Category: News

Meet the companies: Advancing San Diego, business interns

By Kate Gallagher ,

Through our Advancing San Diego initiative, EDC provides San Diego-based businesses with paid interns in high-demand fields. This program targets companies with 100 employees or less, which comprise 98 percent of all businesses in San Diego, employ nearly two thirds of San Diegans, and account for 70 percent of job growth. A key issue for these companies has been a lack of time and resources to recruit the skilled talent necessary to continue their growth. Through the COVID-19 pandemic, these challenges were especially salient.

With the help of our staffing partner Manpower, in 2020, EDC provided 38 San Diego companies and nonprofits with remote interns in the fields of software and engineering.

Now, we’re excited to announce 15 more companies and nonprofits who have been selected to host business interns starting this spring. Interns are sourced from programs designated as Preferred Providers of business talent, with internships running from March to July 2021.

Please join us in welcoming our next cohort of Advancing San Diego intern hosts:

  1. AndAlways is an E-commerce company that focuses on personalized wall art with all products printed and fulfilled in house.
  2. Benchmark Labs provides environmental forecasts for the Agricultural and Energy sectors by using IoT sensor data, publicly available weather information, and our proprietary machine learning-based technology (patent pending).
  3. Boys & Girls Club of San Marcos (BGCSM) promotes the wellness, health, and success of school-aged youth in the San Marcos community. Driven by its mission to inspire and enable all young people to realize their full potential, BGCSM offers targeted academic, collaborative, and recreational activities that encourage young learners to become the community’s next generation of responsive, purposeful leaders.
  4. Chicano Federation of San Diego County was founded by a tireless group of advocates dedicated to seeing advances in civil rights and civic participation. Today, those strong roots empower the Chicano Federation to serve diverse populations throughout San Diego County with programs that help children and families access vital and often life-changing services.
  5. Eton Bioscience, Inc. is a Biotech service company providing DNA sequencing, DNA molecule synthesis, and DNA purification services to local Biotech companies, universities, and research institutes. Operations began for Eton in 2003 and they have since expanded to four locations nationwide, with San Diego as its headquarters.
  6. GigaIO Networks is a Carlsbad startup in the software-defined infrastructure space. The company has invented technology to transform the static architectures of data centers into flexible pools of resources than can be reconfigured on the fly.
  7. LEARN academy is redefining workforce development by creating career pathways for anyone to enter and excel in the Tech industry. LEARN is a safe, inclusive, and brave space that fosters a community of compassionate and collaborative learners.
  8. Meri Consulting Services is a consulting firm founded to help tech startups and sales professionals book more sales meetings and increase revenue.
  9. Misadventure & Co. is a Vista-based craft distillery. Misadventure is the first distillery in the world to produce a carbon negative spirit. Its vodka is made by upcycling baked goods that are approaching their expiration date, ultimately saving them from ending in the landfills.
  10. Omni2Max, Inc. provides services to the Department of Defense and other high-profile customers in the areas of Cybersecurity, comprehensive program management, Information Technology, Engineering, military systems/range operations, logistics; and acquisition and contracting services.
  11. Rady Children’s Institute for Genomic Medicine (RCIGM) is transforming pediatric healthcare through Rapid Precision Medicine™ to improve the lives of children and families fighting rare disease. RCIGM optimizes ultra-rapid genetic testing to identify or rule out most genetic diseases in one swift step and empower the medical team at the patient’s bedside to provide personalized, life-changing treatment for the youngest, sickest patients.
  12. reVessel advances safe, sophisticated, and sustainable foodware designs for conscious people on the go, empowering them with tools to conveniently pack and preserve food anywhere. The company’s high-performance products support healthier, efficient, and conscientious daily habits aimed to improve global health and solve environmental issues.
  13. San Diego Loyal Soccer Club is a professional soccer franchise playing in the United Soccer League (USL) Championship, sanctioned by the U.S. Soccer Federation. The franchise was announced in June 2019, and began its inaugural season on March 7, 2020 at USD’s Torero Stadium.
  14. Trabus Technologies provides professional support services to the U.S. government and specializes in the development of technical solutions across three major portfolios: wireless Technologies, Artificial Intelligence, and Cybersecurity.
  15. Voltera lives at the intersection of people and new technologies, providing labor market intelligence, workforce optimization, and new technology development, incubation, and commercialization services to the commercial, federal, and state/local markets.

