Richard Della Valle, ED>Net, Napa Valley College, Napa CA.

Pablo Monzon, GIS Planning, Berkeley, CA.

The world is different across the Bay Bridge from San Francisco, beyond the Oakland Hills, thorough the Caldecott Tunnel, in the Interior San Francisco Bay region. To answer this difference in cultural and economic mindsets the CANS Economic Development Consortium was established in Fall 1998. The CANS (Contra Costa, Alameda, Napa and Solano Counties) Consortium consists of four major college districts bound together with common needs in the areas of vocational and occupational training for the purpose of economic development and welfare reform training. This group is currently seeking federal and state assistance to develop a regional economic development approach. Phase I has already been instituted with grants from the Chancellor's Office and DOE matching monies. This project involved the establishment of classroom based distance learning equipment (Picture Tel 2000) placed at all member colleges environmental technology laboratories.

Phase ll of the project was the development of targeted curriculum for the CANS region. The targeted industry cluster for this application was Information Technologies. Development of new technology in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Information Systems Technology (IT) is critical to the CANS region. GIS is among the most promising and universally applicable of the new technologies in the field of decision analysis. Recent work by EDD and ABAG (the Association of Bay Area Governments) has shown that by 2005 more than 85% of all jobs in our region and statewide will be service and informational based. Dramatic residential and business growth regionally dictates an urgent need to be filled.

Diablo Valley, Napa, Las Positas, Chabot and Solano colleges unified to develop a GIS project to assist California's economic development future. This unlikely group of normally competitive colleges worked collaboratively for the first time under a California Community Colleges economic development grant issued by the Chancellor's Office. The project's goals were to enhance California's economic growth by developing internet based tools in GIS that would assist small-medium sized businesses (and entrepreneurs) choose commercial real estate for their potential business ventures. The site developed is located at http://www.communitygis.org and (at the time of this writing) is beta tested for Napa County only. The site was built using Map Objects. The project also had a second and more important goal. This goal was to teach basic GIS computer based skills to California Community College students. GIS skills are an important asset in today's job market. In a beta-testing model, Napa Valley College assigned student interns the task of inputting all the commercial real estate data for Napa county. Students were given commercial real estate data gathered by the Napa Valley Economic Development Corporation (NVEDC). This data is currently being updated monthly by the NVEDC. The commercial real estate finder developed does the following:

• property map locator,
• site information report generator and
• a full business demographics and expenditure analysis system.

The site was designed by GIS Planning and is hosted by Diablo Valley College.

The Napa Economic Development GIS project created communication between education, business and government interests. It is hoped that colleges will use this model statewide and nationally. Visit this site and you will find a true virtual partnership that links education, business, government interests and jobs.

Information about ED>Net can be found at http://www.ednet.cc.ca.us

Information about the Environmental Initiative can be found at http://www.rebrac.org

Information about GIS Planning Inc. can be found at http://www.gisplanning.com

Presentation Slides:

• Economists' view economic development as the process of creating wealth in a nation, state, or local economy.
• A state or local economic development strategy must take into consideration a wide range of public investments and policies that affect the economic health of a region. These include K-12 and higher education systems.

• Improving profit potential for companies & businesses
• Improving earning potential for individual residents of the community
• Sustaining and improving the standard of living and the environment in local communities

• It's the acronym for Economic Development Network.
• Coordinated economic development programs and projects in the CCC that are funded through competitive grants.
• By linking projects ED>Net can increase every project's access to the rich and deep expertise and intellectual resources from colleges across the state.

• Strategic Initiatives
• Long-term, multi region
• Attract and retain businesses
• "R & D" to Colleges
• Industry-Driven Regional Collaborative
• Short-term, local control
• Specific to local area needs
• Job Development Incentive Training
• Entry-level jobs especially for welfare aid recipients
• Capacity Development
• Support projects outside of mainstream economic development programs

• Ten Strategic Initiatives
• Work Place Learning
• Biotechnology
• International Trade
• Transportation Technologies
• Environmental Technologies
• Applied Competitive Technologies
• Contract Education
• Health Care
• Multimedia
• Small Business Development Centers

• Toxicology
• Industrial Health & Science
• Transportation and Storage of Haz Mat
• Spill Control and Emergency Response/GIS
• Energy Conservation

• By 2005 85% of all jobs in California will be information related
• Demand for work force far outstrips supply
• Curriculum Needed
• Computer information and network systems
• Telecommunications
• Geographic Information Systems

• Link colleges with businesses
• Assist small to medium sized businesses
• Give useful skill sets to students
• Assist government/non-profit agencies

• Local economic development representatives:

• Development of Commercial Real Estate Finder
• Workshops for application use
• Student internships
• Database development

• GIS training
• GPS training
• Database analysis
• Basic job skills
• Communication and reporting

• Linkage of realtors to economic development agencies
• Provides service to attract new businesses to city/county
• Training of government/non-profit workers in application use
• General GIS training
• Regionalization of college districts/counties

• Ongoing relationships of local business with the local colleges
• Increased enrollments in GIS/GPS classes from local agencies and business
• Student internships
• Service to local community
• New curricula directions and new projects