Committee Economic DEVElOPMENT Economic Development Committee

The Grand Jury found Workforce Development Department functioning well despite the economic downturn. It has developed a proactive job placement base in the One Stop Employment Centers. The agency currently operates these centers in three strategic locations of the County: Rancho Cucamonga (visited by the Grand Jury), San Bernardino and Victorville. The Rancho Cucamonga location is a full-employment center that screens applicants for the best job suited to the individual. Job placements are based on the applicant’s training and experience. The Center also offers enhanced career training and retraining for career changes where applicable. This training is fully-funded by the Federal Government. The Department solicits and maintains a list of numerous industry and business companies who partner with the County in order to place customers in employment. The Department is active in expanding areas of opportunity with a group of 11 individuals from Workforce Development who search the field and are required to make 44 new contacts per month. The quota for the department is 500 new listings per month. The Resource Room has a large number of computers which customers use for testing, training, job search of their data banks, completing applications and other tasks. Several Center employees are in the room to assist in computer usage. These resources are above and beyond those supplied by the State Employment Development Department (EDD). In addition, the department works in conjunction with IVEDA and VVEDA. Applicants are usually interviewed by a placement specialist and have the goal of one hour to complete the original application.

The Grand Jury visited IVEDA and VVEDA. Both airports are in a functional capacity, but operating differently. Both airports cooperate with the EDA to support satellite business and industries which benefit from air, rail and trucking transport. IVEDA plans to operate as a completely functional passenger airport by the end of

Only five years remain to complete the project as a result of delays due to problems and finances with water rights.

Some residents feel they are not informed by Redevelopment about plans, progress, and meetings, even though Redevelopment stated that notices have been posted.