Hosting interns is an investment in the next generation of talent in San Diego. Through the Advancing San Diego internship program, local students gain valuable work experience while supporting our local small businesses. Students are paid $20 an hour and receive access to $500 in flexible funds to support their success in the workplace.

For our next round of internships, we will be recruiting small manufacturers who are interested in hosting students from machining and engineering technician programs. Applications to host interns in these fields will open in April 2021.

If your company is interested in hosting students in the next round, sign up here receive program announcements.

Good News of the Week – February 12, 2021

By Heather Dewis,

Every week, ‘Good News of the Week’ features a curation of positive headlines from San Diego, delivered straight to your inbox. A blend of aggregated stories from San Diego’s most trusted news sources and original EDC-created content, GNOTW provides a comprehensive recap of the region’s best stories from the past week.

For the week of February 12, 2021, here’s what we’re reading:

…and here are the events we’re (virtually) attending:

Resources and relief for manufacturers

Our region is home to a vibrant manufacturing cluster that spans across many industries, from defense to craft brewing. EDC has partnered with California Manufacturing Technology Consulting to help San Diego regional manufacturers identify and connect to key resources and relief.

Get Specialized Assistance

San Diego business resources:

Amidst everything happening in the world, we need a reminder that there’s plenty of ‘Good News’ to go around in San Diego. We have also compiled additional resources for businesses and individuals seeking additional guidance.

For businesses:

For individuals:

Be in the know – sign up below to receive future editions of GNOTW.

Want to submit your event or news update to our weekly newsletter? Contact us for more information.

Heather Dewis
Heather Dewis

Sr. Manager, Marketing Communications

A note from Mark…

By Mark Cafferty,

Over the last few years, our work at EDC has shifted to focus on our full economic footprint across the county. In everything we do, we strive to implement programs, strategies, and services that will help us double our supply of skilled workers, enable our small businesses to create more competitive jobs, and increase the number of thriving households throughout the region. Now more than ever, we know that our work needs to be both meaningful and measurable to meet these goals. And we have little time to waste.

SMALL BUSINESS IMPACT

During our exploration of inclusive and effective economic development strategies, many roads led us to supporting the growth and sustainability of local, small businesses through purposeful partnerships with large businesses and institutions. Anchor institution strategies—defined procurement programs and partnerships that link local, small businesses with the region’s largest employers including hospitals and universities—have long been successful in fostering small business growth and supplier diversity. These strategies do not look to the large institutions to spend any more than they have already budgeted; they simply strive to increase the percentage of contracts and purchasing within the local economy. Small businesses, minority-owned businesses, woman-owned businesses, businesses located within specific neighborhoods or geographic regions—redirecting spend to any of these leads to more money flowing into the San Diego economy.

This month, San Diego Regional EDC released a study and a set of recommendations aimed at increasing economic opportunity and job creation through purchasing and procurement. What the report clearly outlines is how small shifts in procurement spending can have huge economic impacts in our region.

CONSIDER THESE FACTS

  1. Fourteen local anchor institutions surveyed spend upwards of $9.9 billion each year on a broad range of goods and services. Yet, only $247 million of the reported spending can be traced back to San Diego businesses.

  1. Only 14 percent of the overall spend is reaching small businesses and only 11 percent can be traced back to women and minority-owned businesses.

  1. If these same 14 anchor institutions and partners shifted just one percent of their construction spending to local businesses, it would result in roughly $32 million in local construction revenue, add $466 million to the local economy, and create nearly 4.5 thousand new jobs.

  1. Furthermore, if the same institutions shifted one percent in professional services (e.g. legal, administrative, etc.) to local businesses it would have a $56 million impact on the local economy and create more than 800 jobs.

