The Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously at its Tuesday meeting to allocate $1.three million for the subsequent phase of the Stanislaus 2030 project.
The county will negotiate a 3-year term with the Stanislaus Neighborhood Foundation to serve as the lead agency for the 2030 project, which appears to bolster financial improvement in the area.
Of the $1.three million, $700,000 will establish the initial system assistance and the remaining $600,000 will fund the formation and operations of the Stanislaus Intermediary Organization.
“We spent the superior aspect of a year analyzing our neighborhood economy and attempting to brainstorm with the most effective minds we could, inside the neighborhood as effectively as outdoors, to position ourselves for a much more robust and equitable economy for future generations,” mentioned Stanislaus County CEO Jody Hayes. “These are lengthy-term considerations. They could have some quick-term wins, but we’re extremely, extremely focused on lengthy-term investment and lengthy-term strategic financial influence right here in Stanislaus County.”
Amanda Hughes, the chief technique officer at the Stanislaus Neighborhood Foundation, will be the point individual for foundation’s efforts.
“We are seriously encouraged by the Board of Supervisors’ assistance, in partnership with the Stanislaus Neighborhood Foundation, to seriously produce the circumstances important for collaboration at the population level,” mentioned Marian Kaanan, CEO of the Stanislaus Neighborhood Foundation. “To do that, we need to have a quarterback and (Amanda) is uniquely certified to do this sort of operate.”
In May possibly of 2021, the Board authorized a prioritized list of spending techniques for the $107 million it received in American Rescue Program Act (ARPA) funds. Of that $107 million, $30 million was earmarked for financial improvement and job creation.
According to the Stanislaus 2030 Investment Blueprint, a 55-web page deep dive into county economics prepared by diverse neighborhood workgroups with advisors from the Brookings Institution, much more than half of the county’s population — about 214,000 people today — struggle to make ends meet.
Only about 13 % of jobs in the Stanislaus can be classified as “good” jobs, when an additional 22 % are regarded as “promising.” The remaining 65 % — almost two of each 3 jobs — fail to meet the requirements for guaranteeing self-sufficiency, the report states.
And this straight impacts youngsters in the county.
“We have about 145,000 youngsters in Stanislaus County and 90,000 are increasing up in struggling households,” Hayes mentioned throughout Tuesday’s meeting. “But the quantity that seriously popped out for us was 85 % of these youngsters have at least a single adult operating in the property. So, we’re not speaking about struggling households exactly where people today are not operating, we’re speaking about operating households and the struggles they’re facing in today’s economy.”
To halve the quantity of youngsters in struggling situations, the area will need to have to produce 40,000 much more “good” jobs than presently exist.
Up to $200,000 of the funds authorized Tuesday will be utilised for youngster-care applications, enabling adults who seek additional job education the potential to afford youngster-care solutions.
“In addition to workforce education, we should spend particular interest to non-education barriers to enter the workforce and education applications,” Hughes told the board Tuesday. “Through our operate with Stanislaus 2030, and this is not a major shocker, youngster care is a main barrier for us. Youngster care is so fundamentally essential for financial prosperity.”
Hughes pointed out that in order to meet present workforce demands, the county requirements 36,000 much more youngster care slots than presently exist — pre-COVID numbers that are probably larger these days, some 3 years right after the commence of the pandemic.