Future Focus Business Summit – How Will We Reinvent the Workforce?
A story: The Human Genome Project launched in 1990 and it took seven years to get one percent of the project finished. When Human Genome scientists were asked if they were concerned about the rate of completion (would it take 700 years to complete?), they responded that now that they were one percent finished, they were almost done and it should only take 6.5 years to complete.
Why was that the case? Because there was a rate of 100 percent growth per year, so, going from zero to one percent was the slowest and most difficult growth period. With this in mind, they were able to complete the project in less than seven years, doubling their output each year until the on-time completion in 2003. This is noteworthy because it demonstrates how technology growth is evolving at an exponential rate. Unfortunately, humans adapt much slower. As a result, business learning and development often lags the rate of technology growth and can fall behind quickly. It is predicted that 40% of current S&P businesses will no longer exist by 2026. Which businesses will lose their revenue stream in the next seven years and who will gain market to take advantage of those who are going under? This is a critical issue for business and for our regional economy.
These are examples and insights that Keynote Speaker, Patrick Schwerdtfeger, a futurist and expert in business trends, brought to the Future Focus Business Summit on May 15th in Roseville, hosted by the four regional Workforce Development Boards and produced by Valley Vision.
Patrick emphasized to the audience of 250 business and community leaders that current technology trends reveal where new technologies might be disruptive. For example, driverless cars are already being used in agriculture and mining – it is just a matter of time until these technologies gain enough traction to be used for commercial trucking and even city driving. Repetitive jobs, whether they are manual or cognitive, are already being replaced with automation or algorithms – this trend will only increase. Blockchain has architected trust across a supply chain by creating a chain of unhackable software. This is enabling the development of smart contracts and potentially eliminating the need for many management and tracking jobs across shipping and other related industries.
Tracking these trends can help business deploy effective strategies to harness innovation. Disruptive innovation, by definition, blows up existing business models rather than improves on existing models. This often happens in the periphery of a market. Systems are disrupted when business solves a problem in one market only to apply it to another, displacing other businesses. Patrick gave some key pieces of advice for business in this environment, including:
Look up, look down, look side to side: Look up to protect your core revenue stream in your primary market space. Look down to find the hard-to-please market segment that will require experiments and innovation to solve their problems. Look side-to-side to monitor adjacent markets – finding your own unexpected market space as well as avoiding unanticipated competitors.
Think bigger: “It’s not an experiment if you know it is going to work.” – Jeff Bezos.To innovate, you must be willing to fail. Additionally, there is more and more leverage in the system every year. The responsibility is on us – watch where innovations are happening, and run towards technology to optimize technology for the benefit of your business.
The Future Focus Summit brought Patrick to the region to help inspire and inform business to keep pace in an ever-changing environment. Patrick provided high level data and trends, but he wasn’t the only feature. There was a panel of regional business leaders who described how some of the major sectors in the region are adapting to technology changes. AJ Jacobs, Chief Information Security Officer at SMUD; Kristie Griffin, Head of Talent Management and Strategy at Stanford Healthcare; and Kevin McGrew, Director of Quality Management of Siemens noted that in regional manufacturing, energy, and health sectors, practitioners are significantly changing their business models to integrate cybersecurity, automate some of their processes, advance innovation in design practices and service delivery.
Aneesh Raman, Senior Advisor for Strategy and External Affairs, CA Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development, closed the Summit. As the child of an immigrant, Aneesh is driven by the American promise of social mobility. His interest, from his position at the Governor’s Office, is to provide support and guidance to address how technology can be a vehicle for social mobility and not contribute to existing inequities. Supporting a forward-looking, inclusive economy is a core priority of Governor Newsom and he is supporting it, in part, through a new Future of Work Commission and through a new economic development initiative, Regions Rise Together. This initiative will support regional economic development plans that reflect the unique needs and goals of each region in California. Assemblyman Kevin Kiley, also addressed the role of government in supporting workforce development – encouraging government agencies to stay out of the way of successful business enterprise.
The four region Workforce Development Board organized the Future Focus Business Summit to prepare business for an uncertain future. Valley Vision produced the event because we are committed to supporting a future-ready Capital region. Our speakers and panelist helped move us from fearing a dystopian future to understanding leverage points and considering concrete ways that individual businesses and agencies can prepare for the coming changes. Local systems, research, and actions can help manage the changes that are needed. Read more about Valley Vision’s work and check out some of the services that Workforce Development Boards provide at wearebettertogether.co.
To keep up with Valley Vision’s work to advance livability in the Sacramento region, subscribe to our Vantage Point email newsletter!
Evan Schmidt is Valley Vision’s Senior Director working on the Public Opinion Surveying initiative and projects in the Healthy Communities and 21st Century Workforce strategy areas.
Opportunity Zone Forum Recap: An Important Conversation
On Friday, February 1st, Sacramento Councilmember Eric Guerra (District 6) kicked off the Capital Region Opportunity Zone Forum, which Valley Vision created in partnership with the Councilmember’s office, the City of Sacramento, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, and Power Inn Alliance.
The 200+ participants were next greeted by Meaghan Stiles and Matthew Ceccato of Congressional Reps. Matsui’s and Bera’s offices, respectively, highlighting the degree of interest at both local and federal levels in this still-emerging initiative to increase the capital available to the nation’s most underserved communities. Special guest speakers included Jimmy Stracner, Regional Administrator for Region IX of the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, and Chris Dombrowski, Chief Deputy Director for the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz).
