California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a total of $80 million in funding on Aug. 28 in partnership with the California Jobs First Council.
The funding will support 11 ready-to-go projects across the state in alignment with the state’s strategic sectors of “Accelerate” and “Bet.” The projects will be completed in seven economic regions in the state and will focus on one of the four project clusters, including Aerospace & Defense, Agtech & Farm Equipment, Bioeconomy and Life Sciences.
The awards come as part of California Jobs First Economic Blueprint, a new economic vision for California’s future. It outlines key initiatives to support regional growth, invest in 21st century job training, create an attractive environment for job creators and strengthen California’s innovation economy. Its goal is to help drive economic growth and spur job creation, increasing access to good-paying jobs. The 11 awarded projects are estimated to generate 23,000 jobs in California, according to state officials.
The funding is part of a larger two-phased approach awarded through the Regional Investment Initiative. The round one funding totals $80 million while the total distribution will is anticipated to reach $125 million through both rounds.
This round will support two projects in the Aerospace & Defense sector, with nearly $17 million awarded to provide ecosystem support and uplift the sector’s infrastructure and workforce in the Central Coast. The coalition lead for this cluster is REACH Central Coast and there is about $5 million in leveraged funds.
- REACH Central Coast – $9.5 million to develop “Space Vandenberg”, an initiative to support the space, defense and satellites industry.
- Monterey Bay Economic Partnership – $7.5 million to develop a regional Advanced Air Mobility corridor between four public airports
More than $28.6 million has been awarded to four projects in the Agtech & Farm Equipment cluster to strengthen the agricultural industry. The projects target workforce development, ecosystem support and infrastructure for the North State, Redwood Coast, North San Joaquin Valley, Central San Joaquin Valley and Southern Border regions. The coalition lead is UC Agriculture and Natural Resources (ANR) and there is $25 million of leveraged funds.
- UC ANR – $15.1 million to create the CA AgTech Alliance to serve as a statewide network to convene regional actors, promote workforce development, launch an accelerator fund, and support business attraction.
- Chico State – $1.3 million to support the utilization of agtech among small farmers, including more sustainable irrigation equipment and fenceless cattle grazing.
- Community Foundation of Merced County – $9.2 million to develop and expand three smart farms (farms that promote the use of technology in agriculture), including at UC Merced focused on R&D, and at Merced College focused on workforce development and support for early-stage startups.
- Foundation for California Community Colleges – $3 million to expand the agtech certification program utilizing credit for prior learning and competency-based education, which was launched in the Central Valley, to three additional community colleges across the state.
One project in the Bioeconomy cluster was awarded nearly $10.4 million to provide ecosystem support and bolster the bioeconomy sector’s infrastructure in the North San Joaquin Valley Region. The coalition lead is BEAM Circular and there are $22 million in leveraged funds.
- BEAM Circular – $10.4 million to develop the California Bioeconomy Innovation Campus to house the accelerator program and expand on the existing work including business support with an investment fund (opening 2026).
Four projects support the Life Sciences cluster and were awarded $23.9 million seeking to provide infrastructure and ecosystem support in Los Angeles County. The coalition lead is LA County Department of Economic Opportunity (LA DEO) and there are $9.5 million in leveraged funds.
- Bioscience LA – $920,000 to support convenor, asset mapping, career pathway development, business support and other initiatives.
- Larta Institute – $3.3 million to expand an existing business accelerator and provide financial assistance to small startups via a revolving loan fund.
- LA DEO – $19,000,000 to develop a revolving loan fund to support startups (particularly those coming out of the Larta Institute’s accelerator) in constructing and expanding to graduated lab space in LA County.
- LAEDC – $700,000 to develop a business attraction and marketing campaign to attract large life science employers into the region (Funds limited to business attraction efforts to companies outside of California).
Photo by SpaceX from Pexels
