Initiatives

Census 2020: Ensuring the IE Counts

The Inland Empire Community Foundation is one of 10 organizations the State Census Office is partnering with to make sure everyone gets counted in the IE.

Picked by the California Census Office as an Administrative Community-Based Organization (ACBO), IECF is putting state and philanthropic resources behind local nonprofits in six regions across the Inland Empire in hard-to-count communities. As the ACBO, our goal is to ensure the most complete count possible of the residents of the Inland Empire – a count that will affect the flow of funds as well as political representation for the next decade.

IECF is playing a groundbreaking role by dispersing $2.4 million in state funds and $1.5 million in pooled private philanthropy to empower community-based organizations (CBOs) from the IE, and demonstrating that local organizations have the ability and are best equipped with the deepest roots and greatest trust among hard-to-count populations. Our central, decision-making partners are: Family Service Association, Alianza Coachella Valley, Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice, Warehouse Workers Resource Center, El Sol Neighborhood Educational Center, UCR Center for Social Innovation, Inland Empowerment and NALEO Education Fund. Over 33 organizations have received grants and sub-contracts to ensure an accurate Census 2020.

CensusIE.org

Listos California

Listos California is the state’s new emergency preparedness campaign led by the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (CAL OES) and California Volunteers to make sure our most at-risk residents – those who are socially isolated, seniors, low-income, disabled or limited-English speakers – will have a plan for themselves and their families in the event of a disaster. Listos also encourages community engagement in local disaster planning as an essential part of getting all California prepared for any emergency.

With $2.1 million in state funding, IECF is re-granting to nonprofits that serve diverse and vulnerable populations in Riverside County. For San Bernardino County, the state is partnering with El Sol Neighborhood Educational Center. IECF is part of a statewide network of community-based organizations in 24 counties designated to provide emergency preparedness education and outreach as part of the Listos Campaign.

Inclusive Economic Development & IEGO

​Regional economic development that supports higher wages and worker mobility and is environmentally sustainable is an important mission for the Inland Empire. In 2017 and 2018, private- and public-sector leaders from Riverside and San Bernardino counties worked together and with the Brookings Institution to understand the Inland Empire’s potential to create jobs at good wages for those without a four-year degree.

The process resulted in a strategic framework called Inland Growth and Economic Opportunity. IEGO documented its research and strategies in a report called “Middle Class Jobs for a Fast Growing Region,” April 2019. The strategy identifies sectors that can create these jobs and the workforce alignment needed to help workers capture more wages, benefits, and skills development in a dynamic and changing economy. Implemented, the framework has the potential to put the region on a more prosperous and secure future and lift thousands out of poverty.

Through research and visioning, participants agreed to align workforce and economic development efforts in growing industry sectors such as logistics, cyber security, air emissions and environmental technology, and advanced manufacturing. Some sectors, like logistics and advanced manufacturing, have a strong base in the region and need to adapt to rapid automation, improve conditions for workers, and adapt environmental regulations to be truly sustainable and benefit workers. Others, like green technology and IT/Cybersecurity, are emerging sectors with important business and educational assets in the IE that need to be leveraged for sector growth.

For instance, Cal State San Bernardino has the number 3 school for Cybersecurity in the U.S., yet workers leave for jobs in other places. The relocation of the California Air Resources Board offers tremendous potential for the relocation and growth of businesses working on green technology and air quality.

At the core of IEGO is the need to transform how we work together to build partnerships, collaborations, and networks to align the efforts of this 27,000 square mile region. In part because of the sheer size of the Inland Empire, and the scale of change IEGO requires, the effort operates as an intentional network of businesses and institutions throughout San Bernardino and Riverside Counties, committed to creating better jobs and increasing access to them in what has become one of the fastest-growing population centers in the U.S.

In 2020, with facilitation led by consulting firm Jobs for the Future, IEGO began implementing its recommendations with greater and greater inclusion of the many voices needed to create a more just and sustainable economy. Private and public sector leaders from Riverside and San Bernardino counties have catalyzed an effort to forge a strategic agenda for advancing inclusive growth and opportunity that will benefit residents of both counties and put the region on the path to a more prosperous and secure future. This strategic agenda endeavors to lift thousands out of poverty and broaden local access to opportunity by investing in better pathways to good jobs, improving educational outcomes, inspiring the region’s brightest young people to stay and strengthening civic infrastructure necessary to address emerging opportunities.

IEGO partners include the Brookings Institution, Inland Empire Community Foundation, Riverside and San Bernardino Counties, businesses, economic developers, higher education, and more. Today, IEGO is supporting teams to begin aligning cross-sector efforts and maximizing the assets of the IE for good jobs, strong businesses, and vibrant communities.