Jobs Agenda

By Ed Adkison

By Ed Adkison

Riverside Needs Jobs. Now.

With more than 20,000 Riversiders unemployed, it's time that we get a new economic development strategy that focuses on putting people back to work and making it easier for existing and new companies to do business here. Since the economic meltdown of 2008, the City has not put forth any bold ideas for how to turn around this financial nightmare.

This is simply unacceptable.

Twelve percent of our population can't find jobs so this means that Riverside's number one priority should be job creation. As such, I have proposed several ideas below that will help get our city working again.

First, we need to work with the many public pension funds we have here to encourage them to invest in venture capital firms that invest in local startup companies. According to the Kaufmann Foundation, more than 75% of all new jobs are created by startup companies under 5 years old, so the best way to create jobs for Riverside is through new startups. We can require our public pension funds to mandate that a certain percentage of their funds go to investing in firms that back startups that create local jobs.

Second, we need to retain local firms for city contracts. As an example, the design work on the Convention Center has been awarded to a non-Riverside company. We simply cannot afford to outsource jobs when we have local talent that can do the work here.

Third, we need to launch job trainings for the unemployed and under-employed. As an example, we could partner with innovative companies like LearnUp that create free online job training tools and certification programs for the unemployed. As soon as people finish their skills training, they get referred to companies that have immediate job openings in the area of their training.

Fourth, we need to implement an innovative student loan forgiveness program for students and recent graduates who start companies that create local jobs. We have over 50,000 students in Riverside and many of these students would like to own their own companies, so the City should create a new contract with them: if our students or recent grads can create 5 jobs or raise $250,000 in venture capital, then their student loan debt could be forgiven up to $50,000. The forgiveness funds would come through a unique payback program from startup capital and would not cost Riverside a dime.

Fifth, we need to launch entrepreneurial academies throughout the city so that our high school students can be taught the principles of entrepreneurship. If we partner with nonprofits like Junior Achievement at no cost, we can bring in successful entrepreneurs to teach our kids how to launch their own companies. And the more entrepreneurs we can nurture here, the more jobs we can create here.

In short, the proposals above are just a few ideas I have to get Riverside working again. The best part about them, however, is that none of these ideas would cost the City any money. Not one. But they would help us launch a jobs renaissance in our community.

The bottom line is, if we can turnaround our unemployment challenge with these ideas and others, then we can generate more local tax revenue from business income, and as a result, we will have more monies to spend on keeping our streets safe, making sure we have the best schools, and in continuing to develop our entertainment and recreation opportunities for residents here.

It's time to turn around this recession: let's get Riverside working again.