A MEASURABLE SOLUTION

As we work our way through a complicated and unprecedented economic recovery, our small businesses need more support than ever. To ensure that we reach the businesses most in need of support, preserve our commitment to inclusion and diversity, and maintain our focus on work that is both meaningful and measurable, few strategies will serve our region better than this one. The leadership and decision making is local, the impact is local, and the partnerships and practices forged will create greater, local economic resiliency for years to come.

Asking our citizens to support our local, small businesses is important and noble. But at a time when individual and family spending is strained, and small businesses continue to struggle, the leadership, engagement, and actions of our large institutions are more important than ever.

We applaud the 14 anchor institutions and partners that have stepped forward to be a part of this work with us­—including key partners SDG&E, University of San Diego School of Business, Civic San Diego, and the City of San Diego—and as always, we look forward to the full weight of our EDC investors in helping to challenge, support, and steer this work in the months and years ahead.

—Mark Cafferty, president and CEO, EDC

Mark Cafferty
Mark Cafferty

President & CEO

Good News of the Week – February 5, 2021

By Heather Dewis,

Every week, ‘Good News of the Week’ features a curation of positive headlines from San Diego, delivered straight to your inbox. A blend of aggregated stories from San Diego’s most trusted news sources and original EDC-created content, GNOTW provides a comprehensive recap of the region’s best stories from the past week.

For the week of February 5, 2021, here’s what we’re reading:

…and here are the events we’re (virtually) attending:

EDC study: Big buyers can shop local to support more inclusive economy

According to EDC’s latest study, 14 large regional employers surveyed spend more than $9.9 billion each year on a range of goods and services, but only about $247 million of this reported spend can be traced back to San Diego’s small and diverse businesses.

In case you missed it, EDC recently convened regional industry leaders from SDG&E, NAVFAC Southwest, and Kaiser Permanente San Diego to discuss their efforts to redirect purchasing toward local, small, and diverse businesses.

Watch the Discussion

San Diego business resources:

Amidst everything happening in the world, we need a reminder that there’s plenty of ‘Good News’ to go around in San Diego. We have also compiled additional resources for businesses and individuals seeking additional guidance.

For businesses:

For individuals:

Be in the know – sign up below to receive future editions of GNOTW.

Want to submit your event or news update to our weekly newsletter? Contact us for more information.

Heather Dewis
Heather Dewis

Sr. Manager, Marketing Communications

Monthly Report – February 2021

By Taylor Dunne,

A note from our CEO

Over the last few years, our work at EDC has shifted to focus on our full economic footprint across the county. In everything we do, we strive to implement programs, strategies, and services that will help us double our supply of skilled workers, enable our small businesses to create more competitive jobs, and increase the number of thriving households throughout the region. Now more than ever, we know that our work needs to be both meaningful and measurable to meet these goals. And we have little time to waste. Read more from Mark.

By the Numbers

  • 8% San Diego County unemployment rate
  • 26 business assisted in 2020
  • 267 jobs impacted in 2020
  • 2.5% Of reported spend by local anchor institutions can be traced back to San Diego

Featured Stories

Investor Recognition

  • Junior Achievement
  • National University
  • Sharp Healthcare
  • Verizon

See our March Monthly Report here.

Good News of the Week – January 29, 2021

By Heather Dewis,

Every week, ‘Good News of the Week’ features a curation of positive headlines from San Diego, delivered straight to your inbox. A blend of aggregated stories from San Diego’s most trusted news sources and original EDC-created content, GNOTW provides a comprehensive recap of the region’s best stories from the past week.

For the week of January 29, 2021, here’s what we’re reading:

…and here are the events we’re (virtually) attending:

Advancing San Diego software internship program leads to full-time positions

Small tech companies in San Diego often face barriers connecting with and hiring local talent. Through Advancing San Diego’s internship program, software companies Perspectium, Deckard Technologies, and WithHealth received fully subsidized interns from top, local education programs. And best of all: they hired five interns as full-time employees.

Learn More

San Diego business resources:

Amidst everything happening in the world, we need a reminder that there’s plenty of ‘Good News’ to go around in San Diego. We have also compiled additional resources for businesses and individuals seeking additional guidance.

