Transcript- Episode 130: Building LA’s Future: Small Businesses, Global Events, & Workforce Evolution with Stephen Cheung, CEO & President of LAEDC & President of WTCLA Episode 130
Oct 15, 2024
00:00:00 - Stephen Cheung
We have to be a lot more careful and specific about how we train the next generation of workers. That's why we need to start aligning with the growth sectors, with the sectors that are going to produce the best jobs, the best paying jobs, the best career opportunities, so that we can have transformation throughout this entire region, so that you can have economic wealth and economic mobility for our communities, especially those that have been often left behind.
00:00:28 - Christina Barsi
The workforce landscape is rapidly changing and educators and their institutions need to keep up. Preparing students before they enter the workforce to make our communities and businesses stronger is at the core of getting an education. But we need to understand how to change and adjust so that we can begin to project where things are headed before we even get there. So how do we begin to predict the future?
00:00:53 - Salvatrice Cummo
Hi, I'm Salvatrice Cummo, Vice President of Economic and Workforce Development at Pasadena City College and host of this podcast.
00:01:02 - Christina Barsi
And I'm Christina Barsi, producer and co-host of this podcast.
00:01:06 - Salvatrice Cummo
And we are starting the conversation about the future of work. We'll explore topics like how education can partner with industry, how to be more equitable, and how to attain one of our highest goals, more internships and PCC students in the workforce. We at Pasadena City College want to lead the charge in closing the gap between what our students are learning and what the demands of the workforce will be once they enter. This is a conversation that impacts all of us, you, the employers, the policymakers, the educational institutions, and the community as a whole.
00:01:39 - Christina Barsi
We believe change happens when we work together, and it all starts with having a conversation. I'm Christina Barsi.
00:01:47 - Salvatrice Cummo
And I'm Salvatrice Cummo and this is the Future of Work
00:01:50 - Salvatrice Cummo
Hi, welcome back to the Future of Work podcast. I am your host, Dr. Salvatrice Cummo. Today we are thrilled to have a returning guest who's been instrumental in shaping Los Angeles economic and global trade landscape. Stephen is also moderating a key session at our up-and-coming Future Work conference, where he'll discuss these themes in depth. He is the president of both the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation, also known as LAEDC, and the World Trade Center Los Angeles. He has been at the forefront of economic development in Los Angeles, working to attract international investments and position LA as a major global trade hub. Under his leadership, the World Trade Center of Los Angeles is helping shape the future of the region, especially as LA prepares for major upcoming events like the 2028 Olympics. He also plays a key role in workforce development initiatives, ensuring that local businesses and educational institutions are aligned with industry needs. Today, we're going to dive deeper into what this means for LA's future, exploring how infrastructure, workforce development, and local business opportunities will evolve in the upcoming years. Stephen, welcome back to the podcast.
00:03:14 - Stephen Cheung
Thanks so much for having me back.
00:03:16 - Salvatrice Cummo
You're very welcome. It's always a pleasure to have you on the podcast, as well as doing all this tremendous work across LA. So thank you so much. I recognize the value of your time, and so thank you very much.
00:03:28 - Stephen Cheung
Thank you.
00:03:29 - Salvatrice Cummo
How about we just jump right into the Future of Work Conference, because that, for me, is in the near future, and I want to make sure we get to that because you play a very important role in this conference. We know that this year is kind of really focused on the sports and entertainment theme, preparing our future of work individuals. From your perspective, what do you feel are the key industries that students and local businesses should focus on for preparing this in this evolving job market?
00:03:59 - Stephen Cheung
Well, the amazing thing about Los Angeles is that we have so many different industries that are already available. And as you mentioned, the world and Los Angeles continue to evolve. There are new opportunities are available. So some key industries include. We've been working on some of these industries with you and with PCC already, the bioscience industry, the life science industry, space commercialization, space exploration. There are the sports and entertainment, digital media, entertainment. These are growing sectors that continue to dominate the region, but they're also locally serving industries that's been growing significantly. Based on our projection, for example, the healthcare industry will continue to grow. Government and education institutions will also play a significant role in our industry. And of course, our small businesses here, 94% of all LA county companies have less than 20 employees. That's really the backbone of our diverse economy, and that's why small businesses continue to be a major, major sector that we need to pay attention to.
