Nevada County is a declining, aging population whose workers typically commute out of the area (a mean travel time to work of 25 minutes). This should be sitting on the desk of every economic development policy maker, elected and business leader in our county.
We need to come up with strategies to reverse this. It is not a very healthy long-term economic structure.
(source U.S. census)
People QuickFacts Nevada County California
Population, 2012 estimate NA 38,041,430
Population, 2011 estimate 98,612 37,683,933
Population, 2010 (April 1) estimates base 98,764 37,253,956
Population, percent change, April 1, 2010 to July 1, 2012 NA 2.1%
Population, percent change, April 1, 2010 to July 1, 2011 -0.2% 1.2%
Population, 2010 98,764 37,253,956
Persons under 5 years, percent, 2011 4.3% 6.7%
Persons under 18 years, percent, 2011 18.8% 24.6%
Persons 65 years and over, percent, 2011 20.2% 11.7%
Female persons, percent, 2011 50.6% 50.3%
White persons, percent, 2011 (a) 93.9% 74.0%
Black persons, percent, 2011 (a) 0.5% 6.6%
American Indian and Alaska Native persons, percent, 2011 (a) 1.2% 1.7%
Asian persons, percent, 2011 (a) 1.3% 13.6%
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander persons, percent, 2011 (a) 0.1% 0.5%
Persons reporting two or more races, percent, 2011 2.9% 3.6%
Persons of Hispanic or Latino Origin, percent, 2011 (b) 8.9% 38.1%
White persons not Hispanic, percent, 2011 86.2% 39.7%
Living in same house 1 year & over, percent, 2007-2011 84.9% 84.2%
Foreign born persons, percent, 2007-2011 5.4% 27.2%
Language other than English spoken at home, percent age 5+, 2007-2011 7.0% 43.2%
High school graduate or higher, percent of persons age 25+, 2007-2011 94.9% 80.8%
Bachelor’s degree or higher, percent of persons age 25+, 2007-2011 32.4% 30.2%
Veterans, 2007-2011 10,316 1,997,566
Mean travel time to work (minutes), workers age 16+, 2007-2011 25.0 27.0
Housing units, 2011 52,895 13,720,462
Homeownership rate, 2007-2011 73.3% 56.7%
Housing units in multi-unit structures, percent, 2007-2011 9.9% 30.8%
Median value of owner-occupied housing units, 2007-2011 $412,600 $421,600
Households, 2007-2011 41,561 12,433,172
Persons per household, 2007-2011 2.35 2.91
Per capita money income in the past 12 months (2011 dollars), 2007-2011 $31,607 $29,634
Median household income, 2007-2011 $58,077 $61,632
Persons below poverty level, percent, 2007-2011 10.3% 14.4%
Filed under: Uncategorized
Broadband…..jobs/housing balance….promoting arts and recreation…..improving access to primary and continuing education….protecting the environment….supporting entrepreneurship…local access to capital.
Yes, though this would be a real reversal from the past. Economic development has largely been a codeword for the old guard “construction and real estate” interests in our western county. It is part of the solution but not all of it. We need a more inclusive, open minded approach.
We need a four year college here to produce jobs and new business opportunities.
Even an accredited, privately run art school would be cool. Lots of talented teachers and a wonderful place to get an education.
I think it would be great if western Nevada County could attract a 4 year university. That would be a great long term project for someone to take on. But I want to caution, the quest for a 4 year university in a rural region is similar to the quest for the ‘silver bullet’ large employer or manufacturing facility. It might happen, but put to much short term resource into it and you lose the opportunity to do the hundreds of small things you can do to create resilient economy.
Aaron Klein briefly discussed the possibilities of a 4-year Bachelor’s programs connected to the Grass Valley Campus of Sierra on this blog a couple of years ago. Such partnerships occasionally work, but unfortunately often bump up against the myriad of interests at the CSU and UC which discourage such partnerships. Maybe it is worth another go.
Steve,
Starting to offer four year degrees doesn’t need to start with a full-blown campus. Redding via Shasta College managed to partner with Chico State to offer a limited number of degrees via the existing CC campus. It was though a pain to get the necessary approvals in place.
