Panel hears California Jobs First briefing focused on regional, sector‑based economic strategy

Panel member Derek Kirk delivered a policy briefing to the Employment Training Panel on Aug. 22 describing the California Jobs First initiative and how the Employment Training Panel (ETP) can better align with regional sector strategies.

"California Jobs First for us is about building a community‑led and climate‑forward economy," Kirk said, summarizing the initiative’s premise and the reason the panel has discussed closer alignment in recent months. He told the panel the program divides the state into 13 economic regions to coordinate investments and noted the effort’s central tentpole: a Regional Investment Initiative that initially invested $5 million per region and totaled $450 million in the program’s design.

Kirk described four core goals of the blueprint: support sustainable and equitable regional growth, invest in workforce for sectors of the future, create an attractive environment for job creators and strengthen California’s innovation and entrepreneurial economy. He explained the initiative’s effort to fold state agencies into a common approach: "We collaborated with nine agencies through the California Jobs First Council to break silos and braid funding and policy to move projects forward," he said.

Kirk highlighted several concrete program elements and milestones: the Regional Investment Initiative (the initial regional planning investments and subsequent competitive and tribal funding rounds), certified regional economic development plans recognized by the U.S. Economic Development Administration, pilot projects such as a planned public market/entrepreneur training center in the Sacramento River District and forthcoming competitive implementation funding rounds. He urged panel staff to consider closer operational alignment with other state tools commonly used by employers — specifically naming CalCompetes, the full sales and use tax exclusion program (California Alternative Energy and Advanced Transportation Financing Authority processes) and ETP itself — and outlined opportunities to reduce duplicative applicant burden by sharing application information between agencies.

Kirk tied the initiative directly to workforce policy: aligning priority sectors and multiple‑employer contracts with the regional sector framework; coordinating ETP grants and MECs to strengthen local ecosystems; and ensuring that investments focus on regional strengths rather than applying a one‑size‑fits‑all approach. He also discussed pilot and implementation funding available now and soon, and asked panel members to consider whether future ETP multiple‑employer contracts could be structured to support regionally identified priority sectors.

Why this matters: Kirk framed Jobs First as a long‑term administrative and funding alignment effort designed to direct limited public resources to regionally defined priorities and to create better pipelines between attraction/retention incentives and workforce investments. Panel members asked questions about sector multipliers, future trends such as AI and automation, and how to design training to enable transitions between related industries.

Kirk concluded by urging continued ETP participation in cross‑agency coordination and by noting that the Jobs First blueprint and regional plans represent a rare, statewide attempt to certify and coordinate economic development planning across all counties. Panel members thanked him and asked staff to explore follow‑up items such as aligning MECs to regional sectors and potential joint application approaches with GoBiz and the treasurer’s office.