Riverside officials have taken another step toward establishing a workforce development pipeline for jobs in emerging technologies and advanced manufacturing fields.
Stay up to date with the latest from The Record. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter today!
The council voted 4-0 Tuesday to approve a non-binding collaboration with the nonprofit Institute for Veterans and Emerging Technology Skills (iVETS) and its for-profit counterpart StemWorx.
The nonprofit iVETS would prioritize preparing veterans and underserved communities in the region to work in emerging fields like artificial intelligence, robotics and aerospace, the nonprofit’s chairman Alan Stanly said during the city’s June 18 Economic Development Committee meeting.
StemWorx would contract with employers, promising to provide workers tailored for their needs and working with the nonprofit iVETS to offer specialized training to those already in the program.
“The focus of mine has always been greater opportunity and greater options for our Riversiders,” Councilmember Steven Robillard said in an interview with The Riverside Record. “I don’t want Riverside to have second- and third-tier jobs, I want us to have top-tier jobs.”
The agreement is the latest effort championed by Robillard to create an educational pipeline that specializes in training people to work in advanced technological fields. In January, Robillard facilitated a partnership with most of the city’s educational institutions to explore ways to create long-term growth in the aerospace sector.
The council member, that same month, also told prospective warehouse property owners the city was increasing its workforce within the green tech and aerospace industries — sectors that require large buildings to house their operations.
“We have 80,000 college students during the school year in our city, we have a median age of 33; That is a dream come true for a company that’s looking to have a diverse, educated workforce,” Robillard said. “What I’m trying to do is get all of our education partners and our young people as many options as possible for learning the jobs of tomorrow.”
Stanly, the CEO for both organizations according to the agreement, said during committee meetings that the two organizations would work in tandem to offer training and find immediate employment opportunities in growing technology sectors.
In return, the city would support the organizations in finding office space, navigating permits, facilitating introductions with city partners and exploring incentive structures.
“You’re obligated to do nothing; you haven’t committed any funds, you haven’t agreed to anything, we’re talking,” Stanly said at the June 18 committee meeting. “We just want to advance this so we can formally discuss it and get your nod of interest.”
The vote came two weeks after the item was pulled from the council’s August 11 agenda to remove references that iVETS and StemWorx would “contemplate” the potential development of a data center. Robillard told The Record that the organizations wanted to explore designing a “community data center” that would fit inside of a typical office server room.
Councilmembers Philip Falcone, Clarissa Cervantes and Luis Hernandez abstained from the vote. Cervantes, during the August 25 meeting, said she abstained because some aspects of the project still concerned her. Falcone, in a phone call with The Record last week, said his team planned to introduce regulations on data centers in mid-September — which led him to abstain. Hernandez did not elaborate on his decision Tuesday, but in a recent call with The Record he said was open to the idea of approving restrictions on data centers.
Robillard told The Record he understood the impact that hyperscale data centers could have on the community, issues like increased electrical use and noise pollution, but that rules should be put to mitigate those concerns rather than outright banning the land use. He added that he sees the tech advancing so much in the next decade that those issues could be resolved, and that a moratorium would lock the city out of potential future economic opportunities.
“When you have a ban on something, especially something as transformative as [artificial intelligence] and data, you’re essentially saying we are closed off to other forms of innovation as well,” Robillard said. “It’s not just about data centers. It’s about related uses and other innovative sectors of the economy that may see that vote and say, ‘Well, OK, this city is maybe closed off to other things as well.’”
The Riverside Record is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news outlet providing Riverside County with high-quality journalism free of charge. We’re able to do this because of the generous donations of supporters like you!