SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT BOARD

Located in southeast California, San Bernardino County is the largest County in the United States and the fifth most populous County in California. As one of the fastest growing metropolitan areas in the nation, the San Bernardino County Workforce Development Board (WDB) partners with local businesses and educators to help produce an educated workforce capable of sustaining economic prosperity in the future, thereby establishing San Bernardino County as a model in the state where local government, regulatory agencies, and communities thrive.

Transforming Lives & Strengthening Business

To promote a workforce development system that supports economic vitality by creating opportunities for business, employees and job seekers.

The WDB has played a critical role in helping employers and workers recover from the economic damage caused by COVID-19. From the earliest days of the pandemic, WDB staff worked closely with businesses to identify the specific challenges they faced, while providing residents with the career services, resources, and support they needed. The America’s Job Centers of California (AJCCs) provided uninterrupted online and virtual assistance to anyone looking for work.

WDB also has worked closely with our County partners to provide accurate, useful, and timely information, including updates on testing and vaccination efforts, and offering tools for determining how long someone should self-isolate after being sick or testing positive.

These measures have protected the health and safety of our employees and clients, while assisting and supporting job-seekers and businesses during this unprecedented time.

reRubber LLC is an environmental product manufacturing company, first focused on recovering scrap rubber and then processing it into usable raw materials for further manufacturing. We supply the rubber industry and various other applications that you may have already played on during your childhood- playgrounds, running tracks, athletic gym mats, etc. During COVID we also leveraged our manufacturing experience to quickly manufacture sanitizer and now N95 masks.  There are a lot of manufacturing opportunities available with reRubber!  

Titus is an industry expert in material handling equipment, MRF design/build, MRF processing, paper container separation, and MRF parts and services. We believe in developing a skilled fabrication, maintenance and installation team from new hire to supervisor. We are committed to providing our customers with the best possible service and workmanship in a timely manner at a competitive price. We have a high level of knowledge about our products and their uses. Most importantly, we strive to find solutions to our customer’s individual problems.

This year, our Business Services team surveyed more than 400 companies, conducted a series of coronavirus-related virtual workshops and created a digital COVID-19 Resources guide, providing up-to-date information on federal and state support, as well as our own Rapid Response and Layoff Aversion programs. 

The WDB operates three AJCCs located in the East Valley, West Valley and High Desert communities, offering all-inclusive access points to education and training programs providing demand-driven skills attainment, especially for those with barriers to employment. Uniquely positioned to support local customers during times of economic growth or decline, the AJCC’s provide the assistance required to meet changing workforce needs.

Through a partnership with CalJOBS, we’ve offered a database of more than 20,000 available jobs throughout the county and our three AJCCs provided online and virtual assistance to anyone looking for work.

Of course, the health and safety of our employees, job seekers, and the businesses we serve matter most, and to that end, we instituted detailed protocols during the pandemic. These included heightened cleaning and sanitizing measures, providing employees the option to work from home, requiring the use of facemasks and enforcing social distancing among all employees and visitors, closing our AJCCs to walk-up business and limiting in-person visits to appointment only.

With enhanced safety protocols in place, our programs forged ahead providing new opportunities for workers in high-growth industries.

AJCC Highlights:

• Total visits = 19,350
• Total number of clients who received career training = 1,471
• Clients who received Intensive one-on-one service = 3,097
• # Veterans enrolled = 548
• # Veterans received training services = 27
• # Veterans received intensive one-on-one service = 373

“I want to change lives; just because they changed my life and I want to do that for others…if I would have never made that phone call…I really don’t know where I would have been, my struggle is someone else’s survival guide”

“Throughout the lessons that I had to learn, I had to realize that if nobody is going to pull out a seat for you than I am going to bring my own seat to the table… I would have never thought that I would have been anywhere in the city…I love seeing people happy…I love seeing people realize [the] potential in themselves” 

The WDB believes that in order to develop and sustain a healthy workforce, it must increase accessibility of education and early work experience for youth. A variety of career and educational services are available to eligible youth through WIOA funded programs. Designed to help enhance job skills, these services help youth take advantage of work experiences, develop leadership qualities, offer career exploration options, and provide participation in adult and peer mentoring opportunities. In collaboration with over a dozen youth service providers, the WDB assists hundreds of youth to develop the skills needed for successful careers. 

Youth Program Highlights:

• 76.5% Employed or in Education
• 76.40% Attaining a Degree/Certificate
• 56.6% Basic Skills Gains

We envision a complete county that capitalizes on the diversity of its people, its geography, and its economy to create a broad range of choices for its residents in how they live, work, and play. 

We envision a vibrant economy with a skilled workforce that attracts employers who seize the opportunities presented by the county’s unique advantages and provide the jobs that create countywide prosperity. 

We envision a sustainable system of high quality education, community health, public safety, housing, retail, recreation, arts and culture, and infrastructure, in which development complements our natural resources and environment. 

We envision a model community, which is governed in an open and ethical manner, where great ideas are replicated and brought to scale, and all sectors work collaboratively to reach shared goals. 

From our valleys, across our mountains, and into our deserts, we envision a county that is a destination for visitors and a home for anyone seeking a sense of community and the best life has to offer.