Because Opportunity Zones (OZs) are so new, with guidelines still being defined federally, the Forum opened with a primer – what OZs are, why they were created, and how they work – from Scott Syphax (Syphax Strategic Solutions) and Kevin Wilson (Novogradac and Company), both of whom are working extensively in OZs at the national level.
Following that introduction and level-setting, the Forum shifted to focus on three key “implementation issues” for OZs: first, what kind of investments seem best-suited to OZs; next, the importance of understanding community perspective and potential impacts on OZ residents; and third, local and state government actions that could improve the appeal of OZ investing in our region.
In the lead-off “Model Projects” discussion, Liz McFarland of Greater Sacramento demonstrated the beta version of an online mapping tool that will be available on their website by the end of this month. As well, Denton Kelley of LDK Ventures and Tyrone Roderick Williams of SHRA each summarized their current views of the most effective uses of OZ investments – which is unlikely to be in affordable housing, as both speakers agreed, despite the statewide housing crisis.
In the “Community Impacts” discussion, Ricardo Flores of LISC and Ky-Nam Miller, from San Diego and Oakland respectively, joined Clarence Williams of Sacramento-based California Capital. The three highlighted the imperatives of inclusive, community-based economic strategies, specifically in order to avoid possible gentrification of OZ neighborhoods in ways that could displace the very residents that OZs are trying to aid.
Finally, the Forum turned to the important roles of both state and local governments in supporting communities and creating an environment in which OZ investing occurs successfully – and consistent with State and local goals. Chris Dombrowski, of GO-Biz, emphasized the priority that the Newsom administration has placed on OZs early in the Governor’s term. A discussion panel of Fred Silva (California Forward), Robert Burris (Solano EDC and CALED), and Michael Jasso (City of Sacramento) then identified a host of ideas, like increasing local capacity through state assistance, developing a pipeline of projects that align with community objectives, and layering in other economic development tools such as Enhanced Infrastructure Financing Districts (EIFDs).
Without a doubt, Opportunity Zones can raise topics and concerns that can be hard to discuss – such as the fact that the federal government created no “guardrails” or requirements for transparency in OZ investing; concerns about exclusion and disempowerment of the very people that OZs were created to help raise up; and the potential for displacement of people already living in OZs as OZ investment flows in.
But also without a doubt, Opportunity Zones have the potential to shape the characters of our communities for decades to come, and for that reason it’s all the more important to have these hard conversations early, often, and inclusively. Valley Vision and its partners are committed to working hard on OZs, particularly to bring the different stakeholders in OZs together on these tough issues.
If you missed the Forum on Friday, you can catch the livestream feed on Councilmember Guerra’s Facebook page. You can also review the Forum Powerpoint presentation, the real-time audience polling results, and many more relevant resources on Valley Vision’s Opportunity Zones resource page. To keep up with Valley Vision’s work to advance livability in the Sacramento region, subscribe to our Vantage Point email newsletter!
Yzabelle Dela Cruz is a Valley Vision Project Associate contributing to the Innovation & Infrastructure and Leadership & Civic Engagement impact areas.
Valley Vision’s Chloe Pan and Meg Arnold also contributed to the writing of this blog.
Preparing Today’s Students for Tomorrow’s Workforce
Valley Vision CEO Bill Mueller gave the following remarks at the Hands On the Future 2018 Counselor’s Conference on December 4th in Sacramento. The summit was designed to help hundreds of high school and college counselors in preparing today’s students for tomorrow’s workforce.
“Thank you all for being here. You are the critical bridge in our economy, connecting students to their future. We are grateful for the job that you do, and respect the daily responsibility you carry. We are here to help and support you today.
As Cristina Mendonsa mentioned, I am the CEO of a nonprofit group called Valley Vision with offices here in Sacramento and in Stockton. We were created 25 years ago to help mayors and business CEOs, hospital executives and foundation leaders come together around a common table to address complicated issues like creating more affordable housing, improving healthcare access, or unraveling how to fill the jobs of the future that no single group could tackle alone. Our 33-member board includes the chancellors and presidents of all the major public and private universities, the top businesses and foundations CEOs, and many community and nonprofit leaders. Our job is to help our communities have the important conversations to be future ready. So Valley Vision is more than a name, it’s also what we do.
How do you plan for a future in an age of massive disruption? A time when technology is transforming old industries and remaking whole new job categories that didn’t exist even 5 years ago? What about the impact of artificial Intelligence, machine learning, genetic engineering, and the Internet of Things — how are these forces changing the nature of what work will be in the future? Which jobs will be replaced by machines, or end all together? Just how important is digital literacy to future success? (Hint: it’s very important, and we are lagging here).
Thinking more globally, the United Nation forecasts we will add another billion people to the planet by 2030 — that’s just 11 years away. Many of them will be born in India, China, and about half in Africa, UN data indicates, where medicine is getting better and birth rates are high, but food and water are scarce. As the climate changes, who will create the cures and breakthroughs that address our next global challenges?
As an independent organization that works closely with our region’s top universities, all the work force boards, government, business and community groups, Valley Vision starts to answer these questions by curating some of the best research from industry and government sources. We look deeply at reports from the Economist Intelligence Unit, McKinsey & Company, Brookings Institute and others. We read the latest findings and talk with the researchers themselves. We also create our own research, partnering with universities, national think tanks, and private enterprise.
