People living in the northernmost reaches of California refer to their community as the 鈥淩edwood Curtain,鈥� a nod to the region鈥檚 abundance of redwoods and natural beauty 鈥� but also its remoteness.
With a combined population of less than half a million people scattered across Del Norte, Siskiyou, Modoc, Humboldt, Trinity, Shasta and Lassen counties, the area faces relatively lower wages, and brain drain, and fewer educational opportunities compared to other parts of the state.
Most of the seven northernmost counties have seen decreasing or stagnant population trends in recent years, U.S. Census Bureau data show, along with the outmigration of working-age young people.
But workforce development boards, local officials and employers are looking to shift that narrative, using one-on-one mentoring, paid training in growing industries, and inclusive recruitment practices to help young Californians find 鈥� and keep 鈥� jobs in the region they grew up in.
鈥淵oung people in our counties are looking at either leaving the area, or not. That鈥檚 the first choice they make,鈥� said Heather Chavez, director of workforce programs at the NorTEC Workforce Development Board. 鈥淚t鈥檚 unpopular if you鈥檙e not leaving high school to go to a four-year college. There鈥檚 definitely a stigma around that 鈥� it鈥檚 students, it鈥檚 teachers, it鈥檚 parents, it鈥檚 employers, it鈥檚 everyone.鈥�
Within that landscape, part of Chavez鈥檚 mission is to find 鈥済reat, great, great jobs鈥� for young people who can鈥檛 afford to leave their hometowns, or who find themselves without a high school or higher education degree.
Funded largely by the federal Department of Labor, NorTEC, which stands for the Northern Rural Training and Employment Consortium, aims to improve education, employment and upward mobility across 11 northern counties.
NorTEC provides one-on-one intensive mentoring 鈥� plus financial support for bus passes, interview and work clothes, or supplies required by a training program 鈥� to those between 16 and 24 who aren鈥檛 in school. Last year, 267 people were enrolled in the program; twelve months later, 77% were still employed in industries ranging from food service, hospitality, tourism, seasonal forestry or recreation-related jobs, manufacturing and food processing and health care, Chavez said.
The region鈥檚 data is mixed when it comes to population dropoff among young people. Between 2017 and 2022, northwestern Del Norte County lost up to 1.2% of its population in every age bracket between 15 and 59, while Humboldt, Lassen, Siskiyou and Trinity also saw losses among young workers, according to state Employment Development Department data. Shasta County, however 鈥� home to the roughly 93,000-person city of Redding and Shasta-Trinity National Forest 鈥� made gains among those between 15 and 44.
California overall has seen a population in the last few years, a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, low birth rates and relatively low levels of immigration, according to the Public Policy Institute of California.
In the far north, these trends are expected to increase the demand for health care, even as those jobs remain difficult to fill, according to Randall Weaver, a labor market researcher at the state employment department. In Modoc, for instance, about 30% of the county鈥檚 8,500 are over the age of 65.
Five of the region鈥檚 top 10 employers were health care-related in the past year, Weaver said, while the industry also accounted for about 50% of the top 10 occupations with the most online advertisements. But lower wages and stereotypes of rural living 鈥� along with fewer resources for cutting-edge medical infrastructure 鈥� make it tough to compete with 鈥渓arger institutions with deeper pockets鈥� in the Bay Area or Los Angeles.
鈥淭here鈥檚 clearly demand,鈥� Weaver said. 鈥淭he question is whether some of the limitations have a dampening effect on the market, and keep the positions from getting filled.鈥�
Employers want to grow the hiring pool by finding and nurturing local talent. Earlier this year, Lassen Community College in Susanville a registered nursing program, which the program director described as 鈥渟trategically designed to meet the escalating demand鈥� for nurses locally and across California. Meanwhile, the Alliance for Workforce Development, one of three services providers contracted by NoRTEC in the region, is helping to grow three in-house training programs with Lassen and Modoc health providers, which provide free, paid training for entry-level health care roles such as certified medical or nursing assistantships.
The idea is not only to receive an education locally, but to 鈥済et jobs here, locally, that pay well,鈥� said Kim Keith, the alliance鈥檚 director of youth programs. This autumn, a cohort of about a dozen students attended a $17 hourly certified nursing assistant training program, performing their clinical hours in-house at the Lassen Nursing and Rehabilitation Center.
Of course, not all of California鈥檚 far north is dealing with the same challenges. Coastal Humboldt, which has a relatively larger labor force and a four-year university, has attracted major recent investments in two offshore wind , along with a yellowtail kingfish , that officials hope will spawn permanent jobs.
But the county 鈥� which has the highest poverty of about 18% compared to the other six 鈥� is still 鈥渟craping and clawing鈥� to recruit people into certain industries, including lawyers, engineers and law enforcement, said Zachary O鈥橦anen, the county鈥檚 director of human resources.
To combat that, O鈥橦anen鈥檚 team has spearheaded efforts to embrace 鈥渂elongingness鈥� and inclusivity in its recruitment tactics for the public sector, looking to attract the best talent in a county that is rapidly . The approach has shown anecdotal success in terms of a jump in applications to county positions and recent diverse hires, O鈥橦anen said.
And while the 鈥淩edwood Curtain鈥� stereotypes may persist, the region has a way of pulling people back in: After moving away to Oregon, O鈥橦anen returned to Humboldt, craving access to nature, the snow, the coast, and the slower pace of life.
鈥淵ou leave, because you want to see the world, and then you go, 鈥榃ell, maybe the grass wasn鈥檛 greener,鈥欌�� O鈥橦anen said.