00:04:59 - Salvatrice Cummo
Thank you. I often wonder. We're preparing ourselves for LA 28, right? The Olympics and other major events that are coming to Los Angeles. You've shared with us a little bit about industries in which our workforce should be paying attention as it relates to job growth. Perhaps maybe career changes. But I want to kind of spend a little bit of time talking about how our small business community, particularly 94% of them with 20 employees or less, how they can position themselves to really benefit from what we will be seeing soon with these global events coming to LA.
00:05:34 - Stephen Cheung
There are a lot of factors that are involved when these international global events are happening throughout the region. One of the reasons is because we have this amazing infrastructure that's already tied into our region, not only when it comes to the major stadiums, but also the hotels and transportation that allows them to very quickly fly in and out of Los Angeles. With that said, when these visitors are coming, they're going to be dependent on the hospitality services that are located here. This is where the small businesses can really benefit. There are going to be a lot of spending power with the visitors are coming through, but many times they're just going to be very much concentrated in the location that they're located at. Is there a way for the small businesses to start working more closely with their regional partners so that they are more visible on the LA stage? So when folks are actually seeking for different experiences, for example, more and more so we're hearing that a lot of the visitors going to the Paris Olympic Games wanted to experience different parts of Paris, exploring different cultures, different types of activities. Besides the sports, if we're able to feature the 88 different cities and over 100 and incorporated regions of Los Angeles, we have some of the largest diasporas outside of any nations here. Between all the amazing restaurants and cultural destinations that are throughout the entire region, turning them into their own destination in itself, this is really going to help the small companies be able to secure some of these spending and the dollars that will be spent by these visitors. So that's just one example of many, many things that these small businesses could do and should be doing.
00:07:10 - Salvatrice Cummo
I mean, it'd be a bad idea for us to share those potential ideas and thoughts with our small business community at some point, and perhaps maybe not on this episode, but I think it's really kind of incumbent upon us as practitioners and leaders in this space to share what is possible with our small business community. And I'm just thinking about, you know, those are very short-term wins, if you want to call them, for our small business community. I wonder a little bit about kind of long-term legacy with having such a major event like the Olympics here. How do we grow a long-term legacy? How are you envisioning that for LA, specifically within sports entertainment?
00:07:47 - Stephen Cheung
We've been hoping to be able to turn some of these major opportunities into a full industry. A lot of times when you're talking about either the Olympic Games or the FIFA World Cup, it's once in a long time, I was going to say once in a lifetime. But here in Los Angeles, we actually are blessed. So we have multiple opportunities. But when they leave, it's going to be maybe years, if not decades before they come back. But in between those major events, and while we're waiting for the next event to happen, don't forget, we have eleven professional sports teams that are already here having events on a regular basis almost every single week. Those are major events in itself. If you tie all of them together, that's one single industry. So when it comes to the legacy that I would like to see our small business community be able to take advantage of, is that if they are able to be grouped together and be provided with enough resources and enough training so that they can become vendors and contractors, so they can procure for these business opportunities. When major sporting events or major teams are selling their jerseys and their caps, can it not be manufactured by a local Los Angeles company? We have a huge garment sector here. When they are doing event activation, can we not have marketing and event production team here in various regions of Los Angeles do those activations? So that's the legacy that will be left behind. Because if those companies are able to succeed, secure contracts and procurement opportunities with some of these major venues, major events, or major sporting clubs and teams. This is a stamp of approval around the world. If you are a vendor to the Dodgers, to the Lakers, to the Clippers, to Super Bowl, to FIFA World Cup, to the Olympic Games, you now have a global reputation that you can now export your products. This is the second step of the legacy. Most of the consumers, when I say most, I mean about 95% or more of the consumers around the world live outside of the United States. So this is actually a much, much bigger market. Given that Los Angeles already so globally connected with the part of Los Angeles, part of Long Beach, Lax, and our trade and logistics sector, it becomes easy for them to actually export their products and services internationally as well. That would be additionally another legacy that I would like to see our small businesses be able to take advantage of.
00:10:11 - Salvatrice Cummo
And would you agree that our consumers are really hyper-aware of that? They're hyper-aware of where their goods are coming from, and not necessarily the branding behind it, but who they've served and the impact they're making in their local communities, would you say?