That’s why I was asked to join you this morning. To tell you that we have studied the local economy and talked to area employers and have a good handle on what’s coming in the next 5 years.
So what IS coming next, you might ask…
I hope you might have a pen and some paper so you can take a few notes. I’m going to tell you what we have learned so far about the jobs of the future here. You’re going to hear more about this later this morning from experts from the field. I’m also going to tell you what employers and experts are telling us they need most from graduates. So here goes.
In 2015-16, Valley Vision worked with Theresa Milan and the Los Rios Center for Excellence and conducted quantitative and qualitative research to better understand six high growth industry clusters for which we have a competitive advantage. We held six forums to gain market intelligence directly from hiring managers and conducted individual interviews.
In 2017-18, Valley Vision, along with our workforce board and Strong Workforce partners, held several industry forums and regional advisory meetings to gain an even deeper understanding of in-demand skills and occupations. We held four Future of Work forums and also mapped more than 115 industry advisory committees with more than 2,200 members.
This is what we learned:
Manufacturing is not in decline, but is growing both nationally and locally. It is undergoing a renaissance due to technology and the advantages of local suppliers and the need for quality control. We have added over a million manufacturing jobs nationally since the recession, and are adding thousands of high paying jobs at places like Siemens Mobility that don’t need a four or even a two-year degree, but a high school diploma, certificates and on-the-job training. Dean Peckham is here from the Sacramento Valley Manufacturing Initiative, and can tell you more.
Construction will need over 36,250 jobs through 2021 to rebuild our communities and homes and to incorporate energy efficiency and green materials.
Information and Communications Technology will need over 22,000 new hires at companies like Teledyne Microwave Solutions in Rancho Cordova and Intel in Folsom, through 2021.
Food and Agriculture here employs over 31,200 people with over 1,800 employers. Notably, 55% of those jobs are “off farm” in production, distribution and processing. This sector will have over 5,000 job openings over the next few years.
Another of our studies found that job growth is anticipated to continue at a 2.4% growth rate in life sciences as healthcare. Registered nurses posted the largest job counts amongst the top 15 occupations with nearly 18,000 job openings expected over the next 5 years. Social assistance and ambulatory care are driving a lot of the job growth. This is just an example of what we have learned so far.
This region also hired the Brookings Institute to come in and do a “stress test” on our region’s economy. We are wealthy and productive when compared to the other top 100 metros in the US. But we are falling behind in digital training and literacy. We need to increase and align our efforts, especially for Blacks and Latinos that will make up a growing share of our workforce in the next 10 years.
You will hear more about these job trends from experts after my talk and ways you can put them to work for you and your students. The big takeaway here is that the Sacramento Region population is growing faster than any other region in California and we are experiencing a job boom.
Jobs are here – we just need to do a better job of connecting you to them and the skills to get hired. A lot of terrific job reports can be found on our website. Look for this image on the home page and click to the underlying information. We are here to help you.
I want to leave you with five truths we have uncovered from local employers and from leading research. These truths will help you prepare students for jobs in the future.
First, focus on skills, not titles. Job titles are in flux. They don’t predict what an employee will be doing. Focus instead on building a solid base of skills and fluency applicable to many occupations. Generalist eager to learn are more hire-able than specialists in most cases.
The second truth is that job ladders are gone. We are now in an age of job lattice — moving up, across and sideways over the course of our careers. Skills remain, but as industries merge and re-form and job requirements shift, progress won’t be linear any more.
The third truth we are hearing is that workplace skills are sometimes equal to or more important than technical proficiency. Adaptability, collaboration, problem solving, empathy, social awareness — these cannot be replaced by machines. And these New World of Work skills can both be a student’s biggest advantage and biggest deterrent to upward mobility and success. We need to teach them.
The fourth truth is that we must end the fiction that your education is over once you graduate. Today global competition and technology change require us all to be lifelong learners. Curiosity is key in the new world of work.
Last but perhaps most importantly, the fifth truth is that the evolving world of work requires us all must to be entrepreneurs. A entrepreneurial mindset is more and more vital in the creative destruction underway in our economy. It’s equally necessary for those filling job openings as those creating their own, Do-it-yourself future, building the next business enterprise. This is the gig economy imperative.
As the world confronts huge environmental and social changes, California is an ideal place to build a career for students wanting to create the answers to some of societies most vexing challenges. Not just cures and the latest technology breakthrough, but how will we feed the next billion? How can we make our communities more resilient to fire? Make water go farther for more people and grow more crops for a better life. The answers will come from your students. We have the jobs for them, and the opportunity is here to make the world a better place.
Thank you.”
To keep up with Valley Vision’s work to advance livability in the Sacramento region, subscribe to our Vantage Point email newsletter!
Bill Mueller is Valley Vision’s Chief Executive.
Keep Manufacturing Close: A Brooklyn Tale
Is manufacturing dead in America? Have all the good “blue collar” jobs been exported to low-cost countries, never to return?
News reports are full of stories about the loss of manufacturing jobs, but the truth today is something different. During the past eight years since the global recession, manufacturing has bounded back strongly, gaining 1.1 million jobs to reach over 12 million today – many based in California. Companies are bringing manufacturing back home for reasons of quality and creative control. According to the Institute for Supply Management, 17 of 18 major manufacturing industries have been in “growth mode” in recent months.
