The California EDGE Coalition is a non-partisan group united in the belief that:

• California’s future economic growth rests in large measure on the skill base of its workers.
• The state and its industrial leadership are now at serious risk of losing the competitive advantage of a highly trained workforce and lag other states in responding to this challenge.
• The Governor and Legislature must lead a strategic effort to forge the state’s impressive education and training infrastructure into an integrated system of talent development that addresses the needs of all California workers and employers.
• In the absence of this kind of leadership, California’s future is uncertain. Both employers and workers face the threat of economic decline.

Full Executive Committee Membership:

Gail Blanchard-Saiger, Vice President of Labor and Employment, California Hospital Association
Linda Collins, Executive Director, Career Ladders Project for the California Community Colleges
Jeremy Smith, Deputy Legislative Director, State Building and Construction Trades Council
Barbara Halsey, Executive Director, California Workforce Association
Luis Barrera, Senior Coordinator, National Council of La Raza
Ruben Lizardo, Associate Director, PolicyLink
John Brauer, Director of Workforce and Economic Development Program, California Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO
Rob Sanger, Manager of Training Services, California Manufacturing and Technology Association