For businesses:

For individuals:

Be in the know – sign up below to receive future editions of GNOTW.

Want to submit your event or news update to our weekly newsletter? Contact us for more information.

Heather Dewis
Heather Dewis

Sr. Manager, Marketing Communications

Study release: One percent shift in procurement could mean thousands of jobs for San Diegans

By EDC Research Bureau,

EDC study quantifies the impact of increased local procurement

Today, as part of a commitment to inclusive economic recovery, EDC released a study and set of recommendations for large employers to support small businesses by buying local. “Anchor Institutions: Leveraging Big Buyers for Small Business“ analyzes the spend of more than a dozen local anchors and demonstrates the impact of increased local procurement on quality job creation.

Anchor institutions are defined as universities, hospitals, local government agencies, the U.S. Navy and other large employers that are physically bound to the region.

In San Diego, anchors represent eight of the region’s 10 largest employers—providing more than 72,000 jobs. They purchase tens of billions of dollars in goods and services every year, and yet, local anchors send about one-quarter of all procurement spend outside the region.

The web-based study—procurelocal.inclusivesd.org—includes a summary of local spending, a cluster map of anchor institutions in the region, estimated economic impact from increased local spending, and a set of recommendations for growing quality jobs across San Diego through procurement.

The COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately impacted people of color and spurred the closure of one-in-three small businesses across San Diego. Local small businesses employ nearly 60 percent of the total workforce, which is double the national average, and are responsible for nearly half of all job growth in the last five years. Despite their critical importance to the region’s economy, many small businesses report struggling to attract customers and generate new sales.

“Small business resiliency will be key in getting this recovery right. This report further demonstrates the importance of connecting our region’s small and diverse businesses to large, institutional buyers,” said Eduardo Velasquez, EDC Research Director. “This will mean more quality jobs for San Diegans, more thriving businesses and a stronger regional economy.”

KEY FINDINGS

  • Collectively, 14 anchors surveyed spend more than $9.9 billion each year on a range of goods and services, and only about $247 million of this reported spend can be traced back to San Diego businesses. Further, only a small proportion of this spend is reaching small (14 percent) and minority-owned or diverse businesses (11 percent).
  • Small shifts in procurement can mean big economic impact:
    • If the 14 anchors surveyed increased local construction spending by just one percent, it would put around $32 million into local construction businesses, adding $466 million to the local economy and helping create nearly 4,500 jobs in the region.
    • The same one percent increase in professional services (e.g. legal assistance) spending would pump nearly $12 million into local suppliers, resulting in an economic impact of nearly $56 million and support another 800 jobs.
    • The majority of these new jobs would be in industries with a higher-than-average concentration of quality jobs (those that pay middle-income wages).

“As a large employer that works with many diverse suppliers to meet our mission of delivering clean, safe and reliable energy, SDG&E understands the value small businesses bring to the regional economy,” said Christy Ihrig, vice president of operations support, SDG&E, anchor event and study sponsor. “When they thrive, our region thrives. To support economic recovery from the pandemic, we are more committed than ever to grow our supplier diversity program and encourage other local employers to do the same.”

Beyond impacts to suppliers and the regional economy at large, anchor institutions that buy from local, small, diverse businesses also stand to benefit. Specifically, several local anchors note that setting goals for greater procurement from these suppliers has resulted in greater customer service, supply chain diversity and resiliency, and stronger brand equity in the communities they serve.

“‘Shop local’ is about more than individuals; it means big business and organizations choosing to support their neighbors by buying in their communities. The City of San Diego takes pride in its efforts to work with local companies, is seeking increased opportunities to buy local and implores other local organizations to follow suit. Together, this is how we ensure a more equitable and inclusive San Diego,” said Mayor Todd Gloria, City of San Diego, study sponsor.

A CALL TO ACTION

To maintain our regional competitiveness, we need to create 50,000 quality jobs in small businesses by 2030, as outlined in EDC’s inclusive growth strategy. To do that, it’s imperative we help San Diego’s small and diverse businesses recover and thrive.

