LAKE ISABELLA — A $20 million aquatic park under construction in Ridgecrest, $6.8 million in funding to support growth of Kern’s aerospace and defense industry and progress on a community hub in the Kern River Valley were among activities touted at the Sept. 17 meeting of the East Kern Economic Alliance.
The organization operates under the umbrella of the Kern County Economic Development Corporation and typically meets every two months. The most recent meeting was held in Lake Isabella. Attendees included some Kern River Valley residents as well as others from Bakersfield, Ridgecrest, California City and the Antelope Valley.
Justin Powers, owner and founder of Kernville Cowork and president of Sierra Shared Spaces, provided an update on the organization’s progress. According to its website, Sierra Shared Spaces has been working on the project — a community hub is being developed to provide space for a variety of nonprofits, local businesses and community groups — for more than two years.
Powers said property for the project has been acquired in Lake Isabella and the public is invited to attend a meeting from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 7, Suhre Street property to explore potential uses of the community hub and fundraising ideas.
Alexia Svejda, program coordinator for Grifiss Institute, shared information about funding that was announced at a news conference at California State University, Bakersfield, on Sept. 9.
According to the CSUB news release, the California Jobs First Regional Investment Initiative awarded a total of $6.8 million to Kern County, including a $2 million two-year grant to the university. The remainder of the funding will go toward infrastructure improvements at the Mojave Air and Space Port and an expansion of Future Laboratories’ TechGrid, a makerspace-style facility located near Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake.
Svejda said the funding award represented years of “conversations, partnerships, relationship building, persistence — and its worth the wait.”
Travis Reed, Ridgecrest city manager, spoke of the important relationship between the city and NAWS China Lake and noted the city is busy with construction of a new aquatic center with three pools.
Other announcements at the meeting included:
• Drew Mercy, executive director of AV EDGE (Antelope Valley Economic Development and Growth Enterprise), noted the organization recently published reports on healthcare and the film and aerospace industries. The reports may be found at avedgeca.org.
• Karen Macedonio, a director of East Kern Healthcare District, noted she is working on an update of Kern County’s hazard mitigation plan.
• Jessica Lozano of AltaOne Federal Credit Union noted that some branches have space available for meetings of community groups.
• Kierstin Webb of the Kern County Superintendent of Schools noted that East Kern Career Expo will be held from 9 a.m. to noon on Nov. 5 at Mojave Air & Space Port. Businesses and organizations interested in exhibiting may contact Carrie Bloxom at 661-636-4636 or send email to: cabloxom@kern.org.
• Richard Chapman of Kern County EDC said the group’s next meeting is tentatively set for Nov. 19 in Mojave.
More information
More information about East Kern Economic Alliance and the Kern EDC is online at kernedc.com.
Claudia Elliott is editor and founder of The Mojave Beat. Send email to: claudia@mojavebeat.news.