00:10:24 - Stephen Cheung
I would say so. I think more and more so with new generations of consumers. They're very, very conscious and they do their homework in terms of whether the products are made or sustainable, whether it's going to be negatively impacting a certain community. So because of the standards and the regulations that we have here in Los Angeles, sometimes people use that against us. But I think we should turn it into a positive and say that by supporting our local businesses, you're supporting the communities here in Los Angeles. I knew that previously that there were efforts to create a maidenhouse Los Angeles branding logo to unite the manufacturers are here. I don't think that has continued as robustly as it should. And that would be great if we can use the major events that are coming through as a way for us to unite so that becomes a branding mechanism. We've seen how great that the I love New York logo has been for New York. That's right. How about we basically do something similar for LA, utilizing these major events as a way to launch our products.
00:11:27 - Salvatrice Cummo
I agree. I agree 100%. I'm even thinking about that as a potential strategy for sustainable growth. Just in the specific industry that you spoke of and underscoring your vision for this long term legacy, were there other strategies that you were kind of toeing around with in your mind about how we establish? And when I say we, I mean this is not a you problem, right? Like, this is not a you thing to fix, Steven. This is really an us thing, right. And everyone who really works and leads in this space, how do we, what strategies are you seeing as? Look, Savatrise. We really need to focus on this to really sustain this growth that we are going to see from these major events coming to LA.
00:12:09 - Stephen Cheung
A few things. One, there was a time when we didn't have these major events. There was a time when we didn't have NFL teams in Los Angeles. It's not that long ago, and sometimes we forget. And so in order for us to have these competitive factors in place, we have to be competitive ourselves. So we can't take it for granted that these teams and these events would just come to us. Which means that we have to make sure that we're always innovating when it comes to technology, making sure that we're able to be sustainable and meet the global standards so that we can compete for these contracts. But the other thing, as we're talking about, the legacy, as we're talking about, what do we need to do now is we really need to unite ourselves as a region many times. Because we have 80 different cities, 100 incorporated regions, it's very easy for us to compete with each other. And a lot of folks around the world, they might not even know that Antelope Valley belongs to LA County. It's a part of our ecosystem. So how do we make sure that we're able to unite all these regions together as one brand, as one region? Make it easy for them to do business with us so they don't have to look anywhere else, because they really don't have to. But because we're so spread out, it becomes very challenging for them to enter this market. A lot of times when I talk to international companies, I have to give them a new perspective. I let them know that this region, LA County, is about 10 million people. Our GDP is well over $800 billion, making us the world's 21st-largest economy in the world if we're a country. So you would never go to a market this size with a city approach. You really need to have a country approach. When you have a country approach, you have multiple states, multiple provinces, multiple cities. You have to target, and that's what they have to do. But not a lot of businesses have the resources to be able to enter a country approach. That's why we have to do our homework. And I love what you said, Salvatrice. It's nesting. We need to do a much better job to make sure that we're not competing against each other. We're actually branding ourselves as one region. And so when a company comes over here, they want to open up operation or they want to do a major game. They know that from food and beverage to tourism, to production of garments, to marketing services, to whatever they need, it's all on one single location that they can reach. But that will take investment from our side to actually link all these resources into one single location for them to access. That's, I would say, one of the priorities that I would like to. To identify for LADC and would love to be able to work with our partners across the region to make sure that we turn it into a reality.
00:14:36 - Salvatrice Cummo
Absolutely. Yeah. Count us in. Because, I mean, you and I both know regional work is very difficult. It's not as easy as we think it is. You know, in theory, we align our respective objectives, leveraging shared assets and talent for greater impacts. Yes, in theory, it sounds wonderful, but in practice, it's very, very difficult. And it does require all of us to understand that it takes a united front, and we certainly have to kind of let go of some things. So, all that to say, we are your partners at LAEDC, and we. For LADC, I should say. So please do count us in those. In those conversations. Speaking of conversations, like, you know, you mentioned a little bit about speaking to these international companies and attracting new companies here. I have to believe that infrastructure becomes a topic of conversation. Right. Using your words, we're approaching them through a country mindset, not a city mindset. What have you seen as projects that are being developed or in progress to not only build an infrastructure that's critical for us to receiving this influx, coming to us for the Olympics, but also for long-term growth and gain? What are some projects that you're seeing as relates to, to critical infrastructure?
