Half Moon Bay’s Opportunity Center of the Coastside has been successful in providing economic mobility opportunities to the community, but the future of the program remains in doubt due to ongoing funding challenges, staff said.
The OCC has become a best-in-class hub for several groups, including the Half Moon Bay Chamber of Commerce, JobTrain and Renaissance — which offers small business training services — as well as the highly successful startup incubator Coastside Venture Studios.
But city and county contracts funding those services will sunset at the end of September, said Karen Decker, economic and community vitality manager, and while the city and the organizations have applied for private and governmental funding assistance to continue them, uncertainty remains.
The lease on the OCC’s downtown building will finish in early January of next year.
The many services provided at the OCC have been vital to community members seeing additional job training, increased wages and general economic mobility, Decker said. This creates a ripple effect throughout the community, positively impacting the entire Half Moon Bay economy over time.
“When you ask voters what’s important to them, they say the economy,” she said. “Opportunity Center services are about activation and creating local jobs, supporting small businesses and looking at local assets like agriculture tech.”
The American Energy Society has been heading Coastside Venture Studios, which offers mentorship to burgeoning coastside businesses focused on agriculture, water and built environment like roads and infrastructure. The first startup cohort experienced an astonishing 60% success rate, American Energy Society President Eric Vette said.
One company, Flox Robotics, which uses artificial intelligence-enabled drone technology to mitigate wildlife threats, humanely moving animals away from areas like airspaces and train tracks through natural sounds, has raised $5 million and is in the process of hiring locally.
“These sort of successes rarely happen to anyone who works with startups,” Vettel said.
While Coastside Venture Studios has received a grant match opportunity, Vettel acknowledged that the possibility of the program not continuing, especially when a second cohort has already been selected, keeps him up at night.
Another service at the OCC, Renaissance, has served 171 entrepreneurial residents in Half Moon Bay, supported 29 existing businesses, helped 12 new businesses to launch and helped clients secure loans and grants for their various endeavors.
Their training helps fill in foundational business gaps in finance, marketing and operations management, as well as industry-specific training in the food and childcare sectors, CEO Sharon Miller said.
“They get training, they develop critical foundational business skills, they have access to resources, and they have a network of support,” she said.
At JobTrain, 284 residents have engaged in programming, 117 have used the service to look for jobs and 77 of those individuals have found jobs, marking a 66% success rate, with clients placed into a variety of jobs from service to health care.
And at the Chamber of Commerce, roughly 150 residents a month come in to get advice on tourism and community events, CEO Krystlyn Giedt said.
Former Half Moon Bay Mayor Joaquin Jimenez, who now serves as the Half Moon Bay JobTrain regional director, emphasized the importance of the program.
“This is about economic mobility,” he said. “The concept of the OCC is about economic mobility, giving our community a better chance at a better income.”
(1) comment
While the article paints a rosy picture of what the OCC accomplished, what we don’t know is how much money the OCC is seeking. $1 million, $10 million, $100 million? And we don’t know how much money the OCC has spent to attain their alleged successes. For instance, did it cost $100,000/person on average to jobtrain 117 people, of which only 77 have found jobs? Or was it a much lower amount? Or are statistics not kept? And how much is spent on administrative costs? Is there any state or local official fighting for more money? How about asking the state to take money being wasted on the union-giveaway known as the train-to-nowhere and serve it up to the OCC. I think many would get behind that idea.
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