USC Students Win $5K Helping Riverside Create Jobs

When Riverside, California needed help matching local workers with available jobs, four graduate students stepped up with a plan that just won them first place in a national competition.

Hilda Aguilar-Jurado, Vanessa Bautista, Oscar Cisco, and Montserrat Pineda took home $5,000 at the Sunstone Economic Development Challenge after creating a workforce development strategy for the City of Riverside. The competition challenges students to help local governments create real jobs in their communities.

The team identified a growing problem: Riverside workers didn't have the skills local employers needed. Too many residents were watching job opportunities pass them by because they lacked training in high-demand fields.

"The most effective economic development strategies make sure that the people already in the community are positioned to benefit from the opportunities their city brings in," said Oscar Cisco, who's earning his Master of Public Administration. "That's what we focused on with this project."

The students didn't just theorize. They launched surveys of local businesses to understand exactly what skills employers needed. Then they built recommendations around growing sectors like healthcare and biotechnology, where Riverside has real potential.

Their plan calls for stronger partnerships between employers, schools, and workforce training programs. It also suggests removing barriers that prevent local businesses from expanding and hiring more workers.

The Ripple Effect

This project shows how smart workforce development can transform entire communities. When local residents gain skills for growing industries, everyone benefits: workers find better-paying jobs, businesses find qualified employees, and cities see economic growth that actually helps the people who live there.

The team put their USC education into immediate practice, moving from classroom theory to real-world problem-solving. "This challenge pushed me to move beyond a student mindset and start thinking more like a professional," said Vanessa Bautista, a Master of Public Policy student.

The competition was established through a five-year, $162,500 grant from Sunstone Management, a Southern California investment firm focused on early-stage technology entrepreneurs. It partners with USC's City/County Management Fellowship, which helps students transition from academic work to careers in local government.

For Riverside, the timing couldn't be better. As the city continues to grow and attract new industries, having a trained local workforce ready to fill those jobs means the community's growth actually benefits the people already living there.

These four students proved that good policy isn't just about big ideas—it's about connecting real people to real opportunities.