00:15:54 - Stephen Cheung
Well, I think the most visible one would be the investments that we've made for our transportation sector, with Metro really taking the lead, getting support from various federal and state sources in order for us to move forward with our transportation project. We know that traffic has always been an issue for LA, but we didn't wait around for support from the federal or state government. LA County actually passed Measure R and Measure M years ago in order for us to generate the tax revenue, in order for us to support the growth of these major projects. And many of them are underway and will be completed before the Olympic Games. One of those major projects is connection with LaX. And Lax in itself has put in over $14 billion, if I think all together it's tens of billions of dollars that they're putting in in order for us to modernize the airport. And so when that happens, this is going to be a major legacy project, an infrastructure project that will transform La altogether. Don't forget, for many, many years we have a rail system that stops probably a mile and a mile and a half away from the terminal of LAX, which doesn't make it easy for that connection. And that's why we see the congestion at LAX, which a lot of travelers, they do talk about and they are not happy with. But with this transformation, it allows us to change that and now make it easy for travelers to come in and out of LAX and then get connected not only with Santa Monica and with Sofi Stadium and with downtown but now with a new rail line going to UCLA that will be hosting and housing the Olympic village, this is also going to be. We're anticipating that the Westwood station is going to be one of the busiest stations after it opens in the metro system. So all of this is actually going to be great news for LA, the long-term transformation. What we need to do is also make sure that we change our human behavior. We're not a region that has adopted public transportation as a system that we can use regularly because our reliance on vehicles, but we are seeing that with generational changes. Gen Z, Gen Alpha, a lot of them are really gearing towards moving away from purchasing cars or using single-passenger vehicles. So that's a really, really good sign. What we're hoping to do is utilize major events like the FIFA World Cup and LA 28 as a way to showcase that you can actually take proper transportation. And hopefully, that's a lasting behavior change for the entire region. Because if we can get, you know, an increase in ridership for 20, 30% of our population that will significantly impact our traffic conditions as well. So those are just the highlights, right? The infrastructure projects that are going to be really driving this region is really going to be focused on the transportation side visibly. But there are things that people are not looking at and seeing as much, which is our trade and logistics sector, the port of Los Angeles, port of Long beach, and the entire trade corridor. They're doing also hundreds of millions of dollars of upgrades and transformation, including dock rail, that will basically expedite the movement of goods through this entire region. Largest sector here for job creation as well as the trade and logistics sector. So these are going to have long-term impact as well.
00:18:59 - Salvatrice Cummo
Got it. Behavior and culture, those are two of the most difficult things to do, especially in Los Angeles. But you're right. You're right. Leveraging these kinds of events to shift that and seeing that generational alignment works well, and we're hoping that it does push that forward. I also want to just think about a little bit about our technology sector. And speaking of behavior and culture and advancement in technologies, what are you seeing as a way for LA to kind of leverage technology advancement for the growth of global innovation and attracting new businesses, and elevating some of the sectors that you mentioned earlier?
00:19:39 - Stephen Cheung
I'm really excited about this part of the conversation because I think technology is going to set us aside from a lot of the other regions when it comes to competitiveness. I do believe that the technology sector will drive the economic growth of Los Angeles in years to come. With some of these major events that are coming through, you're going to basically see this shift in terms of the needs and the demand. For example, we're already seeing that the intuit dome, as yours is opening up, is having facial recognition technology involved. In the very, very near future, you're not going to need a credit card. Your face will basically pay for everything. So that is advancing very quickly. It's a bit scary, but at the same time, it is coming. We've been seeing it in the airport before. I remember years ago when they first were testing it out, I immediately declined, no, thank you, don't scan my face. But now it's just you adopt it. So once that happens, you can see AI technology is going to be necessary in order for you to do facial recognition. More of the seamless transfer of the data that's going back and forth. Cybersecurity, data security is going to be another huge aspect. All of those kind of technologies will be developed and move forward very quickly, and then you also have the ability to. And the data volume is going to be huge. So quantum computing is going to be a part of this. And with investments by the states and also by a number of different factors, we're going to basically see Los Angeles becoming the home of quantum computing when it comes to the R and D that's going to be there. So all these technological advances will be happening right here in Los Angeles from that portion of the tech sector, the other technologies-related field that will be growing very quickly. And we've seen it already, sustainability, because of our mandates throughout the state of California, that we have to go zero emission and carbon neutral by 2045, this is adding additional pressure to make sure that we're able to develop the technologies to help us reach that sustainable goal. We all know that we need to get there with the wildfires, with 106 degrees happening in Los Angeles more frequently, we know that we need to basically course correct very quickly, and there's no time for it. So with that, this is an additional incentive for us to develop technology. And I think because of the demand that's here, the regulation that's here, and the need, you're going to create a huge market that will basically drive technological advancement for the clean tech sector as well. So between those two, you're going to have thousands and thousands of new jobs that will be created, and the skill sets will be evolving on a regular basis. And that's why the talent pool, the workforce, the students of the future, need to pay attention to the growth sectors and the opportunities that are there. If there's an interest and there's a match, I think there's going to be huge opportunity for them to grow in those sectors.
