Oakland Partnership The Oakland Partnership: Together We Can Do Great Things

 

Chamber launches cluster groups
by Karen Engel

For more than a year, the Chamber has been focused on the task of catalyzing Oakland’s economic development and helping to set a new sense of vision and direction for the city’s economic growth. We have done this in a number of ways: first, we solicited the help of the world leader in economic strategy, McKinsey & Company, in assessing the city’s economic opportunities, strengths, and challenges. McKinsey’s report, “Taking Stock of Oakland’s Economy,” not only provided us with a real understanding of the competitive position of our city and our region, but it has also provided a blueprint for action.  

Next, we engaged with our new Mayor, Ron Dellums, in what has proven to be a very effective partnership focused on the economic health of the City of Oakland. On the basis of the work by McKinsey as well as the work of hundreds of community volunteers on the Community Task Forces convened by the Mayor, the Chamber and the Mayor and a number of other stakeholders came together to form the Oakland Partnership.

At the Mayor’s Economic Summit on May 3rd (an event attended by more than 1,000 people) the Mayor officially launched the Partnership – a work effort that will bring the business community, the government, the educational institutions, labor, and the community together in a meaningful way to address the obstacles to economic growth and prosperity in our city. The goal of the Partnership is to “create a thriving, innovative, equitable, globally competitive regional economy that creates 10,000 new jobs in the next five years by tapping into the creativity and talent of all segments of the population and providing benefits to all Oakland residents and businesses.”

Now we move from analysis to strategy formation and implementation. On the recommendation of McKinsey & Company, the Chamber is convening a number of industry cluster groups focused on the opportunities and challenges in five industries fundamental to Oakland’s future:

  • Healthcare & Life Sciences
  • International Trade, Transportation, and Logistics
  • Green Industry
  • Art, Design, and Digital Media (which includes film, music, and other activities)
  • Biotechnology (which is closely linked to Life Sciences and the Green Tech industry)

The idea behind these cluster groups is to engage key stakeholders in each industry to help inform and shape the activities that will enhance the growth and distribution of economic benefits of each industry. To that end, we have been very fortunate to have a number of industry leaders who have stepped forward to help lead these groups:

a.              In Healthcare: Frank Tiedemann, chief executive officer of Children’s Hospital; and Bettie Coles, senior vice president and East Bay area manager for Kaiser Permanente.

b.              In Trade & Logistics: Omar Benjamin, executive director of the Port of Oakland and Linda Hothem, chief executive officer of Pacam and manager of Oakland’s Foreign Trade Zone.

c.              In Green Tech: Tom King, chief executive officer of PG&E; Joshua Bar-Lev, senior vice president of Bright Source Energy (a solar energy company headquartered in Oakland); Dan Kammen, director of the Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory at UC Berkeley; and Joel Makower, founder of CleanEdge, a leading research and publishing firm helping companies, investors, and governments understand and profit from clean technologies.

d.              In Arts, Design, and Digital Media: Larry Batiste, the musical director for the Grammy’s and board member and trustee of the National Association of Recording Arts and Sciences; Sonia BasSheva Mañjon, executive director of the Center for Art and Public Life at the California College of Arts; Spencer Nilson, president and creative director of Expression College for Digital Arts; and Sean House, executive director of Outhouse Productions.

e.              In Biotechnology (and Life Sciences): Dr. Bertram Lubin, the director of Children’s Hospital Oakland Research Institute (CHORI); and Dr. Vipul Mankad, chief medical officer of Children’s Hospital.

These groups will be focused on identifying and addressing the key opportunities and challenges to the growth of their sector in Oakland and the East Bay. The groups will move quickly from the analytical inputs of McKinsey, the community task forces, and their own expertise, to action. Each group will identify and work on 4-7 concrete initiatives that will greatly improve the ability of firms in each industry to grow and create and sustain jobs in Oakland and the region.

While these cluster groups are private-sector driven, they include representatives from government, educational institutions, labor organizations and the community. The cluster concept, indeed, the concept of the Oakland Partnership, is that no industry can truly thrive, create jobs, and benefit the community economically without the participation of all of these stakeholders. Each cluster group represents a mini “Oakland Partnership” with various elements taking the lead on initiatives like workforce training, technology transfer, infrastructure development, etc.

We are very grateful to those organizations and companies that are participating in this process. If you would like more information about the process or a particular cluster effort, please contact me (kengel@oaklandchamber.com) or Meghan Tymoff (mtymoff@oaklandchamber.com) here at the Chamber.

 

Karen Engel is director of the Chamber’s Economic Development Department