San Diego won a $4 million Green Challenge Grant from the California Labor and Workforce Agency to support the growth of the biofuels sector. EDC partnered with CleanTECH San Diego, BIOCOM, San Diego Center for Algae Biotechnology, and the San Diego Workforce Partnership on the grant. The Educating and Developing workers for the Green Economy Initiative (EDGE Initiative) will provide education, training and placement services to workers within San Diego and the Imperial Valley. The goal of the EDGE Initiative is to ensure that San Diego and Imperial Valley have the trained workforce to meet the demands so that biofuels companies can grow, and thus create more jobs for the region. SANDAG reports that the biofuels industry provides 410 jobs and is responsible for $56 million in direct economic activity and $108 million in total economic activity in the region. EDC’s Jason Anderson represented the coalition in Sacramento on June 29^th, where the grant was awarded.

EDC’s Next Generation Leadership Committee spearheaded recruiting private-sector support, putting nearly 100 young people to work at companies including Qualcomm, Gen-Probe, SeaWorld, and CareFusion. AT&T, Merrill Lynch and Sempra are supporting the program with financial contributions. Last year, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funded more than 300,000 youth in jobs nationally and 3,200 jobs in San Diego. Building on last summer’s momentum, the Committee’s goal is to establish an ongoing Hire-A-Youth summer jobs program funded by the private sector. The Hire-A-Youth program is administered by the San Diego Workforce Partnership.

EDC’s Elections Committee, chaired by Gordon Carrier, championed fund raising activities and employee communications around five non-partisan races involving business-friendly candidates and initiatives, with five significant successes:

· San Diego’s strong mayor form of Governance was permanently extended with 61% support of voters;

· Councilmember Kevin Faulconer was re-elected to District 2 with 62% of the vote;

· Councilmember Tony Young was re-elected to District 4 with 64% of the vote;

· Supervisor Ron Roberts won 48% support against two established opponents advancing to the November election against Stephen Whitburn, who received 22% of the vote; and

· Lori Zapf was the front runner in the District 6 City Council race with 36% of the vote and will face Howard Wayne, who received 25% of votes.

At the request of Tijuana’s Secretary of Economic Development, Dr. Christina Luhn provided a briefing on the Cali Baja Mega-Region initiative to the City of Tijuana’s Economic Development Council. She also informed policy-makers about the initiative at the Annual Bi-National Mayors Conference in Rosarito, as well as the City of San Diego Rules Committee at a hearing related to the City’s economic development strategy.

Business Development

Attraction/Marketing

EDC and key partners including CleanTECH San Diego, SDG&E, UCSD, City of San Diego, the San Diego Workforce Partnership, and the South County EDC, are meeting with a German solar company interested in expanding into the region. The company is looking to site a 160,000 to 200,000 square-foot manufacturing facility that will employ 500 with a total investment of $150 million. The company is also considering neighboring states.

In addition, EDC’s Business Development team is working with 15 other clients – two local expansions and 13 companies interested in expanding into the region. The companies, generally small, represent a variety of sectors such as software, cleantech, telecommunications and education.

EDC’s Jason Anderson and Katie Mayfield attended the 2010 BIO International Convention. The convention is the largest global event for the biotechnology industry and was attended by 15,322 industry leaders from 49 states and 65 countries. EDC exhibited with TeamCalifornia and other organizations including BIOCOM and the Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute. More than 100 individuals visited the booth generating interest from two companies interested in expanding into the region.

EDC, in conjunction with CleanTECH San Diego and BIOCOM, hosted Victoria Bradshaw, Secretary of the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency; Doug Hoffner, Undersecretary of Labor and Workforce Development; and Joel Ayala, Director, Governor’s Office of Economic Development, for a two-day visit to San Diego. The delegation was interested in learning about San Diego’s cleantech sector and specifically the region’s work in biofuels. While here, the delegation met with a variety of organizations including San Diego Center for Algae Biotechnology, Sapphire Energy, and General Atomics.

Thanks to the hard work of CONNECT, along with EDC, UCSD, CleanTECH San Diego, BIOCOM, and others, the San Diego and Imperial Valley region was designated by the State of California as an Innovation Hub (iHUB). Launched in March 2010, the State’s iHub Initiative provides a platform for research clusters, universities, startup companies, government entities, business groups and venture capitalists to foster innovation and job creation statewide. The San Diego iHub consortium consists of 35 partners, including academic institutions, economic development groups and local trade associations. The consortium will concentrate on three areas deemed to have the most potential to turn research into jobs: wireless health, biofuels and solar power/energy storage.

Outreach/Retention

Business Development Manager Katie Mayfield completed 160 meetings with local companies since starting the program last August. These outreach meetings allow EDC to gather information on corporate growth plans and local issues, while educating companies about federal workforce training and layoff aversion/assistance programs.

EDC, the City of San Diego and the Port funded a maritime industry study presented as part of a breakfast program associated with the Port’s celebration of National Maritime Month. The study, completed by WORLD TRADE CENTER San Diego (WTCSD), shows the industry contributes nearly $8 billion and 42,000 jobs to the regional economy. Bella Heule, president of the WTCSD, presented the study, which was followed by a panel moderated by Julie Meier Wright with stakeholders from the U.S. Navy, The Maritime Alliance, The Pasha Group, and Scripps Institute of Oceanography.

