Dear Citizen,
In addition to seeing these signs in greater abundance across the East Bay, where more than 21,000 new private sector jobs were created during the past 12 months, the Workforce Development Board of Contra Costa County (WDB) is looking for help from you.
As our economy continues to show signs of resurgence, the WDB is embarking on the development of a new strategic plan that will help drive economic and workforce development in Contra Costa County and the greater East Bay. As a part of this process, we have developed a brief survey to get your input on key issues and trends that are influencing both the current recovery and our longer term economic outlook.
For more information about and to get more involved with our strategic planning efforts, please visit the strategic planning page on the WDB website. The WDB will be holding community forums in early spring to share some of the survey results and get additional input from you about our plan - stay tuned for details!
Don't delay - go ahead and complete the survey now!
Stephen Baiter Executive Director
Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) & Earn It! Keep It! Save It! Program Effective January 1, 2008, all employers are required to notify all of their employees of the federal Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). Assembly Bill 650, Chapter 606 (Lieu and Jones) requires any employer who is subject to, and is required to provide unemployment insurance to employees, to notify all employees that they may be eligible for the EITC. Employers shall give notification within one week before or after, or at the same time, they provide employees with an annual wage summary (IRS Form W-2, 1099).
You must provide notification to your employees by either handing it directly to your employee or mailing it to your employee's last known address. Posting of this information on an employee bulletin board will not satisfy the notification requirement. For more information on the EITC, visit the IRS website.
For those of you who may have employees that could qualify for the EITC, you can help them save money by letting them know about the no-cost income tax filing assistance offered through the United Way of the Bay Area's Earn It! Keep It! Save It! (EKS) program. EKS sites are open across the East Bay and greater Bay Area.
Chevron Provides Grant to SBDC for "Made in Contra Costa" Initiative The Contra Costa Small Business Development Center (SBDC) in partnership with Chevron will launch "Made in Contra Costa" in early 2013. Collaborating with the Bay Area Center for International Trade Development (CITD) and Contra Costa County's Small Business Enterprise (SBE) and Green Business Programs, the SBDC will identify, contact and serve ma nufacturers throughout Contra Costa County to assist in accessing growth capital, establishing and/or expanding overseas markets, competing and winning government contracts and improving profitability and sustainability. As manufacturing is one of the critical industries in our county both in terms of economic output and offering good jobs, the SBDC and WDB are excited to be helping businesses in this important industry sector with their retention and growth needs.Congressman George Miller visits Future Build Program On January 9, 2013, Congressman George Miller paid a visit to Future Build to preside over a donation of money and equipment from the Contra Costa Construction & Building Trades Council to support the efforts of the more than 30 new trainees who began the program at the beginning of this year.
Future Build is a program that is being done in partnership with the Workforce Development Board, City of Pittsburg, Pittsburg Adult Education Center, and other community-based organizations to help prepare and train community residents for working in construction and the skilled trades. At last count, more than 75% of graduates from the first two Future Build classes had found employment, many of them in the construction industry; many participants have also chosen to further their education by enrolling into programs and classes at nearby Los Medanos College.
The WDB and the other Future Build partners look forward to continuing and expanding its partnership with the community as we help more workers develop the skills they need to compete for good-paying jobs in our region. Building a Vibrant East Bay EconomyThe Workforce Development Board (WDB) served as one of several co-hosts of the Building a Vibrant East Bay Economy event put on by the East Bay Economic Development Alliance (East Bay EDA) in December 2012. Attended by more than 200 professionals from business, economic development, education, and workforce development organizations, the event centered on ways we can help to enhance economic vitality in the East Bay by realigning and strengthening regional partnerships across economic development, education, and workforce development organizations.
In addition to generously sponsoring this event, summit co-hosts Bayer HealthCare and Chevron helped set the tone for the day by emphasizing the need to maximize the impact of investments into these systems by aligning resources and activities toward common goals. This message was repeated by presenters from organizations in other regions of the U.S. that have undertaken similar efforts to better link, align, and leverage the resources and networks of partners in their respective areas.
The good news for the East Bay is that this work is beginning to happen in our region. Economic development organizations like East Bay EDA and the Contra Costa Council and Contra Costa Economic Partnership understand these issues and have identified workforce development as one of the primary economic development priorities for our region. The Contra Costa Community College District has a new $15 million grant to train more than 2,000 people in high-demand occupations in industries driving the regional economy, including engineering, advanced manufacturing, and transportation/logistics. The WDB is one of five local partners who secured a grant focusing on the economic development pipeline in advanced manufacturing and medical/biosciences technologies in our region. Finally, the strong partnership that has existed between local workforce boards in Alameda County, Contra Costa County, the City of Oakland, and the City of Richmond through the EASTBAY Works system being revamped to meet these imperatives and help support these new opportunities.
We encourage you to keep in contact with us directly and/or virtually about all of these efforts as they continue to move forward. Board Member Spotlight: Robert Calkins As the Program Manager for the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) of Contra Costa County, Robert Calkins administers $3.6 million in grants for worthy community organizations and initiatives. He has worked in the community development, economic development, and planning fields in the Bay Area for almost 30 years and has extensive knowledge of the challenges facing lower income families. Mr. Caulkins has participated as a Workforce Development Board member for two years and currently serves on the Policy, Program & Performance Committee.
Lastly, we remind you again to please help spread the word about the important work that the WDB is doing and encourage others to participate in our strategic planning process by completing our online survey.
While you are doing that, please also be sure to connect with us on Linked In, friend us on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter. |
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