Motorola Mobility Considers San Diego- EDC Organizes Community Response
EDC and the Mayor's office, together with CommNexus, formed a 'Red Team' of executives and academics from more than 20 regional entities to collaborate and deliver a compelling proposal to Motorola Mobility, urging the IT giant to locate within our region. Motorola Inc. announced it's splitting its Illinois-based corporation into two companies and considering San Diego for one of them-Motorola Mobility. In August the Red Team met with Motorola Mobility executives at UCSD to communicate to the executives San Diego would be the best place for their home, and we have since responded to a formal RFI from the company. Motorola Mobility would add its headquarters to the existing facilities in the region, and would bring roughly 150 to 200 additional high-wage jobs. A decision is expected by the end of the year.
EDC Working to Attract Dental School
A.T. Still University, a non-profit educational system that includes the oldest osteopathic medical school in America, is considering San Diego as a site for its new dental school. The school would employ more than 300 faculty and staff, and educate more than 300 students. It's then likely ATSU would establish new medical and health sciences schools in the region, which means roughly 1,000 faculty and staff positions, in addition to 2,000 students. The university's representatives have toured locations across the county for their 100-year campus vision. EDC is responding to their requirements along with partner organizations across the region.
Cali Baja Machinist Program Achieves Important Milestone
EDC signed an MOU with Imperial Valley Regional Occupation Program to provide machinist training. This is a pilot training project that leverages federal veterans training dollars and the Walmart Foundation grant along with the significant in-kind contribution of E.W. Corporation's equipment. This pilot project allows industry to actively oversee the development of the machinist curriculum.
Petco Park Impact Study Draws Praise,
Support for Public-Private Projects
In July EDC released the results of the Petco Park Economic Impact Study, which revealed that a 7.6% return on investment was garnered for the City of San Diego in its publicly funded portion of the project. Media coverage was extensive, including a front-page story in the UT, a favorable editorial applauding the success of the ballpark, and a Steve Breen cartoon celebrating a "home run" for taxpayers.
Business Retention and Expansion Program
To retain and expand companies, EDC meets with local executives to vet issues they have doing business within the region. Over the summer, the business development team met with representatives of more than 100 companies. EDC provides information about services, whether it is the City for a permitting issue, or a law firm needed for special expertise, or information about training programs or layoff aversion services. For the second year, the San Diego Workforce Partnership is contracting with our EDC and the sub-regional EDCs throughout the region to inform local companies about their services.
Cali Baja Stakeholders Meet with U.S. Department of State
EDC Chair Debbie Reed hosted Cali Baja stakeholders at her home in August, where they met with Reta J. Lewis, the newly appointed Special Representative for Global Intergovernmental Affairs at the Department of State. Ms. Lewis-who works directly with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton-is building relationships between local and state officials and their foreign counterparts in Asia, Latin America and Africa. She is opening economic discussions with leaders in those three key areas of the world, and inivited Cali Baja Bi-National Mega-Region business leaders to participate.
Julie Meier Wright Co-Chairing Study by CA Council on Science and Technology
The study, requested by 13 members of the Legislature, represents a unique opportunity to provide input that will help California's business development and policy initiatives focus on our innovation economy. Julie was designated to co-chair the study to provide input to the new Governor and Legislature by December.
Growing Jobs in the Emerging Healthcare IT Sector
EDC partnered with UCSD to win a grant from the San Diego Workforce Partnership to create a strategy to foster economic growth and job opportunities within the emerging healthcare information technology cluster in San Diego. EDC is organizing industry work-group meetings to identify the challenges and opportunities for growth in this burgeoning cluster. Results from these meetings will be converted into a report by UCSD integrating and prioritizing the insights, concerns, and ideas, and will lay the foundation of a future workforce development plan for this cluster.
EDC's Policy Program Opposes Proposed Regulations on Retail Stores
Over the summer EDC joined a coalition of business leaders to appear in front of the City of San Diego's Planning Commission, to successfully oppose newly proposed regulations on large retail stores.
Contact
Lauree Sahba, COO
; (619) 234-8484