Manufacturing is vital to a healthy economy not just because it has the single highest multiplier of any economic sector, generating $1.81 in output for every dollar invested, or that every direct manufacturing job supports another four. Perhaps even more important for a middle-weight economy like Sacramento’s is that manufacturing occupations pay better than other working-class fields, averaging $57,000 a year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics; are plentiful in our region, and with the right training, people can get on the highway from poverty to opportunity relatively quickly.
World-renowned fashion designer Nanette Lepore made a compelling case for keeping manufacturing close during the 2018 Study Mission program to Brooklyn, hosted by the Sacramento Metro Chamber. Brooklyn is seeing a manufacturing resurgence, chiefly with small, creative enterprises that leverage technology, local supply chains, and modern tools, like 3-D printing, to knock down traditional barriers to entry.
After years in Manhattan, Lepore is now operating from Brooklyn where the city is using their building codes to protect and preserve old warehouses as manufacturing sites and directing infill housing elsewhere. You can’t have all the beauty of fashion, art, or design without making room for the grit that builds it, said Lepore. Developers of the Brooklyn Navy Yard are breaking up massive buildings into smaller 500, 1,000, and 1,500 square-foot individual business sites to match the needs of smaller manufacturing enterprises with great success. Hyper-localized is the new story, we heard.
Keeping manufacturing close allows for improved creative control over the result, Lepore continued. You don’t have to wait days for proofs or early runs to know whether you hit the mark. Quality control is also dramatically increased when cycle times are shortened by hours or thousands of miles, reducing the margin for error. “Speed to market and proximity to suppliers also are big advantages in today’s economy,” Lepore said.
Could we be returning to the past?
Six hundred years ago, humanity finally left the dark ages thanks to the rebirth of the arts, learning, and invention. Historians point to the epicenter being places like Florence, Italy, where small, open-stall shops lined bustling city streets, bringing together clothiers with fine artists, cobblers, metal workers, sculptors, and machinists of all kinds, collaborating and borrowing from each others’ innovations. Those were the days of Leonardo Da Vinci. That close-knit manufacturing community launched the renaissance, and later the scientific revolution that would lead to the discovery of new cures, new frontiers, and improve living standards for millions.
In the greater Sacramento area, manufacturers like Siemens Mobility and Tri Tool have come together to form the Sacramento Valley Manufacturing Initiative (SVMI), with Valley Vision as their host organization. Their aim: to partner with educators to build the talent pipeline for in-demand manufacturing jobs in places like South Sacramento, Rancho Cordova, and Woodland. Research shows the Sacramento Region is home to over 2,700 manufacturing companies – half of which have fewer than five employees – in fields ranging from machine shops, food processors, and breweries to medical device companies whose technologies are being used around the world. There were 10,000 job postings for manufacturing positions in the Sacramento Region in the past 12 months, a massive gap and growing opportunity which area employers are eager to fill.
Brooklyn showed us a glimpse of Sacramento’s future. Let’s build it together. To get involved, please contact SVMI’s Dean Peckam or read more about the Sacramento Valley Manufacturing Initiative.
Bill Mueller was Chief Executive of Valley Vision.
Partnering to Craft an Inclusive Economy
Today over 200 leaders gathered from 28 cities and counties at the Regional Futures Forum hosted by the Sacramento Area Council of Governments to hear from a national expert about how our region’s economy has restructured since the global downturn nearly 10-years ago.
“The Sacramento region benefits from an educated workforce, world-class research institutions, and the presence of the state government, but our research shows that the region also faces significant challenges, including lagging growth of its export industries, stark educational and earnings disparities between white, black, and Hispanic residents, and investment needs in transportation and broadband infrastructure to connect residents to opportunity,” said Amy Liu, Vice President and Director of of the Brookings Institute’s Metropolitan Policy Program.
“In an age of rapid technological changes and an ongoing demographic transformation towards a majority-minority future, existing disparities will be exacerbated without deliberate action,” continued Liu. “Now, leaders across the region must do the hard work of creating a shared vision for inclusive growth, mobilizing people in government, business, and the broader community to tackle these challenges and make the Sacramento region truly inclusive and prosperous in the years ahead.”
Earlier this year, Valley Vision, the Greater Sacramento Economic Council, Sacramento Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and the Sacramento Area Council of Governments partnered to engage the nationally recognized Brookings Institution to conduct a market assessment of the six-county Sacramento region. The study examines the economic drivers of successful economies in regions and benchmarked Sacramento against national markets with similar characteristics.
The findings from the Brookings Institution informed the full-day Regional Futures Forum that included breakout sessions and group conversations to dive deep into topics and to develop priorities and actions to take the region to new levels of economic growth, prosperity and inclusion.
“This report shows just how important it is that we build an inclusive economy that provides opportunities for everyone in the Sacramento region,” said Jay Schenirer, Sacramento City Council Member and SACOG Board Chair. “Together, our region needs to provide — among other investments — more workforce development and job training opportunities for youth and young professionals. Investing in digital skills training and connecting young workers to in-demand occupations and industries will help our industries grow while creating access to jobs for more people.”
