TECHNOLOGY
infrastructure . In some areas including Nevada County , homeowners are banding together to form nonprofit organizations , borrowing funds to bridge the fiber optic “ last mile ” to their neighborhood and paying off loans with broadband fees .
But no matter the means or methods deployed in the “ Wild West ” of expanding connectivity , those who depend on high-speed internet assert that the utility is now as vital as any other . “ All things you need for modern life , as well as work life — if you don ’ t have good internet , that ’ s a barrier to economic development ,” Kelly says . “ You cannot compete and thrive in the new economy .”
In November , President Joe Biden signed into law a $ 1.4 trillion infrastructure bill that includes $ 65 billion for broadband investment , which supporters say could go a long way toward closing the digital divide for Americans , including in rural communities .
People problems
Another factor contributing to his hiring woes , Miles believes , is the absence of a community college in Amador County . Though the county is served by the Amador Community College Foundation , which facilitates access to online college courses and apprenticeship programs through Amador College Connect , Miles advocates the necessity of a brick-and-mortar campus .
“ If I was king of Amador County , I would build a community college , also a trade school ,” Miles says . “ The sad thing about Amador County is there is no future for young people here unless folks like me create businesses and train them .”
Mathew agrees that the current workforce is “ an ugly picture ,” though there are plans in motion for its improvement . From his experience starting his own manufacturing company in Grass Valley during the 1980s and his years working for ERC , Mathew learned that the old model of “ stealing companies ” from other counties is largely ineffective . The key is to provide a safe and nurturing locale for new ideas to flourish . “ If you can find two young kids who want to start a company , that ’ s how you ’ re going to do it ,” he says .
From 2008 until 2010 , while he was CEO of ERC , Mathew implemented a program to track young college graduates who grew up in Nevada County and bring them back to the area . “ My technique would be , three to four times a year , ( to ) be in touch with them . Obviously , every year another group graduates , and every year you have thousands of these graduates ,” Mathew says . The goal was to “ create a landing point for all of these graduates so they can chat … connecting people , creating this forum for them to work in . And when they get ready to come back , say ‘ Here ’ s an office and a desk and a copy machine .’”
The program fell to the wayside during Mathew ’ s decade-long hiatus , but now that he ’ s returned to the helm at ERC , he hopes to bring it back .
Coming home
Entrepreneurs Leo Zlimen and Bowen Kyle are blazing a trail in Nevada City to prove that bringing a big idea back home is not only possible but often preferable to fighting for dominance in the big city .
Zlimen and Kyle were childhood friends who graduated from Nevada Union High School in 2017 , leaving their town of 3,000 to attend UC Berkeley . After graduating in 2021 , the pair knew they wanted to use their computing skills for a greater purpose , and that purpose drew them back to Nevada County .
As college students in 2019 , Zlimen and Kyle developed Ladris Technologies , an artificial intelligence and data integration company . They soon realized the technology could be utilized to address an issue that has plagued their community with growing intensity : wildfires . “( There is ) an existential crisis with climate change . It gets worse every year ,” Zlimen says . “ There is also an exponential amount of data . Why not use that to mitigate the risk ? Because that ’ s what we worry about . It ’ s what our parents worry about .”
Ladris puts data to work for the agencies who produce it , sourcing from population , demographic , weather , historical fire , traffic conditions and road network information to simulate evacuation models for every conceivable scenario . The company has already partnered with Nevada County and the Town of Truckee to increase wildfire preparedness , and are launching a consumer application for homeowners .
Zlimen says the support they have received from the community , including the Nevada County Economic Resource Council and the Sierra Business Council , has been invaluable . He highly recommends other young entrepreneurs consider their hometown in deciding where to start .
“ Here , you ’ re not just a number . You ’ re not just a stat . … Here , it ’ s about building sustainable value ,” Zlimen says . “ For a lot of these companies we ’ ve seen and been around , you ’ ve got to have space and time . … These kinds of relationships where time is invested in us would not be accessible if we ’ d not grown up in the community . The community pays itself back in a really cool way .”
It isn ’ t lost on Zlimen that his company addresses an issue that might deter other startups from following his lead to move to a small-town community vulnerable to wildfires . In 2020 , there were 8,700 wildfires in California and 4 million acres burned . Zlimen is optimistic that Ladris will make the Sierra foothills and other areas in the wildland-urban interface a safer place for all and even more alluring to future pioneers . “ People shouldn ’ t have to live in fear of these events ,” he says , and technology is a tangible way to alleviate that concern .
Taming the wilderness
Some tech companies have been doing it for decades , like EDEX Information Systems , founded in 1995 , which is a leading provider of workers ’ compensation court data , case tracking , electronic court form filing and legal document mailing in California . Based in Jackson , the company
44 comstocksmag . com | December 2021