Stanislaus 2030 proposal stresses importance of designing an ‘intentional’ economy
Major community investment is necessary to boost Stanislaus County’s economy over the course of the next decade, stakeholders said at a presentation last week.
Speaking before the Modesto City Council, Stanislaus Community Foundation President and CEO Marian Kaanon said Stanislaus County is a “disinvested community” lacking much of the necessary infrastructure to push forward the local economy. In order to bridge these gaps, the foundation is putting forward “Stanislaus 2030,” a comprehensive plan to boost the county’s economic potential.
Stanislaus County lacks some of the infrastructure other communities have, Kaanon said, like a local community development corporation, community financial institutions, venture capital investment and a level of entrepreneurship that results in an influx of young workers.
SCF is working to address some of these needs, including helping to launch a local community development corporation this summer.
In Stanislaus County, Kaanon said, only one of the 10 jobs most recruited for — nursing — pays a living wage. And of the people receiving government aid, three-quarters are working full-time jobs and can’t make ends meet.
These statistics, she said, point to a need for Stanislaus leaders to “be really intentional about designing an economy for the future.”
“Our economy cannot be a default economy that’s happening to us because other people are being priced out of housing markets, for instance, in the Bay Area,” Kaanon added.
Instead, local leaders need to focus on creating jobs in traded industries, which are those where the end product leaves a region. Each traded industry job typically creates three to seven auxiliary jobs in a local economy, from health care workers to attorneys to teachers.
Currently, Stanislaus’ main traded industry is agriculture, and Kaanon said it’s imperative to not only focus on expanding that industry, but diversify into others — like ag tech.
Kaanon said her team has contracted with the Brookings Foundation, a Washington D.C.-based think tank, to provide economic data for the region.
“At some point, we have to move beyond anecdote, beyond story, and get really clear on what our data is telling us,” she said.
As SCF receives the Brookings data, Kaanon said they will be taking the next 10 months, through July 2022, to do outreach and engage with the community, after which they expect to have a number of plans across various industries and organizations to present for funding.
These plans, Kaanon said, must include a sound investment agenda and price tags. SCF, the county CEO’s office and other stakeholders will hold the applicants accountable and make sure they outlast term limits, retirements and other leadership changes.
Once these plans are in place, “we want to be more competitive.”
“It’s never about money,” Kaanon said, stressing that when plans are solid and actionable, finding funding at the state and federal level is doable. Instead, she said, it’s time for local leaders to give officials “that vision, that investment agenda.”
This story was produced with financial support from the Stanislaus Community Foundation, along with the GroundTruth Project’s Report for America initiative. The Modesto Bee maintains full editorial control of this work.
To help fund The Bee’s economic development reporter with Report for America, go to https://bit.ly/ModestoBeeRFA
This story was originally published September 21, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
