The Inland Empire’s Next Economic Strategy Should Start with Community Colleges: Op-Ed

By Jordan Wright, Director of Government & Community Relations at Mt. San Jacinto College

When we talk about economic development in the Inland Empire, the conversation often centers on growth in physical terms: new buildings, new employers, industrial expansion, transportation corridors, and population growth.

Those things matter. But they’re only part of the story.

If we want a stronger, more resilient, and more competitive economy in Inland Southern California, we need to start thinking differently about what actually drives regional prosperity. Economic development is not only about what gets permitted or built. It’s also about whether people in our communities can access the education, training, and support they need to participate in the opportunities that growth is designed to create.

That is why community colleges should be viewed not as peripheral, transitional institutions, but as core economic infrastructure.

For too long, higher education and economic development have often been treated as parallel conversations when they should be part of the same strategy. Employers talk about workforce needs. Civic leaders talk about regional growth. Colleges talk about student outcomes. But in reality, these are all parts of the same core ecosystem.

A region cannot build a durable economy without a strong talent pipeline and talent pipelines do not appear out of thin air.

They are built intentionally — through career and technical education, workforce partnerships, transfer pathways, adult education, re-skilling opportunities, and public institutions that are capable of meeting students and working adults where they are.

That is especially true in the Inland Empire.

This region is full of extraordinary potential. We’re home to a growing population, an ambitious workforce, and communities that have long demonstrated resilience and aspiration. But we are also a region where too many residents still experience opportunity as something they have to travel away to access, wait for, or fight to obtain.

Too many students and working adults encounter barriers that stem not from a lack of motivation, but from systems that fail to support their participation.

Transportation. Childcare. Scheduling. Basic needs. Advising. Disability access. These are often treated as secondary or “supportive” issues, when in reality they are central to whether people are able to complete education and training, move into the workforce, and contribute to the long- term health of the regional economy.

If a student drops out because they cannot navigate those barriers, that is not only an educational setback. It is loss to the workforce and economy.

That is why community colleges matter so much to the Inland Empire’s future.

They are among the most practical and responsive public institutions we have. They prepare nurses, first responders, technicians, skilled trades workers, educators, and transfer students to Universities. They help working adults re-enter education, adapt to changing industries, and build new pathways into upward mobility. They can help employers identify and shape local talent pipelines in ways that are rooted in actual regional need.

And perhaps most importantly, they can do all of this close to home. That proximity matters.

For many Inland Empire residents, the difference between opportunity and stagnation is not ambition. It’s access. It is whether the systems around them are designed to make participation possible.

As California continues to debate affordability, labor needs, and long-term competitiveness, the Inland Empire has an opportunity to lead with a more complete vision of regional development — one that understands talent, education, and human potential as central to economic strategy, not adjacent to it.

That means investing not only in business attraction and infrastructure, but also in the public institutions that help people actually reach opportunity.

If we want to build a stronger Inland Empire, we should start by recognizing a simple truth: community colleges are not just part of the educational landscape.

They are part of the region’s economic infrastructure.
And regions that understand this central truth will be far better positioned for the future.