The full Brookings Institution Sacramento Region Market Assessment can be accessed at: https://brook.gs/2r4PbjI
Sierra College Experience Leaves Lasting Impact
He was good kid, really. Yet hard to tell by outward appearances. Long hair. Scraggly beard. Ripped jeans. Skateboard in hand. It was probably his careless attitude and the way he disrupted the class that most perturbed the professor. This wasn’t high school after all, but college. This student had arrived late again and made a bit of a scene. It was an all-too familiar pattern.
So when the professor called him up after class, this kid knew he was in trouble. He began to stiffen up. Put up his defenses. When the class cleared, the conversation started.
“You really don’t care about me or our classmates,” the teacher stated flatly. “It’s also clear you really don’t care about yourself either. If you did, you’d take school more seriously.” The kid had heard all this before. It didn’t faze him.
The professor continued: “But you have an even bigger problem.” Now the student took notice. “There is no one at the helm of your life. You – your ship – it is drifting, aimlessly, on open water. You are going nowhere. If you think the pilot is your mom or your dad, or your friends, or someone else, you’re terribly mistaken. It’s now or never. You must be at the helm of your life and steer. Otherwise you will be lost. And so will your future.”
Jarring words that this young man could not escape. Caring parents can try to break through. Families can help. Friends can intervene. But sometimes teachers can say things in a way that penetrates.
That skateboarding kid, the one who was once not sure about his future or all that driven, graduated from Sierra College and went on to graduate from UC Berkeley and later earn a Masters degree from a Boston university. He was recently ordained a priest.
I’m his proud father.
Sierra College changed my son’s life. It also changed my life for the better. I also had a teacher who took notice of me and inspired and challenged me to think and be different. I look back upon that moment as a major turning point in my life.
Education does this. It not only unlocks knowledge and insights, helps us analyze, think critically, problem-solve and prepare for a career and a life of learning, education and those who practice it transforms lives. Education in no small way democratizes hope. Makes opportunity accessible to a small town kid like me whose father and mother never went to college.
Life turned full circle. Now there is a way we can pay it forward.
This June Sierra College is asking property owners in Placer County to consider a bond issue that will raise $350 million to modernize the Rocklin campus and invest in facilities that will advance science, technology, engineering, and math for advanced economy jobs. The last bond investment in Sierra College was back in 1957.
This past Monday the Valley Vision Board heard this matter and, after reviewing the issue from all sides over several weeks, voted unanimously to endorse this school bond. They didn’t hear a passionate plea or a personal story of change from their chief executive. They analyzed the facts and weighed the evidence. Investing in education is investing in the human capital we need to drive jobs and business growth, draw investment, create new products and services, increase the regional tax base, and position this region for a vibrant future that touches all of us. It’s why one of Valley Vision’s six driving strategies is to build a 21st Century talent pipeline and why we engage in a vast body of work around education and workforce development.
Sierra College is highly regarded, well run, and has put forward a thoughtful proposal with well-defined purposes and strong taxpayer protections. Leading organizations have pulled in behind it.
William Yeats said that “education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.” I know this has been true in my life. Perhaps this has been true for someone you know.
Twenty thousand students experience Sierra College today – 15 times more students than what was original planned for in the late ‘50s. Thousands more students are expected to attend the campus over the next few decades seeking purpose, opportunity and a chance to make a difference. This is a lot of new light, and worth kindling. Our future depends upon it.
Bill Mueller is Chief Executive of Valley Vision.
Sacramento Valley Manufacturing Initiative to Provide Job Training for Local Youth
by Mark Anderson, Sacramento Business Journal:
The local research and advocacy group Valley Vision and a group of Sacramento area manufacturing companies are working together to provide more job training for local youth.
The manufacturers hope to inform schools about their current technology and training needs, so that the schools can provide programs better suited to the local labor market.
“We want to develop a workforce to meet the needs of the 21st-century manufacturer,” said Dean Peckham, the project manager of the Sacramento Valley Manufacturing Initiative.
Many schools have ceased teaching industrial arts, and even the ones that do have programs might not meet the needs of local companies, Peckham said.
From a first scoping meeting that attracted 60 manufacturers in October, the volunteer group attracted 80 people to a formal organizational meeting at the end of February. That meeting included manufacturers and local high school and community college representatives, said Peckham, who retired from the city of Sacramento as a senior economic development project manager and is now a volunteer with Valley Vision.
“We’re going to make this thing happen,” said Kevin McGrew, director of quality management with Siemens’ Mobility division. Siemens’ (OTC: SIEGY) plant in South Sacramento employs more than 1,200 people who build locomotives, rail cars and light rail trains.
“We have as manufacturers had some individual relationships with some individual schools, but we have not had a common manufacturing voice out to all the workforce development groups and schools in general to help every high school program,” McGrew said.
The effort is intended to expand the workforce, and also to replace a wave of soon-to-be retiring workers, McGrew said. “If you walk through our places, there are a lot of gray beards.”…
Read the full article on the Sacramento Business Journal website.
Why Our Region Must Learn from Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley is it’s own world. As much an idea as a place, it is our planet’s single most important tech innovation center. A place that contains companies with more cash reserves than whole countries; where cutely named firms that didn’t exist a few years ago are toppling whole industries. If you want to find the center for global business disruption, it is here, just 100 miles away from us. Yet more profound, Silicon Valley is also the place that, enabled by technology, is also disrupting cherished social contracts we have held between us for the past 300 years, and causing everyone to rethink them. Between employee and employer. Between student and teacher. Between residents and their government.
So when the annual “State of the Valley” conference comes each February, hosted by Joint Venture Silicon Valley, a Valley Vision-like organization led by my good friend Russ Hancock, I make a point to attend. This is where I get a heavy dose of what’s coming – the future we want, and things with foresight we might avoid.
Over 1,000 attendees from business, government, education, nonprofits, and neighborhood groups sat at attention to hear the latest update of the Silicon Valley Index – a wide-ranging set of measures that look at the health of Silicon Valley from all angles. It’s similar to checking your vital signs with your doctor each year, only it’s for a whole community.
The Bay Area added 107,000 new jobs since last year; 47,000 in Silicon Valley. The unemployment rate is now 2.3%, a rate never seen in the 20-year history that Joint Venture has issued reports; effectively full employment. Twenty-five percent of the Silicon Valley workforce is composed of tech company employers, but Russ acknowledged that business categories are blurring, making counts like these unreliable. His example? Uber is officially classified as a transportation company, not a tech company.
In the past 12 months Apple and Facebook alone account for half of all tech job growth. It seems we are going back to the future, quipped Russ, when firms like HP and Intel dominated the Valley in the 70s and 80s.
As for life in Silicon Valley, a person’s average annual earnings (all forms of compensation) is now $130,000. That’s double the national average. Same for the median household income. But with this stratospheric growth and wealth comes huge challenges.
Silicon Valley has the nation’s highest housing prices. Five of the nation’s top 10 housing re-sale markets are in the Valley. With the outlay required for just an average down payment, a family could buy an entire house in one of the square states, Russ said. Silicon Valley cities permitted just 12,000 new housing units, yet the area added nearly 4x the jobs in the same period. Sadly, just 287 of those 12,000 new units are affordable to median income residents there. Most are high-end homes.
Mobility is the Valley’s other major challenge. Daily traffic congestion continues to rise – it now takes the average commuter 58 minutes to get to work every day, one-way. He explained that 117,000 people per day leave San Francisco for work in Silicon Valley, and 120,000 people leave Silicon Valley to work each day in San Francisco, crossing paths on deadlocked streets and highways. Transit ridership is in decline but – in a bit of good news – CalTrain daily ridership has risen steadily each year.
This conference was not just a window into an advanced economy with all its societal opportunities and problems that we can learn from, but a message from a near neighbor whose forces directly affect us. There’s evidence that our home and rental markets are feeling the effects of the Bay Area’s troubles. Yet data also shows that our high quality of life, energetic urban spaces, desirable communities, and amazing recreation and open spaces are recruiting growth, especially from young professionals.
What does this mean for us?
Valley Vision is holding meetings with experts and bringing together business, government, and community leaders to grapple with these issues. An example: this week the Valley Vision board met with the leader from the Sacramento Area Council of Governments, James Corless, and his team, together with Barry Broome from the Greater Sacramento Economic Council, Darrell Teat from the Sacramento Metro Chamber, and Pat Fong Kushida from the Sacramento Asian Chamber. The 3-hour discussion centered on the Blueprint for Transportation and Land Use and its agreements about growth, the upcoming $35 billion Metropolitan Transportation Plan, our region’s competitive growth strategy, and our connections to the Bay Area.
These discussions are being informed by data and evidence. On behalf of the region, Valley Vision recently hired the Brookings Institute, a global research group based in Washington, DC, to conduct an “economic stress test” on our region to outline our competitive strengths and risks, both short and long-term. GSEC, Valley Vision, the chambers, SACOG, and other workforce and community groups are supporting this shared effort, and banding together to use these findings to inform action.
I love the quote from Robert Kiyosaki that “your future is created by what you do today, not tomorrow.” It’s a truth we should all live by in this profoundly disruptive age, on full display at the State of the Valley this year. This is also why Valley Vision exists – to help us plan and act to build the future we want. We hope you join us.
To collaborate or stay up-to-date with Valley Vision’s work, please subscribe to Valley Vision’s newsletters or contact us.
Bill Mueller is Chief Executive of Valley Vision.
Study Finds Workforce Shortage in Construction Sector
New research shows projected shortage of more than 7,000 workers annually over next five years
SACRAMENTO, CA — Valley Vision and the Center of Excellence at Los Rios Community College District released research findings today assessing the needs of the construction industry cluster, including a comprehensive workforce assessment.
“The impact of the recession that began in the late 2000s has cast a long shadow on the construction industry in California and its regions,” said Aaron Wilcher, Director of the Center of Excellence. “Unlike other sectors, overall construction value has not returned to pre-recession levels when residential construction was especially hard hit.”
Top-level findings from the research include:
- The construction cluster contributes about $34.8 billion in industry output, 221,300 jobs and $17.4 billion in labor income to the Sacramento region.
- For every job created in the construction cluster, 1.2 jobs are created elsewhere in the economy.
- The region is woefully undersupplied in terms of the number of skilled workers available.
- Workforce shortages pose a critical concern for the region and the industry.
- Occupations with the largest shortages include carpenters, construction managers, electricians, real estate professionals, and heavy equipment operators, engineers, and plumbers and pipefitters.
- Other occupational pain points include estimators, sheet metal workers, HVAC installers and mechanics, and welders.
