| The city of Modesto, California, is located in Stanislaus County, approximately 80 miles east of San Francisco Bay and 80 miles south of Sacramento. Modesto lies in the heart of California's Central Valley region, which produces approximately 20 percent of the food and fiber consumed in the United State. Its economy continues to be dominated by agriculture, food processing, and related industries.
Modesto is also fewer than 100 miles from "Silicon Valley," which boasts the highest per capita income and lowest unemployment rate in the nation. In spite of its geographic proximity to prosperity, however, Central Valley residents suffer from high unemployment, low levels of educational achievement, poverty, and over-reliance on public assistance to meet basic needs. Stanislaus County and its neighboring counties have reported double-digit unemployment rates every year for the past decade. As a result, income levels in the region are more than 20 percent below the state median. More than 14,000 jobs have been lost in the past 7 years due to the closure or relocation of large- and medium-sized food processing and other plants. Modesto Junior College (MJC) will be using Hispanic-Serving Institutions Assisting Communities funds to address some of these employment and income issues. Through the Modesto Workforce Development for Poverty Reduction Project, MJC will provide low-income individuals with employment skills they can use to land well-paying jobs in the construction field. It also will: help contractors secure appropriate licenses and bonds so that they can bid on public projects; help a local nonprofit housing developer rehabilitate existing housing and construct new, affordable units; and form collaborative partnerships with the City of Modesto and local advocacy groups to impact public policy relating to the provision of affordable housing and neighborhood revitalization.
The Modesto Workforce Development Neighborhood Construction Project is a collaboration of Modesto Junior College; Desarrollo Latino Americano, a nonprofit community housing development organization; and American GI Forum and Central Valley Opportunity Center, two nonprofit educational agencies. The project also brings together public agencies, financial institutions, education providers, employers, unions, and community-based organizations.
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