San Diego needs its largest employers (and our largest buyers) to commit to redirecting their procurement to local, small, and diverse businesses. To do this we must:

  1. understand individual institutions’ existing efforts;
  1. identify spend areas with high potential for inclusive, local sourcing; and
  1. define and track metrics that ultimately drive bidding processes.

We invite large firms to join San Diego Regional EDC’s Anchor Collaborative and help us shape and achieve this goal—join us here.

The report was unveiled today at the first in a series of Town Hall events. Watch a recording of the event here. Thank you to the study sponsors: SDG&E, City of San Diego, Civic Community Ventures, and the University of San Diego School of Business.

procurelocal.inclusivesd.org

Learn more about EDC’s inclusive growth goals

Good News of the Week – January 22, 2021

By Heather Dewis,

Every week, ‘Good News of the Week’ features a curation of positive headlines from San Diego, delivered straight to your inbox. A blend of aggregated stories from San Diego’s most trusted news sources and original EDC-created content, GNOTW provides a comprehensive recap of the region’s best stories from the past week.

For the week of January 22, 2021, here’s what we’re reading:

…and here are the events we’re (virtually) attending:

San Diego’s Economic Pulse: January 2021

This edition of San Diego’s Economic Pulse covers December 2020 and reflects some effects of the pandemic on the labor market. In December 2020:

  • San Diego lost 5,300 jobs—atypical during the holiday season.
  • The unemployment rate jumped to 8.0 percent, up from 6.6 percent in November.
  • San Diego’s “K-shaped” recovery will exacerbate longstanding structural problems in the economy, making the case for an inclusive growth strategy even stronger.

Explore the Interactive Report

San Diego business resources:

Amidst everything happening in the world, we need a reminder that there’s plenty of ‘Good News’ to go around in San Diego. We have also compiled additional resources for businesses and individuals seeking additional guidance.

For businesses:

For individuals:

Be in the know – sign up below to receive future editions of GNOTW.

Want to submit your event or news update to our weekly newsletter? Contact us for more information.

Heather Dewis
Heather Dewis

Sr. Manager, Marketing Communications

San Diego’s Economic Pulse: January 2021

By San Diego Regional EDC,

Each month the California Employment Development Department (EDD) releases employment data for the prior month. This edition of San Diego’s Economic Pulse covers December 2020 and reflects some effects of the coronavirus pandemic on the labor market. Check out EDC’s Research Bureau for more data and stats about San Diego’s economy.

Key Takeaways

  1. San Diego lost 5,300 jobs, on net, in December, which is not typical during the holiday season.
  1. The unemployment rate jumped to 8.0 percent from 6.6 percent in November amid job losses and growth in the labor force.
  1. San Diego’s “K-shaped” recovery will exacerbate longstanding structural problems in the economy, making the case for an inclusive growth strategy even stronger.

Labor Market Overview

San Diego’s labor market suffered a setback in December after new business restrictions were put into place to combat a surge in COVID-19 infections and an alarming decline in ICU bed capacity. Local employers let go of 5,300 workers, on net, last month, lifting the unemployment rate to 8.0 percent from 6.6 percent in November. A drop in employment for the month of December is atypical, since holiday hiring is usually in full swing. Last month’s decline marks only the sixth time in 72 years where employers have let more workers go than they hired in December.

San Diego’s unemployment rate is lower than California’s 8.8 percent but significantly higher than the nation’s rate of 6.5 percent in December.

The causes for the rise in San Diego’s December unemployment rate are two-fold, and the news isn’t entirely bad: First, and most obviously, job losses drove the rate higher. However, this was compounded by an increase in the labor force of 12,200 people. The labor force vacillated for most of 2020 but ended the year close to its February, pre-pandemic level—good news for the labor market heading into 2021, if it is sustained.

Industry View

Leisure and Hospitality employers let go of 9,600 workers in December, which was more than enough to lower total employment. The lion’s share of hospitality job losses came from Accommodation and Food Services, which gave back 10,300 positions. Other Services, Government, Manufacturing, Educational Services (private, non-government), and Financial Activities each lost jobs. However, the losses for all of those industries totaled just 4,300, less than half of the layoffs experienced in Accommodation and Food Services alone.