00:22:25 - Salvatrice Cummo
I'm really glad you mentioned that, because it's really coming upon us to ensure that our programming aligns as closely as possible to those growth sectors because of all the things you just mentioned and in preparing for the future of work and the future occupations, which leads me to shifting gears just a little bit, Stephen. When we talk about the future of work, preparing the workforce, developing a new talent pool, the skills gap, all those wonderful things that we work very, very hard, everyone collectively works really, really hard. In the lining for me, you've mentioned significant key insights to not only your vision but also a roadmap, a vision for all of LA County, and to help us kind of align a little tighter and a little closer. From what you've shared, are there additional insights that you would like to see discussed at the Future of Work Conference? And is there anything there that you feel like? Salvatrice? We really need to kind of dive deep into these areas. And those conversations at the conference, a few things.
00:23:30 - Stephen Cheung
I brought this topic up slowly because it is a bit alarming, in my view. During the last LAEDC economic forecast in February, we released new information about the population changes in Los Angeles. I've always said that Los Angeles is about 10 million people. In fact, before COVID is about 10.2 million people. In our projection, LA County's population will decline to 9.5 million people by 2034. That's in ten years. That means that LA would have lost 700,000 people from our region. That's a big, big change. That's the size of a major, major us city. Plus, we're also still facing a population that will be retiring. The great tsunami, or silver tsunami, as people call it, that we talked about before. COVID hasn't gone away. It's just during COVID we stopped talking about it. So, that compounding factor of the population decline and a growing retiree population means that our workforce is going to be significantly smaller. And so we really need to make sure that there's going to be competition amongst the various industries for that kind of talent. That's why from an education standpoint and from a talent development standpoint, we have to be very, very specific about what types of students, what type of talent do we want to develop so that we can continue to attract the industries that we want to bring here. So this is where education institutions is now going to be shaping the future competitiveness and what sectors will be growing here. The honest truth is Los Angeles hasn't been the cheapest place to do business. Neither is California. But there's a reason for that, right? We've always said cheaper is cheaper. Cheaper is not better. What we have here are the diverse talent pool that you can sustain the growth of industries. Well, if that talent pool is shrinking, then we have to be a lot more careful and specific about how we train the next generation of workers. That's why we need to start aligning with the growth sectors, with the sectors that are going to produce the best jobs, the best-paying jobs, the best career opportunities, so that we can have transformation throughout this entire region so that you can have economic wealth and economic mobility for our communities, especially those that have been often left behind by the changing sectors. Those topics are all tied in with the summits, and hopefully, we can address some of those issued in detail. The last part, in terms of what you mentioned, in terms of things that we would like to see happen as well is that a lot of times we're looking at the future industries, the industries that have potential to grow. But we also need to make sure that we have industries that are sustaining this entire region. The healthcare sector is going to continue to grow because of our aging population. We need a major, major workforce that's focused on the healthcare sector. This also ties in with technology, but this traditional nursing and doctors, it's no longer as robust as it was before. COVID we saw a decline in those sectors as well. And then additionally, you have health technicians, you have a lot of different folks that come from all sorts of educational background that can fill these roles. But if we are not intentional about making sure that these pathways are available for them, we might end up in a place in the next five years where we realize that all of a sudden we have this shortage. And some of the hospitals might not be able to continue to operate because the cost of operation is just way too high with traveling nurses and doctors. And when they close, the reverberating effect is going to be humongous. So those are the topic of discussion that sometimes it needs to be mixed in with the future, but we also have to look at existing, retaining the current sectors that we have that are locally serving as well.
