HomeMy WebLinkAbout5/18/2021 Item 16, Hermann
Council Agenda Correspondence
City of San Luis Obispo, Council Memorandum
DATE:May 18, 2021
TO:Mayor and Council
FROM: Greg Hermann, Deputy City Manager
Lee Johnson, Economic Development Manager
VIA:Derek Johnson, City Manager DJJ
SUBJECT:Item 16-REACH 2021-2023 AGREEMENT AND COUNCIL LIAISON
ASSIGNMENT
Staff has received questions regardingsome aspects of proposal provided by REACH to
the City for regional economic development support services. One of thebroad goals of
the REACH organization includes:
“Accelerate job growth in target industries (such as aerospace and defense,
agritech, technology, and energy/clean tech).”
It should be noted that this is one goal of many goals and intended to beillustrative, but
not exhaustive of industries that will beidentified for job growthin the region. In addition,
the specific scope of services (beginning on packet page 140)that details the support
and services provided to the City does not includeactivities related to the defense
industry.
A best practice of local government economic development is to adopt a “funnel”
approachwhere the Cityworks in conjunction with regional, statewide and national
economic development efforts where there is alignment with City goals(Major City Goals,
Economic Development Strategic Plan, etc.).REACH wouldact as the regional layerof
the “funnel”, meaning they will broadly market the region to external markets and provide
tools and resources for localeconomic development entitiesto use.Each city can then
fine tune their individual attraction efforts to align with theirown goals andobjectives. This
is similar tothe approach usedbyVisit SLOCAL and the City’s own tourism efforts.
As anexample,based on input received during the goal setting process,staff developed
the City specific economic development task below which can take advantage ofsome of
the tools and research available through REACH:
Elevate the promotion and branding of the Economic Development activities of the
City highlighting the efforts around Sustainability and DE&I through the website,
videos and other collateral.
Agenda Correspondence–Item 16,
May 18, 2021 City Council Meeting
Page 2
Thisis included in the proposed work program for the Economic Recovery, Resiliency
and Fiscal Sustainability Major City Goaland is intended to facilitate the attraction of
businesses that value these efforts.
If you have additional questions, please feel free to contact Lee Johnson
@Ljohnson@slocity.org