Tribune/Nathan Orme - A man looks at job postings at the Job Connect office on Prater Way in Sparks. Community leaders and business owners have banded together to form the Regional Jobs Team, which hopes to increase job opportunities in the area.
“I am not willing to sit back and have the economy happen to us,” said Washoe County Commissioner Kitty Jung. “I want to do what I can, to have something that we can put our hands on and say we did something about this problem. I do believe that there is a way to help this.”
Nevada’s unemployment rate hit 14 percent in May, pushing the Silver State ahead of Michigan to lead the nation in joblessness. The rate set a new state record.
Jung spearheaded the Regional Jobs Team, a collaboration of local business and economic development leaders who were each searching for their own way to bring commerce to Nevada.
“Essentially it is trying to take what people in the area are already working on and putting it on steroids,” Jung said. “Instead of working in silos, we can work together. If there is something that they are stuck on, maybe someone else can help.”
Some of those on the team include representatives from the Sierra Nevada Job Corps and the Nevada Department of Employment Training and Rehabilitation. In addition, local business leaders joined the group.
At the June meeting, the team discussed common goals that could be strengthened through their coordination. According to county records, some of these topics included legislative petitions, marketing the region, bonding capacity, streamlining business and permitting processes and leveraging existing programs, among other topics.
The next meeting of the team is at 10 a.m. on July 22 at the Reno Sparks Chamber of Commerce headquarters, 1 E. First St. in Reno. While the committee does not have a mission statement or defined parameters for its goals, those topics are expected to come up at the meeting.
“It was created to be a quick committee,” Jung said. “Obviously, the ultimate achievement would be that we have created job growth in our community.”
The July 22 meeting is open to the public. At the June meeting, committee members asked that members of the banking and health care community be specifically sought out for membership.
“We recognize that quicker, more robust rebounds can occur if we coordinate our efforts,” Jung said.
A statewide effort
While the Nevada Commission on Economic Development (NCED) sent representatives to the Regional Jobs Team meeting, the commission has announced its own initiative to curb joblessness in conjunction with Nevada Lt. Gov. Brian Krolicki.
This group, called the New Nevada Task Force, is charged with identifying steps to strengthen and diversify Nevada’s economy with a specific focus on bringing industry to the state.
“The goal really is to find the best routes towards economic diversification,” said Frank Woodbeck, director of Las Vegas operations and workforce development for the NCED. “We want to figure out the best target industries to go after as far as the economy. Renewable energy has really fallen in our lap. … Long-term job growth will come from the manufacturing group.”
When asked about the state task force’s synergy with the Washoe County group, Woodbeck responded that his commission was more interested in a larger picture.
“This is really looking at economic development at a statewide level, the long-term viability of economic development,” he said. “We want to look at a statewide picture, not only the urban areas but also the rural areas.”
The New Nevada Task Force’s goal will also be to develop a legislative platform for economic development ahead of the state’s regular legislative session in February 2011.
“We want to have also a legislative direction for the economic development commission and regional economic authorities to go forward,” Woodbeck said.
The task force has no formal legal standing or budget authorization but will strictly adhere to Nevada’s open meeting law requirements for transparency purposes.
“Today, Nevada finds itself battered by some of the greatest economic challenges it has ever seen,” Krolicki said. “However, we can use this opportunity to work with our state’s business leaders to rethink and retool our business practices and identify pathways towards sustainable economic diversification and job growth in our state.”
The task force will be comprised of a group of about two dozen business leaders, Krolockli announced in a June 28 press release.
New Nevada will host its first meeting on Monday at 1:30 p.m. in the Las Vegas offices of Nevada System of Higher Education Chancellor Dan Klaich. The meeting will also be teleconferenced to Klaich’s Reno offices. This meeting is also open to the public.
Regional Jobs Team Members
Washoe County
Reno
Sparks
The Economic Development Authority of Western Nevada (EDAWN)
NevadaWorks
The Reno Sparks Chamber of Commerce
Sierra Nevada Job Corps
Nevada Commission on Economic Development (NCED)
Department of Employment, Training, and Rehabilitation
Congressional office staffs
The Northern Nevada Builders Association
The Washoe County School District
The University of Nevada, Reno
Truckee Meadows Community College
The University of Phoenix
The Associated General Contractors
Individual business owners
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