Earlier this month, RCRC staff attended the 2017 California Economic Summit (Summit) in San Diego. The purpose of the Summit was to bring together a large network of public and private sector participants to create action-oriented goals to drive workforce development, affordable housing, and infrastructure development throughout all of California. The sixth annual gathering continued the progress towards creating a triple-bottom-line vision for creating economic growth and upward mobility for all Californians.
The Summit included discussion with four of California’s top gubernatorial candidates – John Cox, Treasurer John Chiang, Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newson, and former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa – along with a featured discussion from all three of the state's public higher education systems – University of California President Janet Napolitano, California State University Chancellor Timothy White, and California Community Colleges Chancellor Eloy Ortiz Oakley.
Additionally, Summit leaders convened a separate meeting to specifically address the needs and opportunities in rural California. The meeting’s purpose focused on establishing a clear vision and action plan to focus attention, guide activities, and track progress on specific efforts that improve the economies, environmental conditions, and quality of life for rural California’s. The meeting was also intended to build relationships and understanding among the public, private, and nonprofit sectors regarding the need to address the pervasive rural-urban divide throughout the state. These efforts are expected to help develop a networked infrastructure to share resources and knowledge to support specific opportunities that address the needs of rural California while also illuminating the overall benefit to California that results from healthy and thriving rural communities.