Made in California

Last week you heard from the Governor’s Chief of Staff, Ann O’Leary, about our proposed budget and, with it, our priorities for the year. At the top of that list is the housing crisis and the most urgent face of that crisis, the stark and tragic rise in homelessness.

Today, we’re going to start there, by taking a closer look at the housing and homeless situation. First up, a conversation I had the Governor’s Chief Economic and Business Advisor, Lenny Mendonca, and the Governor’s Senior Advisor on Social Innovation, Kathleen Kelly Janus who have been leading our efforts to partner with the business community. And then we’ll hear from Rebecca Foster, who – I promise you – will give you the best if not one of the best, data-driven, impact-oriented explanations of the housing crisis that you have ever heard.

This issue is an everything issue, meaning it involves a lot of things at once. We need more housing supply, with more zoning for density. We need a lower cost way to build housing, with quicker permit times, so that we can make the housing we’re building more affordable. We need the average worker to earn better wages so they can more easily afford the housing that’s on the market. Ultimately, each of us, in each of our communities across the state, as you’ll hear at the end of this episode from Rebecca, needs to do some soul-searching to understand what we’re willing to give up in order to help this state we love deal with its most urgent crisis.

Welcome to 2020! As all of you know, there is probably no clearer signal that a new year is underway in Sacramento than the release of the Governor’s budget, which, in ways few other acts by the Governor can do, lays out his vision for the state and, most importantly, his priorities for the year.

When we first launched this podcast, you joined us as we began building a playbook to address an economy that is not working for working Californians. A playbook that dealt with staggering geographic and demographic inequality in the state, a playbook that leveraged our greatest strength – innovation – to address the big changes of our time coming from technology and climate change, a playbook that ultimately leads to the creation of quality jobs, that revive mobility and the California Dream, in partnership across sectors.

Later in the year, we’ve launched key initiatives to address all those issues, like Regions Rise Together and the Future of Work Commission. We’ve seen progress on addressing climate change and creating a new big industry in electric vehicles, which are now our top export as a state.

And now, with the budget, we’re set to begin 2020 with a focus on one thing above all else – execution. For our first podcast of 2020, what better way to start than talking about the budget and what better person to talk to than the Governor’s Chief of Staff, Ann O’Leary.

For those of you who have been following along from the start, you know this is a podcast focused on reviving the California and American Dream so that everyone has a shot to work hard and get ahead.

We've looked at the issue from a national level, at a statewide level, and today we're going to take it to the city level -- to Fresno, CA. As we think about how best to support regions up planning, Fresno has become a key place to watch. They are doing some incredible things on the ground to spur inclusive and sustainable growth for all of their citizens including this summer bringing together over 200 community leaders to build a 10 year investment plan for the area. So join us for this episode as we speak with local leaders on what they are working toward, hoping for, and looking forward to as they continue to build a California for all.

What’s it like being an entrepreneur these days, especially one breaking new ground – that’s on this episode of Made in California.

We launched this podcast talking about the challenges we face as we try to get our economy working for everyone. Last episode we started to look at solutions with the opportunity zone program which hopes to bring investments into low income areas. Today, we’re going to look at a group always looking for investments – entrepreneurs. We’re known for our startups in this state. And when it comes to small businesses, it’s worth knowing that they are responsible for nearly half of all private employment and generate two thirds of net new jobs.

So how are things going for them? Later in the show Kaitlin is going to tell you about an Entrpreneurship Task Force that we recently launched out of our office. But first, I sat down recently, in Fresno, with Irma Olguin Jr. the CEO and co-founder of Bitwise.

Opportunity Zones; heard of them? We’re talking about them on this episode of Made in California

We spent our first two episodes talking about inequality so that we’re all grounded in the fact that our economy, right now, isn’t working for everyone. This episode, we’re going to start looking at some of the ways we can deal with that.