Tony
Good point Tony, expansion of services at Sierra College could very well fill that niche, which would be a very important initiative, and very beneficial to local economic development.
Another factor to consider is how much MOOC (Massive open on-line courses) are going to bite into the traditional model of the bricks and mortar 4 year university over the next 20-30 years. In the last 2 years I have done four separate on-line courses, two from Stanford, one from Coursea, and one from MIT. I would never have had access to that knowledge without the digital revolution. In relation to the industrial revolution I think we are about at the time analogous to the invention of steam engine.
Redding has a BA completion program in Business right now in Redding. Parts of a MSW are also, I think, being offered in Redding. Chico State also offers on-line degree programs upper division BA programs in Sociology and Social Science. Sac State also has programs that they have extended up to their Roseville campus, though I’m not sure whether it is connected to Sierra, or not.
The future is online degrees and taking classes via skype ect not a brick and mortor campus especially one in Nevada County. A partnership maybe but I really can’t see that coming to be. More luck would be had with a trade school.
Pete,
I suspect that the future is a mix of brick and mortar, and on-line. Stand along on-line has been around for decades in the form of correspondence schools of various kinds (e.g. by via film, t.v., mail, etc, etc.). They did not completely replace brick and mortar in the past, and on-line is unlikely to do so in the future. On the other hand, on-line, MOOCs, etc., are all great supplements which I think will facilitate existing programs in a positive way, as they are already doing.
Tony
Sorry guys, but I have to disagree as a online program will not make much a difference in the employment rates in this county.
We need to go down the road of several others small towns that have attracted the CSU campuses to our area and work toward that.
Sierra college is like the Questa College near San Luis Obsipo, where people could complete their baseline work for getting into a 4 year program, and then move on…
We also need to attract a manufacturing base, so why are we not looking at this rather than spending our expansion base on the tourist industry?
We need to think much bigger than a couple programmers……
Nothing wrong with taking up the CSU idea…but it is a very long term gaol….and in the mean time a combination of bricks and mortar and virtual is much more likely…nothing wrong with advanced manufacturing either….tourism is a base industry and will always be here, regardless by the way of the price of gasoline, and more could be done in tourism to strengthen the base…but I agree we need to focus on higher wage jobs…
Steve,
I’ll be very interested in seeing how Robert Trent and the ERC board work on expanding the high tech component in Nevada County. If you look at all of the other Sierra Nevada communities, only Nevada County has this unique business outlier.
Here is the current ERC high tech list, updated Feb. 17 so it says, and yet it still has PACE listed as 2-Wire, for example, along with several other outdated entries and many omissions: http://www.ncerc.org/hi_tech_companies.php
This must be fixed ASAP and if Robert is reading this I’d be more than happy to help him get this list updated.
Michael A.
Re: “mean travel time” could also include those coming into town from the ridge. Whenever I head down Hwy. 49 in the morning I see lots of cars coming up the hill, and wonder if they are going to work in our area.
An art, or other, hands-on, lab-oriented, schools with subject matter that cannot be taught online from a book or blackboard.
With the rise of robotics, training and industrial manufacture along those lines will probably be a good bet.
http://www.auburnjournal.com/article/real-skills-translate-real-jobs-mechatronics-students
Maybe some have not seen this video of the BMW plant,
http://www.youtube.com/embed/libw1rV2McY?feature=player_detailpage
I found it touching that the application of the adhesive backed BMW label to the hood of each vehicle is done by human hands.
Michael A.,
Yes, I am reading and thanks for your offer to help update the list. I think the page you linked to is a legacy from the old site. I’d love your help updating the list and look forward to taking a fresh look at the Nevada County high tech landscape with you.
Sounds good, Robert. I’ve printed off that page from the ERC site and have made the changes that I know about…I’ll drop it off at your office sometime later today.
Really good discussion here. Sorry I did not get on it earlier. Yes, Jeff’s data are true. The demographics are changing and not for the better. What to do about it is a big challenge. I like the idea of attracting a college but agree with Steve Frisch that it is a long term proposition. We need to attract the young creative class to Grass Valley and Truckee, which are the County’s key places. Encourage artists of all types and nurture the small high tech cluster that has been in place for quite awhile at this point.