00:27:17 - Salvatrice Cummo
Absolutely. I think, Stephen, I would also add the emergence of on-demand healthcare. It's just really kind of talking briefly about this, in this particular conversation, like thinking about us as educational institutions and as practitioners of workforce development and preparing the talent. You know, let's not forget about companies that are emerging because of that demand in healthcare, and we're not able to supply talent quick enough and all those things that you mentioned. But we are seeing this emerging sector of on-demand healthcare, and I think that is something we really need to kind of keep an eye on because it's only going to become greater with just the data that's around us and our realities that are around us.
00:28:00 - Stephen Cheung
I agree completely. And with on-demand healthcare, the other benefits as well, is not only from the technological side but from a human asset side of the equation because of the diversity of our population, because of the languages that we speak. It's very unique. Right. And if we're able to tap into that and actually empower our future students to take advantage of some of these opportunities, their abilities, their language and their cultural sensitivity, and their background can actually be very beneficial. And sometimes they don't see themselves in those sectors. And I think it's our job to make sure that we're able to present the options available for them. As you're mentioning, the on-demand sector continues to grow.
00:28:39 - Salvatrice Cummo
Thank you for saying that. Empowering our students and seeing what is possible. And it's really our duty to share that. And, you know, LAEDC, I know this, but perhaps, maybe our listeners may not, but the work that LAEDC is doing with our community colleges in Los Angeles, Palestinian City College being one of them, can you share a little bit about how and what LAEDC is doing in preparing the students for the workforce and empowering them?
00:29:04 - Stephen Cheung
Well, we've been working with the community colleges throughout the Los Angeles region for many, many years. And one of the things that we're seeing is that in terms of working with a lot of our employers, they are changing so quickly. Their skill sets that they're demanding is changing so quickly. And if it's not matched with the community colleges when it comes to curricular development, then we're not graduating the students that can go directly into those jobs. And those companies are also suffering because they're not able to identify talent that can easily plug into their system as well. And so that's why LADC has worked very closely the community colleges, in order to basically do employer engagements and regional advisories to make sure that our faculties throughout this entire region understands the changes that are happening very quickly, the demands, where the skill sets are, where the technological changes are, where the gaps are when it comes to skill sets. And so working with the community college has been great because we're able to make sure that those two systems are, and we've been talking about before, it's so difficult sometimes to do the coordination, to do the regional coordination. You can imagine if an employer, large or small, having to work with 21 different community colleges throughout the entire region. That's a lot of resources that they have to dedicate. Same thing with the community colleges. If each one of you have to basically work with all the employers, that's also very difficult. How about, you know, with LABC coming together as a convener to bring some of the sectors together? So when you're sharing the information or learning the information, it's coming from a sector approach. So some of those common interests and some of those problems are shared within the industry is able to be conveyed effectively to the community colleges so that the faculty and the entire staff can basically create the changes are necessary to prepare our workforce of the future. That's one of the major accomplishments and partnership that, that we're so proud of to be working with PCC and all the community colleges around this region.
00:30:58 - Salvatrice Cummo
Thank you. Are there any strategies you think that are in place based on projects that we've worked on, incoming projects that are focused on serving the underserved communities and ensuring they have access to what we are providing, both from an economic development agency as yourself through that perspective and our PCC, the partnership or community college partnerships?
00:31:19 - Stephen Cheung
Yeah. There's so many things that are already happening and that needs to continue to happen. One of the things that we've looped in the community colleges and part of the entire process is the California Jobs first project. This project was started with the state of California, where they're providing funding for the 13 regions throughout California to create economic development strategies and plans so that we can get ready for the transition to a carbon-neutral economy. The goal is to create this hybrid transition collaborative, to create good jobs and good entrepreneurship opportunities for the most disinvested communities throughout the state of California. And LADC was blessed enough to be selected as a regional convener alongside with a partner with the California Community Foundation, as a fiscal agent, to be able to help bring together now over 800 partners throughout the Los Angeles region to basically start developing this entire system, this process. So we have just submitted the regional plan that we're supposed to submit to the state of California after doing more than a year of research and engagement activities with the various communities through partnership like the community colleges and PCC, to be able to outreach to the underserved communities and the most disinvested communities so that they know that these opportunities are available. But at the same time start collecting the feedback in terms of, okay, what are the demographics that are represented in the region? What are the challenges, what are the opportunities? Now we're getting ready, once we have this full plan in place, to start soliciting projects to be funded by the state of California. As you can imagine, with the shortfall, with the budget shortfall that California is facing, there's not going to be a lot of resources that are going to be available for the entire state because it's going competitive. But at the same time, this is the first time that this region had the opportunity, through the support of the state, to be able to unite what we're talking about, to bring the forces together, to start getting a cohesive strategy coming together. So what we're hoping to do now is take this to the next level and work with philanthropy and work with maybe corporate foundations to sustain this growth so that we can actually utilize this hybrid transition collaborative, utilize this ability for us to start identifying projects that need to be funded so that you can develop the pathway, and then the students will now be able to plug directly into these future projects and future workforce that's going to be available. So we're very excited. It's going to be ongoing project. This is now just getting into the catalyst phase with the second phase of this project. So a lot more work needs to be done. And this is where a lot of the students throughout the community college, the districts, and the system can actually get access to some of these future opportunities by looking at the reports, but also be engaging with the process as well.
