The South Valley Industrial Collaborative held its 5th annual South Valley Industrial Summit on Friday at the West Hills College Lemoore Campus.
The Industrial Summit provides SVIC partners and community the opportunity to come together on an annual basis to learn about innovative industries that are growing in the region, to attend informational and educational breakout sessions and to engage in business-to-business networking.
The Industrial Summit depends on sponsorship and support from industry partners and community members.
Lisa Walsh, the event director for SVIC, spoke on the summit’s history and importance saying, “The summit allows for the industries to indicate what they need from the workforce. We then share this information with local educators at the high school and secondary education level to improve training and education for those entering the workforce.”
According to Walsh the South Valley Industrial Collaborative has been active for seven years, holding an online summit for the last two years via Zoom during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“This is actually our first in-person summit since 2019, it’s really nice to be able to talk face-to-face again. While the online format was a good place-holder, we just haven’t had the same level of communication,” she said.
Assemblymember Devon Mathis and Senator Shannon Grove gave a breakout session presentation on energy and the water crisis, where partners in attendance could ask questions and provide some feedback to the lawmakers.
“It’s a great opportunity for community to come together to share concerns with legislators. It’s good to sit down and get into the weeds about real issues that impact the local industry and workforce,” Mathis said.
Other breakout educational sessions at the summit included the New CA Law Updates presented by S. Brett Sutton, Automation Technology presented by B&R Automation representative Nicholas Masterson and Community College Industrial Technology Programs presented by Kris Costa, a dean at West Hills College Lemoore and Jonna Schengel a dean from College of the Sequoias.
Amy Baker and Nickolas Trujillo presented the Advanced Manufacturing, Employee Retention, Case Study Employer Apprenticeship Program Development session after the lunch break.
For more information on the SVIC you can visit the website at https://www.southvalleyindustrialcollaborative.org/
