Press Release

U.S. Department of Commerce Invests to Boost Workforce Training Opportunities in San Bernardino, California, Opportunity Zone

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross announced that the Department’s Economic Development Administration (EDA) is awarding a $3 million grant to the San Bernardino Community College District, San Bernardino, California, to modernize two existing buildings for a new workforce development facility. The EDA grant, to be located in a Tax Cuts and Jobs Act designated Opportunity Zone, will be matched with $3 million in local funds and is expected to help create 369 jobs, retain 893 jobs, and generate $120,000 in private investment.

“Through efforts like the American Workforce Policy Advisory Board, the Trump Administration is committed to creating a workforce with the skills and training tailored to business needs,” said Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross. “I look forward to seeing how San Bernardino Community College’s new workforce training facility will help support economic growth in the region and in a specially designated Opportunity Zone.”

“The training services to be offered at the facility will allow students to gain employment in a variety of fields such as advanced manufacturing, logistics, retail, hospitality and public work sectors,” said U.S. Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development Dr. John Fleming. “The project’s location in a Tax Cuts and Jobs Act Opportunity Zone will help revitalize the area and provide additional tax incentives for business development.”

The funding announced today goes to a designated Opportunity Zone, created by President Donald J. Trump’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 to spur economic development by giving tax incentives to investors in economically-distressed communities nationwide. In June 2019, EDA added Opportunity Zones as an Investment Priority, which increases the number of catalytic Opportunity Zone-related projects that EDA can fund to fuel greater public investment in these areas. To learn more about the Opportunity Zone program, see the Treasury Department resources page here. To learn more about the Commerce Department’s work in Opportunity Zones, please visit EDA’s Opportunity Zones webpage.

About the U.S. Economic Development Administration (www.eda.gov)
The mission of the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) is to lead the federal economic development agenda by promoting competitiveness and preparing the nation's regions for growth and success in the worldwide economy. An agency within the U.S. Department of Commerce, EDA makes investments in economically distressed communities in order to create jobs for U.S. workers, promote American innovation, and accelerate long-term sustainable economic growth.