future workforce development strategies need to be responsive to multiple factors. The following white paper highlights the result of these efforts: