Dolores Huerta addresses audience at the Kern Coalition Summit meeting. Huerta urged job and safety protections for farmworkers
An ongoing effort to bring new jobs to Kern County is generating excitement but is still in its planning stages led by the Kern Coalition. The group comprises five convenor organizations working in tandem with the state’s California Jobs First program. The coalition recently held a summit in Bakersfield with an update on its planning phase to bring new jobs to the area.
“You can’t have an economy, you cannot grow or create jobs sustainably if you’re not bringing new money into the county,” said Joe Dougherty, a consultant with Dalberg Advisors. Kern Coalition hired Dalberg Advisors to conduct a countywide strategic plan for inclusive economic development, which the Coalition said was based on community feedback over the last two years of community meetings throughout Kern County.
According to Dougherty, the top three industries identified for creating or expanding new jobs in Kern County are tradeable, locally serving, and community development. Tradeable jobs include those in oil and agriculture, where a commodity is sold to customers outside of Kern County. Locally serving includes jobs in health care, education and restaurants. The revenue generated from these goes toward paying for local needs, such as public safety. Community development props up and helps sustain other jobs. This includes transportation and affordable childcare.
While oil and agriculture have been Kern County’s main industries for decades, it’s a matter of approaching these industries from a new perspective said Dougherty, so that it doesn’t become more of the same from the past. “Let’s take the economic base of infrastructure, equipment and skills and knowledge that people have in Kern County and leverage and try to transform those industries,” said Dougherty.
Dalberg Advisors conducted a study of residents to gage what type of industries they would prioritize. The top three industries were Clean Energy, Advanced Manufacturing and Agriculture. But some industries have to be carefully considered.
“As you all are painfully aware, there’s been a history of industries here in Kern County that don’t have a good environmental impact, and that leads to all sorts of problems, including health problems,” said Dougherty.
Of particular concern and controversy is carbon capture. Said Dougherty, “We heard lots of opposition, lots of concerns about carbon management and we also heard people say, ‘Not so fast, we can use that, there are ways to mitigate environmental concerns.’”
Kern County benefits from being centrally located, and needs to take advantage of its location, added Dougherty. Going together with bringing in new jobs is making sure the locals have access to them, as some may require having an advanced degree. Of equal importance is that there is equity to ensure that whatever new jobs come in are accessible to all.
WHAT HAPPENS NOW?
Earlier this year, Kern Coalition was awarded a $14 million grant from the Newsome administration to fund a plan for designing, planning and implementing a program that could lead to millions of dollars from the state to invest in Kern County’s economic development. The plan has been submitted to the state for review. Dougherty said the State has until the end of September to respond, which will determine if the plan moves forward.
If the State approves funding, it will be up to the Kern Coalition Governance Council to decide which local projects get funded. The Governance Council is made up of 17 members elected from the Kern Coalition’s five different subregions.
Among those attending the summit was Jaubrae Dixon, who said he was raised by a single mother and served a nine-year prison term. Upon release, he was able to land a job with the Community Action Partnership of Kern. “I stand as an example that change is possible,” said Dixon as he addressed the summit audience. Dixon encouraged employers not to overlook job applicants with troubled pasts, and instead speak with them to find out what went wrong and hire them.
Another resident who spoke was Yuriria López. A member of the Governance Council, López said she arrived in the United States as an immigrant from Mexico and went to work in the fields. She was a victim of wage theft, which partly motivated her to get involved in helping others learn their rights. “We need to get informed and be at the table where the important decisions are made,” said López as she received hearty applause.
Yuriria López worked in the fields and was a victim of wage theft. It motivated her to get involved in bettering her community, she said.
If the State approves funding, it will be up to the Kern Coalition Governance Council to decide which local projects get funded. The five co-convenors for the Kern Coalition are the Kern Community College District, the Kern-Inyo-Mono Central Labor Council, B3K Prosperity, Community Action Partnership of Kern, and Building Healthy Communities Kern County.
