Upon its inception, EconAlliance developed a cross-industry, cross-sector Workforce/ Education Initiative to support the key industries and communities of Northern Santa Barbara County. Its first efforts in this Initiative was a joint effort with Northern Santa Barbara County United Way and Allan Hancock College as a partner in the Workforce and Literacy Initiative (WALI) to enhance literacy in Northern Santa Barbara County.

Early in its formation, EconAlliance supported attraction of four-year and advanced degree programs to NSBC. The organization was instrumental in attracting California Lutheran University to offer a master’s degree program in the area.

EconAlliance later established STEM INDUSTRY Days, with industry-led STEM workshops for local students. In 2020, EconAlliance produced several STEM-related industry videos (Resource Library videos).

Alejandra Mahoney, an EconAlliance Board Member at that time, helped organized the first EconAlliance STEM Industry Days at Peoples’ Self-Help Housing. She worked in partnership with EconAlliance and United Way to initiate and implement the past multi-year “Working Neighborhoods” grant involving a dozen economic development and education stakeholders.

In 2022, EconAlliance engaged its first Workforce / Education Director, Alejandra Mahoney, to spearhead a new era in EconAlliance Workforce/Education efforts in Northern Santa Barbara County. First was a partnership with the Housing Authority of Santa Barbara County to provide 300 hours of computer skill-building in support of computer literacy for residents of a Housing Authority Lompoc apartment complex.

For EconAlliance Workforce Development/Education Director Alejandra Mahoney, too many young people leave our area to pursue careers. Because these young people do not understand the many industries and opportunities open to them here, the area loses talented potential workers, making it more difficult for local industries and communities to thrive.

In 2022, Mahoney shared her concerns with Mechanics Bank, and the bank provided EconAlliance seed funding for an effort to address the issue. We are grateful for the generous contribution by Mechanics Bank for the launch.

Learning of this successful start-up program, the Santa Barbara Foundation made a $50,000 investment in the EconAlliance North County Internship Program. EconAlliance agreed to recruit, match, and mentor fifty (50) under-represented, low-income interns and industry worksites in Northern Santa Barbara County and Mid-County in one year.

Mahoney not only brokers relevant work experience, but also helps the young adults navigate the industry internship protocols. and challenges, leveraging this experience where possible into family wage jobs.

The Santa Barbara Foundation introduced Mahoney and EconAlliance to another internship funder, the UCSB California NanoSystems Institute (CNSI) Propel Startup Fellowship, which provides paid STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) internships. EconAlliance uses these paid internship programs to recruit both the interns and the worksites relevant to their college or university degrees, or majors, or to their career interests, helping the County to reach its internship goals. As Mahoney states, “A meaningful internship can change a student’s educational trajectory.”

Mahoney began a program which recruits, matches, mentors, and monitors 18-24-year-old young adults, successfully finding industry internship placements relevant to their degrees, majors, or interests. Further to this, Mahoney built an EconAlliance partnership with the Santa Barbara County Workforce Development Board to support the recruitment, placement and monitoring of Workforce Development Board 18-24 year old interns interested in gaining experience in key Northern Santa Barbara County industries and communities.

The first three EconAlliance interns placed were hired by their worksites. EconAlliance dubbed this program, “North-Start” to reflect the focus on Northern Santa Barbara County’s young adults starting careers.