Our island community is facing a critical problem. Low wages in our county do not provide enough income for workers to pay for basics like housing and childcare. And our workers are falling farther and farther behind compared to other regions in the state, and wages have been stagnant for over 50 years. Indeed, our average wages per job are the second lowest in the state. This and the cyclicality of our economy strains workers, business owners and social safety nets. … continue reading.

The goal of the Island Futures Initiative is to train local workers and young people into family-wage careers, reducing our community’s reliance on social safety net programs, and to support employers and residents with an upskilled workforce.

How we will achieve our goal

Our Trades Training Initiative endeavors to upskill existing workers and train new workers in high-wage careers in the building trades. Past courses run by the EDC have included Welding, Introduction to Plumbing, Carpentry, Introduction to Electrical, Marine Tech, and others. This initiative was created as a way to offer a hand up to our working families. … find out more.

Our Tech Training Accelerator Initiative seeks to train islanders into very high-wage tech careers, either to support local businesses and residents in the San Juan Islands, or to telework with mainland businesses. … find out more.

A trained workforce will strengthen our businesses, our community, and our economy, as well as strengthening our families.

Based on prior EDC training programs, we expect that 183 workers will be trained from these programs, and 61 of those workers will continue in careers aligned with their training. We also expect that some workers will start up trades or tech businesses.

Trained tech workers will be able to garner mainland wages as teleworkers, and a cohort of tech workers could support local businesses. A trained workforce may also entice small manufacturers and tech businesses to open satellite offices in San Juan County, with local workforce support.

We deeply appreciate the guidance and inspiration offered by Bob & Lauren Levinson and the Boden Family, without whom these initiatives would have been less impactful or outright impossible. We are grateful to their steadfast commitment to our community.

We also thank past and current funders – San Juan County, the Town of Friday Harbor, the Raynier Institute & Foundation, and many others – who have supported our trades training and other programs.