- The construction industry provides numerous career opportunities in well-jobs; career awareness is one challenge industry faces in attracting workers.
These and other findings were revealed today to more than one hundred attendees at a forum in Rocklin where Valley Vision facilitated discussion with education, workforce and industry partners around critical skills gaps, projected employment needs, education and training resources, and supply gaps. An employer panel discussion included participants from the Associated Building Contractors of NorCal, the North State Building Industry Foundation, Otto Construction, the Sheet Metal Workers Local Union 104, Teichert Construction, and Villara Building Solutions. The event was also a forum for gathering input on how to align and coordinate a regional workforce system that betters supports the construction industry cluster and to explore how system leaders can partner in ways that best address industry challenges.
“As part of our mission to support a 21st-century talent pipeline for the Capital Region, we partnered with the Los Rios Center of Excellence on this groundbreaking analysis of the construction industry,” explained Valley Vision CEO Bill Mueller. “The forum that followed gave industry leaders an opportunity to weigh key findings and to identify priorities for education and workforce programs, Strong Workforce investments, and new partnerships to better meet industry needs for this important sector of our economy.”
Valley Vision’s interest is to better understand the occupational gap impacts on construction and its sub-clusters and to provide a starting point for engaging employers around workforce development strategy and joint action planning. This research provides vital information to educational institutions, construction industry employers, and regional workforce stakeholders, who are now better positioned to work together in planning investments, coordinating training and recruitment, and addressing short and long-term employment challenges.
The research was made possible by the generous support of JPMorgan Chase & Co, the Los Rios Community College District, the Sacramento Employment & Training Agency, Golden Sierra Job Training Agency, North Central Counties Consortium, and Yolo Workforce Innovation Board.
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For 25 years and with offices in Sacramento and Stockton, Valley Vision has brought people together from across a political and geographic spectrum to design solutions to big regional problems. Valley Vision is a trusted interpreter, commentator, forecaster and work partner for community inspired solutions and widely recognized as a leading research, civic planning and action agency that takes an independent and systemic approach to economic, social, and environmental issues.
Innovate Sac Showcases New Partnerships and Cutting-Edge Tech
Following the announcement of Dale and Katy Carlsen’s $6 million gift to Sacramento State, which will establish the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Sac State’s Alumni Center was the perfect backdrop for Innovate Sac. The event, one of a series of activities planned during Global Entrepreneurship Week, served as the launch for the vision of the City of Sacramento’s Urban Technology Lab (SUTL), an initiative of the City of Sacramento.
The event was presided over by Monique Brown, of iHub, who set the stage for the event and was followed by an energetic presentation by President Robert Nelsen who shared his vision for the region as a center for innovation, and the importance of the new Center as a symbol of prosperity for the entire Sacramento region.
Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg gave an inspiring presentation on the growing significance of Sacramento as a key innovation partner, an idea supported by several innovative projects from high-profile companies and organizations launching initiatives at our doorstep, from Verizon’s 5G Network to an autonomous vehicle partnership. Addressing the theme of community and improving the lives of all, Mayor Steinberg went on to address more serious social matters including a $100 million pilot project that had been approved to support homeless services across the City and County. He closed out his presentation with a call to action to continue to raise Sacramento’s profile by communicating these successes through our own networks.
The event’s headline speakers Aaron Frank, Faculty at Singularity University and Dr. Austin Brown, Executive Director of the UC Davis Policy Institute for Energy, Environment, and the Economy, followed suit. Both touched upon the reasons for the exponential growth in technology advancement we are witnessing and how increased accessibility to the common man will further speed up innovation and disruption across all industries. Mr. Frank’s presentation explored the impact of Moore’s Law on technology from batteries to computers and offered us a glimpse into the future of what might be. He then went on to address the seismic shifts in workforce that we need to be prepared to address. Dr. Brown of UC Davis, spoke on the positive impacts of technology advancements on the environment and overall efficiencies that technology was bringing to society. He went on to address the risks associated with unintended consequences that were by nature inherent to technology advancements and which consumed a majority of his team’s energy and focus as they attempt to identify issues and mitigate their negative effects.
Louis Stewart, Sacramento’s recently-appointed Chief Innovation Officer, closed out the event with a brief presentation of the proposed SUTL. The Lab will serve to engage the community to transform Sacramento into a living laboratory to develop, test, deploy, replicate, and scale new technologies, products, and services that will accelerate quality of life improvements for all residents. Mr. Stewart went on to highlight that advances in technology and technology for technology’s sake are not what drives Sacramento nor its policies and projects, but rather how technology can help the greater good so that everyone benefits. Sacramento, he stated, is well positioned to be competitive across numerous industries including urban technology, biotech, and Agtech.
The event was an encouraging reminder that our ability to shift and evolve as a region to benefit from these technological advancements is by working together. Without the support of our local employers and the academic community in the region we cannot build a skilled and viable workforce that can address changing occupational demands. We cannot properly fund essential programs nor create effective policy without the support of our city leaders and non-profit organizations.
At Valley Vision we know this to be true and since 1994, we have driven transformative change for Northern California. Our contributions have improved quality of life by building strong communities, a healthy environment, and economic vibrancy. Valley Vision has an active portfolio of projects focused on innovation (Slingshot) and workforce development projects (Capital Region Workforce Action Plan) supported by key partners such as JP Morgan Chase, Los Rios Community College District and the regional Workforce Development Boards.