The weakness in Leisure and Hospitality drove an even larger wedge between the jobs recovery for high-paying and low-paying positions, exacerbating a worrisome trend where the income and wealth gaps in San Diego will likely widen exponentially as a result of the pandemic-fueled recession.

Despite the decline in topline employment, job gains were apparent in a number of industries. Business and Professional Services added a healthy 2,500 workers in December, fueled by a gain of 2,700 in the crucial Professional, Scientific, and Technical segment, while retailers brought on 1,900 additional employees despite weak retail sales.

Behind the Numbers

All in all, December’s lackluster employment report is a downer, but not an unexpected one. With COVID-19 cases surging in the region and hospitals running out of valuable space for patients, business restrictions became necessary from a public health perspective.

As mentioned, the decline in employment last month is not typical for December, but it may bode well for January’s employment report. Under more normal circumstances, January typically reveals job losses as seasonal workers are let go. However, given that seasonal hiring was more tepid in 2020, layoffs in January may be less pronounced.

Labor force growth in December is also encouraging if it can be sustained. The extension of federal emergency unemployment benefits should help to keep a floor under the workforce, since only people in the labor force can claim them. Additionally, despite the sharp drop in Leisure and Hospitality employment last month, many firms in the region are still hiring. Therefore, we can expect people to remain in the labor force as long as job growth resumes as we enter 2021.

Unfortunately, these are about the only silver linings in December’s jobs report.

Annual revisions to the 2020 jobs numbers will be released by California EDD on Friday, March 12. Typically, revisions show greater job losses than were initially reported during recession periods. This is because the Labor Department estimates the pace of business formations in a given month, which usually assumes the addition of at least some new jobs as new firms come online. However, a Census-like count of business formation carried out after the initial estimates are released usually shows more business closures, on net, which thereby reduces the level of employment. So, in all likelihood, 2020 revisions could reveal deeper job losses last year than initially reported.

The shape and timbre of the jobs recovery means that even more work will be needed to shore up the local economy. The exponential widening in wealth and income gaps from the “K-shaped” recovery to-date will mean even more aggressive policies aimed at protecting and empowering our lowest-paid workers. Also, declines in the labor force earlier in 2020 were in large part the result of women leaving the workforce. If 2021 exhibits a repeat of that contraction, then it will almost certainly lead to greater disparities in gender pay. Finally, housing has continued to become even less affordable amid high unemployment and rising home values across the region.

It will take intentional and effective action to get this recovery right. It is now more important than ever to ensure greater access to higher education and worker training for our region’s lower-income households. Additionally, companies may also want to consider employee-ownership models, like the one Taylor Guitars recently announced, to give workers a larger stake in their economic fortunes. By offering a pathway to higher paying, more stable employment, we can ensure a more resilient and vibrant San Diego in the future, which will benefit all of us for decades to come.

Learn more about San Diego’s right recovery

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Good News of the Week – January 15, 2021

By Heather Dewis,

Every week, ‘Good News of the Week’ features a curation of positive headlines from San Diego, delivered straight to your inbox. A blend of aggregated stories from San Diego’s most trusted news sources and original EDC-created content, GNOTW provides a comprehensive recap of the region’s best stories from the past week.

For the week of January 15, 2021, here’s what we’re reading:

…and here are the events we’re (virtually) attending:

Innovation companies: Share your insights

EDC is surveying San Diego’s tech and life sciences companies to better understand regional talent needs and help inform our San Diego: Life. Changing. campaign into 2021 and beyond. Kindly take a few minutes to share your thoughts and help us strengthen San Diego’s talent pipeline.

Complete the Survey

San Diego business resources:

Amidst everything happening in the world, we need a reminder that there’s plenty of ‘Good News’ to go around in San Diego. We have also compiled additional resources for businesses and individuals seeking additional guidance.

For businesses:

For individuals:

Be in the know – sign up below to receive future editions of GNOTW.

Want to submit your event or news update to our weekly newsletter? Contact us for more information.

Heather Dewis
Heather Dewis

Sr. Manager, Marketing Communications