00:34:00 - Salvatrice Cummo
Thank you for sharing that, because it's a collaborative project that is a huge undertaking, and LADC has done really, really well. And I'm not saying this just to say this, I'm genuinely saying this from my heart, that LADC has done a phenomenal job in collaborating so many different areas of LA and in this project, and we look forward to continuing to report back on it and participate. So, you know, we're close to kind of sunsetting this conversation, Stephen, and I want the listener to understand and to know if there was one thing that they need to take away from this conversation, whether they're a small business owner or someone within the workforce, what is one thing you'd like them to take away in preparing for the next couple of years here in LA? One thing for like, one for small business and one for the worker. What would it be?
00:34:43 - Stephen Cheung
I would say as a region, we're mentioning this, the need for us to come together. It's rare that we have the Olympic Games and the FIFA World Cup to be able to give us the opportunity to bring all of LA together. We saw this in 84. We saw what happened with Paris. They were able to really bring all of France together to support this rallying call. And I think for us, we can utilize this opportunity to really shed some of the differences that have divided us before and really come together as a united region because outside of Los Angeles, they see us as one. And if we don't present as a solid front, sometimes it's fragmented. It becomes difficult for them to do business, but at the same time, we lose out on opportunities. So I would say that the one thing to take away from folks is that this becomes our opportunity to come together as a region, not only to benefit LA but for our own self-preservation when it comes to businesses, when it comes to students. Because if we're able to come together as one single region, we can actually secure a lot more resources and funding from federal government state government, rather than basically getting smaller chunks by dividing up between the various regions. We've seen this with other regions like Central Valley. We heard that, you know, Fresno and Central Valley over the years have some, you know, issues like us where we're divided. And over the last ten years, they have actually worked together to come up with a very good system. So whenever they're applying for funding now, they apply together as one single region. And they've been very successful winning major grants like the build back, better regional challenge, and the good job challenge totaling nearly $100 million for that region. We didn't do that, so we didn't win hundreds of millions of dollars. What a wasted opportunity. And I think this is an opportunity for us to come together to get more resources for this region, more competitive, because if we can get more Olympic games, more FIFA World Cup, again, what we're saying before this becomes contracting opportunities for the small businesses. So by coming together, we're actually increasing our ability to get more contracts, more business or career opportunities for this entire region.
00:36:47 - Salvatrice Cummo
Yeah. Well said and underscores your first thoughts around long-term legacy in sustaining this growth spurt that we're going to see in the next few years here in LA. So well said. Stephen, thank you so much. I wanted to thank you again, once again for joining us and for moderating our Future of Work conference that's coming up on October 29 here at Pasadena City College. If our listeners would like to get in contact with you, what's the best way that they can?
00:37:12 - Stephen Cheung
They can go to our website, laedc.org, and our contact information for the entire team is listed on our staff directory. So please feel free to email me directly or any of the contacts because we're divided by teams. So those that are looking for small business assistance can contact our business assistance team. Those that are looking for other workforce development can contact our other teams as well. So please feel free to reach any of us.
00:37:36 - Salvatrice Cummo
Excellent. Thank you so much. We'll put that in the show notes. And Stephen, we'll see you soon.
00:37:40 - Stephen Cheung
See you in October. Thanks so much.
00:37:42 - Salvatrice Cummo
Thank you.
00:37:45 - Salvatrice Cummo
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00:38:00 - Salvatrice Cummo
Just chat about all things future of work.
00:38:03 - Salvatrice Cummo
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