In partnership with TechAmerica, EDC’s Jason Anderson organized a roundtable with San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders and high-tech executives to discuss the “state of the industry,” growth opportunities and challenges, and the support they need from the local government. Executives representing Energy Innovations, Dataskill, IPS Group Inc, Entropic Communications and ESET participated.

Cali Baja Bi-National Mega-Region

EDC arranged a tour for 20 San Diego-based business leaders to see key sites in Imperial County showcasing assets such as the Campo Tribe renewable energy investments, the future site of Stirling Energy’s solar farm where construction is scheduled to begin in September, SDG&E’s Renewable Energy Center, and the SUNECO Algae Farm.

Updating stakeholders across the border, Dr. Christina Luhn was among thirty participants in the Chamber of Commerce’s Mexico Business Center advocacy trip to Mexico City. The delegation met with a wide range of officials including U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Carlos Pascual; Gaston Luken Garza, Member of Federal Congress representing 5^th District in Tijuana; and Dr. Rafael Fernandez de Castro, International Affairs, Special Advisor to the President of Mexico. She invited officials to participate in the initiative and conveyed how it serves as a model for bi-national economic cooperation.

Policy

Competitiveness

Julie Meier Wright joined EDC investors and civic leaders advocating for final agreement to proceed with construction of a new Central Library. The final vote to proceed concludes a decades-long debate – and leverages tens of millions of dollars in state funding and private contributions to build a public facility that will both address the needs of downtown residents and further sustain downtown redevelopment.

EDC continues its work with a coalition of business groups to provide a unified recommendation to the City of San Diego's Task Force on Regional Revenues and Competitiveness. The Task Force will be sending its own recommendations to the City Council this summer regarding increasing City revenues and how best to enhance the region's economic competitiveness. Additionally, coalition members met with individual City Council members to further emphasize the importance of the business community recommendations.

Infrastructure

The Governor and water bond campaign leadership have decided to delay the $11-billion bond until November 2012. This decision was in direct response to dropping poll numbers and threats from public employee labor organizations to spend as much as $5 million to defeat the bond. While the bond will likely be delayed, the Governor emphasized that other components of the historic water legislation will move forward, such as the Bay Delta Conservation Plan and governance issues.

EDC joined the San Diego Taxpayers Association, as well as environmental and business groups in advancing a public outreach plan to educate the citizens of San Diego on the proposed Reservoir Augmentation Demonstration Plant (potable recycled water).

The EDC/Chamber Housing Task Force adopted a work plan to develop proposals for adoption by voters and candidates in the 2012 election related to housing construction. The plan calls for establishing infrastructure funding options, construction project review and land use planning reforms to be developed, and the establishment of working relationships with potential collaborators throughout 2010.

Education

EDC’s June Investor Breakfast featured San Diego County’s Report Card on Children and Families, given by Sandy McBrayer from The Children’s Initiative. Julie Meier Wright presented the case why investing in preschool education is important for business. Special guests at the breakfast were preschoolers from Olivewood Elementary in National City, who entertained our guests with their version of I love Preschool (Rock n’ Roll).

EDC’s Jennifer Henry and David Almeida, along with EDC Director Mike Chapin and Chuck Flacks from the San Diego Workforce Partnership, attended Early Learning Advocacy Day in Sacramento, meeting with Assemblymembers Saldana and Block, staff of Senators Kehoe, Ducheny and Wyland and staff of Assemblemembers Fletcher and Garrick to discuss the importance of preschool and how it relates to long-term student achievement. Jennifer also moderated the Early Learning Quality Improvement System (ELQIS) San Diego town hall meeting to discuss recommendations for improving preschool programs throughout California. ELQIS was established by the state legislature in 2009 to examine current inefficiencies in various preschool systems and is hosting town hall meetings throughout the state.

Investor Relations

EDC’s 2009 Annual Report was distributed in May to all of our stakeholders. The report highlights the formation of the Business Alliance, championed by Chairman Bill Geppert, 2,400 jobs in 2009 related to our business development program, and several significant policy achievements, including the passage of historic water legislation.

EDC’s 501c3 Foundation ended its fiscal year on June 30 with $680,000 in contributions supporting a variety of projects and initiatives. In June, the board elected new directors Mike Chapin, Judy Forrester and Jori Tulkki. Mark Cafferty, CEO of the Workforce Partnership, was elected Chairman of the board, succeeding Pete Garcia, who is termed out after six years. Wendy Gillespie and Bernie Greenspan were also termed-out. The 501c3 has more than doubled its budget in the last three years.

Executive Director of EDC’s Foundation Jennifer Henry joined the San Diego Workforce Funders Collaborative. The organization, managed by the San Diego Workforce Partnership, is a public-private coalition of philanthropic foundations, employers and public entities interested in expanding and coordinating funding for career education and workforce development efforts in San Diego County.

EDC co-hosted an Earth Day breakfast program with CleanTECH San Diego for 45 stakeholders representing a broad cross-section of the business community. Chris Baker, Senior Vice President of Shared Services and Chief Information Officer for SDG&E, spoke about the Smart Meter program. Barry Matsumori, Vice President of Wireless Connectivity for Qualcomm, and Dr. Vankat Shastri, CEO for PCN Technology, Inc., talked about how their companies are working with the smart meter and creating jobs in our region.

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