One idea that’s gotten a lot of attention recently is the opportunity zone program, which is a new tax incentive designed to re-invest private sector capital into low-income communities, communities which are too often neglected when it comes to investment and development. There’s a lot of promise to opportunity zones but also a lot of concern, especially in California, given the history we’ve had around Enterprise Zones. For example, will this program support economic development for current residents in these low-income communities or lead to their displacement? Will it lead to new investments or just give a tax break to investors who were going to invest anyway?

We’re going to talk about Opportunity Zones at the national and state level and then later at the local level today.

First up, a conversation with Steve Glickman, Greg Nelson and Dave Smith. Steve and Greg both worked on economic policy in the Obama Administration. Steve is one of the architects of the opportunity zone program. Greg currently leads strategy and operations for Parker Media and the Parker Foundation. Dave is the co-founder of Cal OZ, which is a non profit focused on opportunity zones in California.

Welcome to Turlock!

We are thrilled to be in Lenny Mendonca's hometown for this episode as we dive a bit deeper into our Regions Rise Together initiative. Egon Terplan is our guest host and he leads us in a two-part conversation, sitting down with Turlock Mayor Amy Bublak, Supervisor Vito Chiesa, and Marian Kaanon the CEO of Stanislaus County Community Foundation.

Mayor Bublak shares a very personal story, describing her time living in her car before finding her California Dream in Turlock. And Marian offers some interesting insight on how we can and should all work together to address the challenges we are facing.

We started this podcast back in June to bring you in to our work building an economy in California that works for everyone. Since then, we’ve talked about the state of our economy – how the macroeconomic indicators, which show record job growth and a historic expansion, belie the staggering levels of income and wealth inequality we have in our state and nation. We’ve talked about how that inequality has a demographic element, rising as you look at race and gender, as well as a geographic element, with an imbalance in growth between our coastal and inland communities.

We’ve talked about ways we can address that – from supporting our small businesses and entrepreneurs to supporting better regions-based economic planning across the state, from upping our focus on international trade to upping our partnership with philanthropy, from examining the future of industries in California as well as the future of work, so that we are not just up-skilling workers but also upgrading the quality of jobs.

And, of course, we’ve talked about our affordability crisis across healthcare, education, and most notably, housing.

It’s been a busy year but it’s just the first for this Administration and before we let you go for the holidays, before we get ready to come back to a busy start to 2020, we want to take a look back with the Governor’s Chief Business and Economic Advisor, and the guy who is, more than anything else, the reason I took this job, Lenny Mendonca.

Shop local, California! Today, we are proud to dive a bit deeper into our new social media campaign, “#ShopLocalCA!” We celebrating our small businesses across the state this holiday season. The campaign proudly amplifies the voices of California's diverse and vital small businesses -- the backbone of our state economy. We are not only giving Californians an inside look into dozens of small businesses, but also asking Californians to participate in this celebration by sharing their favorite small businesses through the hashtag #ShopLocalCA on all social media platforms.

Join us as we celebrate the men and women business owners who meet their community's needs today and every day! #ShopLocalCA

There's no other way to say it, the past couple of weeks have been a devastating time for state. Between the fires and the Public Safety Power Shutoffs, so many of our fellow Californians are facing some of the most challenging moments of their lives, and that includes our small businesses in the affected areas. They aren't just dealing with the immediate safety issues, but also grappling with how they will come back.

On today's episode, we are going to take a look at what Governor Newsom has been saying over the last two weeks as he travels the state. Then Kaitlin will talk with three women, who, in their own ways, are helping our small businesses recover. As you listen, please keep our small businesses at the top of your mind, they need your support.

The state of philanthropy on this episode of Made in California!

We've talked a lot about how, given the staggering levels of inequality in our state we need to build a strategy of inclusive and sustainable economic growth. While there are a lot of parts to that work the one we will unpack today is how we can partner with philanthropy. As you join us in this discussion, carry this quote from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. with you: "Philanthropy is commendable, but it must not cause a philanthropist to overlook the circumstances of economic injustice, which make philanthropy necessary."

Kathleen Kelly Janus, Governor Newsom's Senior Advisor on Social Innovation joins us as the guest host of this episode.