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CONNECT! Alumni Awards Breakfast: October 6, 2006

Connections: 2006 – Cultivating Leadership
The 16th Annual CONNECT! Alumni Awards Event will be held Friday, October 6, 2006, from 7:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. at the Santa Clara Marriott. Highlights include a keynote address by scholar Dr. Robert Fuller and presentation of awards to a select group of participants for their accomplishments and to four community partners for their support of the CONNECT! one-stop system. For more information, call (408) 730-7835 or visit the event's Web site at www.novaworks.org/awardsevent.

California EDGE (Education, Diversity & Growth in the Economy) Campaign
A nonpartisan coalition representing the workforce development system, education, and community-based organizations from throughout California came together earlier this year to develop a policy agenda to “communicate the importance of workforce development, its link to economic development, and the urgent need to invest in the skills of Californians” that would be used to shape the dialogue in the upcoming 2006 gubernatorial election campgain. The position paper is now complete and will be distributed to key stakeholders in business and government in September. Read the report and endorse the campaign at www.californiaedgecampaign.org.

Economic Policy Institute: The State of Working America, 2006/2007
On Labor Day 2006, the Economic Policy Institute will release its advance edition of The State of Working America 2006/2007. Prepared biennially since 1988, EPI's publication sums up the problems and challenges facing American working families, presenting a wide variety of data on family incomes, taxes, wages, unemployment, wealth, and poverty – data that enables the book's authors to closely examine the impact of the economy on the living standards of the American people. For more information, go to: www.stateofworkingamerica.org/.

Public Policy Institute of California: Special Survey on the Environment, July 2006
In July 2006, the Public Policy Institute of California published its Special Survey on the Environment. Among its findings: Eight in 10 California residents believe global warming will be a very (49%) or somewhat serious (30%) threat to California's future economy and quality of life. And, 65% of all adults and 70% of likely voters favor having California make its own policies on global warming. This is the 69th PPIC Statewide Survey and the fifth in a three-year series. There is no charge to download this report from the PPIC website.

New California Network: In Search of Fiscal Responsibility: An Analysis of State Fiscal Choices
The New California Network (NCN), launched this year by Joint Venture: Silicon Valley Network and the Bay Area Economic Forum, is a non-profit, non-partisan organization mounting a statewide effort to restore California's fiscal integrity and improve government performance. The NCN recently released its first public document – In Search of Fiscal Responsibility: An Analysis of State Fiscal Choices. NCN's founders believe that active engagement by civic leaders from outside Sacramento is needed to bring about change, and that California should pursue an articulated strategy of fiscal reform.

NOVA’s Workforce Review
The Workforce Review is a two-page fact sheet featuring data on labor force trends, including regional unemployment rate and change, specific labor force data for NOVA’s consortium of cities, and workforce reductions in the NOVA area.