Take a moment to learn more about these exciting developments in our region led by Valley Vision:
- Slingshot: SlingShot is an initiative of the California Workforce Development Board (CWDB) to encourage and support regional partnerships across the state to engage in new collective actions around innovation workforce challenges. The Sacramento region’s SlingShot project is focused on building an ecosystem where innovation thrives, and business startups can be successful.
- Capital Region Workforce Action Plan: Currently we have four independent and active projects that are set on achieving the same outcome: to develop a seamless, collaborative and equitable system which engages all levels of academia, employers, regional political leaders, Chambers of Commerce, PBIDs, Workforce Development Boards and non-profits to assure a strong and viable workforce and as a result a vibrant economy that benefits all levels of our community.
Authored by Lucie-Anne Radimsky, with contributions from Trish Kelly, Tammy Cronin, and Meg Arnold.
Manufacturing the 21st Century Workforce
Manufacturing is alive and growing in the Capital Region – just look at our new maker spaces, new manufacturing workforce programs at our community colleges, and K-12 kids participating in robotics programs!
With a skilled workforce, manufacturing can thrive, innovate and provide great “middle skill” jobs for workers across the region. As part of the Capital Region Workforce Action Plan, Valley Vision has been working with diverse partners, employers and stakeholders across the region to elevate awareness of career opportunities in manufacturing, close the manufacturing workforce skills gap and provide a voice for manufacturers. Valley Vision also supports the food and beverage manufacturing cluster as part of Central Valley AgPlus, through our federally designated program.
In September, Valley Vision held a well-attended and energetic manufacturing forum to explore workforce opportunities and challenges, in collaboration with the Power Inn Alliance, Sacramento City Council Member Eric Guerra, Los Rios Community College District, Sacramento State University, Hacker Lab, the Office of Congressman Ami Bera, and workforce boards. The Power Inn Alliance is home to more than 60% of Sacramento City’s manufacturing employment. Dubbed “Let’s Talk Manufacturing,” 120 employers, educators, and system partners gathered at Depot Park to hear from key employers about their most pressing workforce needs and skills gaps, priorities for development of new community college Career Education programs, and as importantly, to help form an ongoing network of employers, educators, economic development and workforce partners to advance manufacturing. In addition, participants had the opportunity to provide input for a new Sacramento Innovation Center to be located near Sacramento State University. The idea is to create a manufacturing ecosystem to connect students and workers to skills training and upgrading, from K-12 to higher education and maker spaces.
On Friday, October 6th we celebrated National Manufacturing Day 2017. Manufacturing events and activities held across the Capital region illustrate the vibrancy of modern day manufacturing, from innovative dairies/beverage producers and breweries large and small to highly sophisticated machining technology and global paper company. Over the course of the day Valley Vision participated in and/or helped organize four events highlighting and celebrating manufacturing careers at International Paper in Elk Grove, HP Hood in Sacramento, Claimstake Brewing Co. in Rancho Cordova, and the opening of the Haas Technical Education Center at Sierra College in Rocklin. The Center, according to Willie Duncan, President of Sierra College and Valley Vision board member, is the “most state of the art manufacturing lab at a community college anywhere.”
The visit to HPHood – with more than 260 employees and millions of dollars of investment in state of the art beverage producing facilities, followed the Marking your Mark Competition sponsored by the Power Inn Alliance to provide capacity support to a manufacturing entrepreneur over the coming year. This is a creative approach to growing new manufacturing companies and jobs, and Tracey Schaal, Executive Director, organized an innovative package of resources for the winner, Lifeline Lift. Trish Kelly, Valley Vision Managing Director, enjoyed the opportunity to participate as a judge in the Competition.
At Claimstake Brewing Co., participants were warmly welcomed by the city of Rancho Cordova Mayor Donald Terry, Council members and staff, the Chamber of Commerce, Supervisor Don Nottoli and owners Mike and Brian to tour this brewing facility and community gathering space, and hear about how we all need to work together to help companies grow by providing a skilled and ready workforce. The City is becoming a location for beverage manufacturing with a new Barrel District encompassing breweries, a meadery and a distillery. As Congressman Bera noted, “Each city and each county in the region has its own unique assets. Groups like Valley Vision and others are facilitating those conversations…There’s no reason Sacramento can’t be at the center of it all.” Thank you to the City of Rancho Cordova, the Rancho Cordova Chamber of Commerce, and the California Manufacturers & Technology Association for partnering and making this event possible!
Manufacturing is often thought of as a declining sector given the impacts of global outsourcing. In fact, many blue-collar workers are hurt more by a lack of skills than by globalization. Modern day manufacturing offers a smart career pathway for today’s job seekers. Over the next decade, as many as 3.4 million manufacturing jobs will become available, according to a recent article in Bloomberg Businessweek. Today’s manufacturing jobs require workers with computing, technical, basic-math, and problem-solving skills and require specialized post-high school training or certification. The Bloomberg article notes there is currently a “skills gap” that could result in 2 million of these jobs being unfilled.
The Capital region is ready to meet the challenge! Stay tuned as we visit other areas of our region to highlight our manufacturers and mobilize to meet their workforce needs.
October 11, 2017
This blog was co-authored by Tammy Cronin and Trish Kelly