About the Economic & Workforce Development Program

Click here to link to the EWD Program Website.

The Economic & Workforce Development Program is a dynamic, vital, entrepreneurial and innovative extension of the California Community Colleges. Since 1996, Economic Development has been one of the primary missions of the California Community Colleges (Education Code Section 66010.4. (a)(3)). The legal requirements and definitions of the Economic & Workforce Development Program are included in Education Code 52, 88500 and following. However, economic development is a foundational motivation in the Community Colleges essentially since their inception.

The Economic & Workforce Development Program includes four arenas:

1. The ten Strategic Priority Initiatives with 14 State Directors and 120 centers.
2. The Job Development Incentive Fund (JDIF).
3. Industry Driven Regional Collaboratives (IDRCs).
4. Capacity Development Grants.

You can view the funding for the current fiscal year in these categories here.

An attempt to include all the activities in the Biotechnology Initiative, let alone the other nine strategic priority initiatives and the JDIF or IDRCs or Capacity Development Grants, would be daunting if not impossible. A few of the activities are captured either in the Chancellor's Office Economic Development News or in the Colleges section of this Web page.