Helping Kern start and grow businesses

Provided.

To thank Jim Damian for his presentation, President Jennifer Palakiko presented him with a certificate, and a donation was made to the Rotary Foundation in his honor.

At a recent weekly meeting of the Rotary Club of Tehachapi the speaker was Jim Damian, the Chief Economic Development Officer for Kern County.

Jim began by saying he not only grew up in Tehachapi, but also that, "I seriously grew up right here, in this room at Kelcy's restaurant." Jim explained that, for as long as he could remember, he ate dinner at Kelcy's after church every Saturday night with his family, including his grandparents. He got his first job as a busboy at Kelcy's, starting when he was only 14. He said that it was so nice to be back in a place that held so many wonderful memories for him. Jim is a past president of the Downtown Rotary Club of Bakersfield and is currently an assistant governor for Rotary District 5240.

Jim Damian is a first-generation college graduate, earning a bachelor's degree from San Diego State University and a master's degree from University of California, Berkley. His first job after college was as a social worker, and he said that his experience taught him that the best way to change your life is to have a job. He founded Stria in 2005, a technology company, which earned him Bakersfield's Businessperson of the Year in 2021, and Bakersfield's Large Business of the Year in 2022.

In July 2023, he became the Chief Economic Development Officer for Kern County, a department that defines economic development as "the process for creating and utilizing physical, human, financial and social assets to generate improved and broadly shared economic well-being and quality of life for a community or region." Jim said, "The economy has to work for everybody; otherwise, it doesn't work for anybody." Kern County has a $4.4 billion economy, and his primary goal is to make Kern County the best place to start and grow a business.

Jim believes that it is important to monitor the progress his department is making on their goals and strategies, so they partnered with Stanford University to build a scorecard which would track relevant economic data, including the employment rate, gross domestic product, cost of living, housing prices, building permits issued and data on businesses. Of particular concern is that the unemployment rate in Kern County is about double that of the state, which is a problem because it should mirror the state. In addition, 15.7% of Kern residents hold a bachelor's degree, compared with 35.3% of the state population. He also stressed that diversification in the work force is important. Currently, 30% of those employed work in oil and agriculture, and another 30% work in some area of government employment. Only 40% of the workforce are doing other things. He explained that diversification is important to help better weather economic downturns, especially when it affects the oil and ag industries. As a result, they have put strategies in place to partner with Employers Training Resource Center to help ensure that Kern has an adequately prepared workforce which will meet the employment needs of the private sector.

One of the big trends they are seeing at the county is regulations of all kinds, which are cumbersome for businesses. In addition, water issues are impacting housing, as water is scarce, and the population of Kern County has increased by 40% over the past 20 years. The future will depend on how technology and innovation can be used to find ways to efficiently meet the demand, yet still support the agricultural economy.

Another challenge is reliable access to high-speed internet, which makes it hard to work from home and sell products or services over the internet. He also explained that renewable energy is huge and is here to stay, producing 25% of state wind energy and 10% of its solar energy. However, the energy grid is running out of room to accept more green energy, which will be a problem in a few years. Jim explained that they focus on the different challenges faced in the county and look to how those can be turned into opportunities. He said they are focused on helping diversify the county's economy, making sure the energy grid is sufficient and promoting a work force that is ready for the future.

The Tehachapi Rotary Club meets at noon every Thursday at Kelcy's. Rotary is the largest service organization in the world, and is committed to "Service Above Self," devoting time and resources to projects in the local community as well as internationally. For more information about the Rotary Club, you can visit their Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/RotaryClubofTehachapi/.