Economic Development Program
Sustainability and Economic development
The sustainability of a community depends on creating and maintaining its economic and environmental health. That means jobs need to be created and available in order for communities to survive. Local jobs give families the ability to buy homes, cars and the basic items such as food. It allows cities to grow as taxes are provided by businesses and consumers. Without a job base, communities will not be able to sustain themselves. The Green Coalition understands these principles. For the most part most people identify “sustainability” with the environment, but it can really apply to anything. For the Green Coalition, sustainability is about economic development. In this case, we believe that a new urban image (green), new investments(Clean Tech industries) and economic transformation can create a new era of opportunities for us. The struggle to generate economic development isn’t about simply attracting companies into the valley, but it is about making ourselves attractive to potential residents. An attractive community is appealing to high skilled workers who would help drive new businesses. When we have a highly skilled workforce, companies will be attracted to the valley.
Economic Development Efforts
In 2009, the Green Coalition partnered with the San Bernardino Valley College Nanotechnology center and provided a workshop on the Nanotechnology Technician certificate course. Nanotechnology is the study of manipulating matter on an atomic and molecular scale. It is this technology that makes our cell phones, computers, storage drives much smaller but with a bigger capacity. Applications of nanotechnology in the green economy include: Increasing the electricity generated by windmills, Generating electricity from waste heat, Storing hydrogen for fuel cell powered cars and making solar power cells smaller and more efficient among others. The future sees the Inland Empire as the nanotechnology center of California.
The Green Coalition is recruiting CleanTech companies to move to the San Jacinto Valley. To this end, we have been talking to both Hemet and San Jacinto and encourage them to develop an economic incentive package to offer to prospective businesses
