EDC Services Overview
Presented to the Fresno City Council
June 9, 2022
OUR STORY
Spearheaded by Charles Tingey and in partnership with the Chamber of Commerce, the EDC was established in 1981. The Chamber board members recognized the need for a separate organization to provide complementing services to the local business community. Now 40 years later, EDC is an internationally award-winning organization supported by a 40 Member Board of Directors and over 100 public/private investors that provide a creative license to support innovation around business attraction, expansion and retention.
OUR MISSION
To market Fresno County as the premier location for business prosperity.
OUR VISION
To be recognized as the essential connection for expanding economic development in the Central Valley.
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
CHAIR
Nicholas Audino
Newmark
Pearson
Commercial
VIC E CHAIR
Andy Haussler
City of Clovis
DE SIG NATE D
DIRE C TOR
Georgeanne White
City of Fresno
TRE AS URE R
Frank Hambalek, Jr.
Wiebe Hinton
Hambalek, LLP
CPA
PAS T CHAIR
Ed Dunkel
Precision Civil
Engineering, Inc.
DE SIG NATE D
DIRE C TOR
Paul Nerland
County of Fresno
AT-LAR G E
DIRE C TOR
J ohn Brelsford
Diversified
Development Group
AT-LAR G E
DIRE C TOR
Richard Caglia
Caglia Environmental
AT-LAR G E
DIRE C TOR
Raj Beasla
Pacific Gas and
Electric
SE C RE TARY
Al Solis
Sol Development
Associates, LLC
AT-LAR G E
DIRE C TOR
Susan Ryan
Noble Credit Union
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Ro bert Am aro , JPMorgan Chase & C o.
Alys s a Arm es to , Tangram Interiors
Steve Brandau, Fresno C ounty Board of Supervisors
C hris topher A. Bro wn, Fennmore, Dowling Aaron
Bo bby Fena, C olliers International
Adam G oldfarb, Manco Abbott, Inc.
C aro le G o lds m ith, SC C C D
Derek Hayas hi, Valley Health Team
Debbie Huns aker, Alert-O-Lite, Inc.
J o hn J ans ons , Westside Cities
Mike Karbas s i, City of Fresno, C ouncilmember
Kurt Madden, C areer Nexus
Sc o tt Miller, Fresno Chamber of C ommerce
Wade No gy, Kaiser Permanente
Dr. Ram Nunna , C alifornia State University, Fresno
Ro s s Parnagian, Fowler Packing
Ken Ram os , C entral Valley C ommunity Bank
E milia Reyes , Fresno Economic Opportunities
C ommission
C huc k Riojas , Fresno Area C onstruction Team
Peter Sanc hez, Fresno Metropolitan Flood C ontrol
J o s h Sherfield, Quiring G eneral, LLC
Tyrone Roderic k William s , Fresno Housing
Katie Zenovic h , C ommunity Medical C enters
Nic ole Zieba , Five C ities JPA
Tom Zim m erm an , C ORE Business Interiors
ADMINISTRATION
Lee Ann Eager
President & CE O
Sherry Neil
Chief Operating
Officer
Paul Thorn
Controller
Merritt Pacini
Executive
Assistant
CITY OF FRESNO - EDC PARTNERSHIP
● Value-added partnership serving the Fresno
Community
● Shared goals:
○ Diversified economy
○ Economic vitality and growth
○ J ob creation
○ Marketing and promotion
○ Business attraction, expansion, retention
○ Quality of life
● Bi-Weekly/Monthly Meetings between City of
Fresno and EDC Staff
● Coordination on client requests, site selection
efforts and trade shows & missions
● City/County Comprehensive Economic
Development Strategy Planning Underway
DATA
ANALYSIS
SPECIAL PROJECTS & INITIATIVES
Will Oliver
VP of Business
Services
Chris Zeitz
Special Projects
Coordinator
Spencer
Bremer
Research Analyst
Ross Williams
Research Analyst
EDC utilizes statistically sound data and analysis to drive our day-to-day activities around expansion, retention and attraction strategies.
● Economic impact reports
● Impact measurement
● Incentive/tax credit calculator
● Industry specific targeted recruitment analysis
● J obs-skills gap analysis
● Market gap/leakage reports (e.g. Retail Market Report) ● Program performance evaluation
● Quarterly top jobs analysis
● Synthesization of growing industry clusters and trends
UTILIZING DATA TO DRIVE DAY-TO-DAY ACTIVITIES
ATTRACTION
ATTRACTIONS TEAM
G ina Chicconi
Business
Attractions
Specialist
J ulian Ramos
Client Services
Manager
Tiffany Louk
Business
Attractions
Specialist
C ustomized Request for
Information (RFI)
response packets that
include:
● Location advantages
● Available real estate
● Local incentives
● Regional data
● Industry data
● Labor availability
● Competitive analysis
● Quality of life
TARGETED ATTRACTION
Using current industry data, the attractions team performs targeted outreach to companies who are uniquely suited to thrive in Fresno County.
● Agriculture
Manufacturing
● Clean Energy
● Logistics and Distribution
● Construction
● Water Technology
● Information Technology
● Health Care
OFFICE AND INDUSTRIAL AVAILABILITY
Office and industrial site availability dictates our ability to respond to clients interested in moving to their business to Fresno and Fresno County.
Office Industrial
ABOUT:
Trillium Flow Technologies, conducted merger between their Salt Lake City and Fresno facilities SERVICES PROVIDED:
● Local organizations mobilized to develop cost -competitive proposal to locate merger in Fresno:
○ $1.8M in California Competes Tax Credits
○ 25% rate reduction from PG&E
○ Over $150K in Employment Training Panel and Incumbent Worker Training funding ● Local organizations mobilized to develop cost -competitive proposal to locate merger in Fresno, including City of Fresno, Fresno Regional Workforce Development Board, State Center Community College District Apprenticeship Program, and California Manufacturing Technology to provide a tailored, comprehensive and place -based employee recruitment, training and upskilling strategy to identify the workforce to fill.
JOBS BEING CREATED:
● 83 new jobs averaging $55,000 a year.
● Total Project: 220 positions created/retained valued at $400M in total economic impact.
NOTABLE ATTRACTION PROJECTS
NOTABLE ATTRACTIONS
ABOUT
● Israeli Autonomous air & ground technologies
● Aims to offer customers a platform that integrates multiple types of robots, from aerial drones to autonomous tractors for crop management.
● Fresno identified as West Coast HQ with with offices in Brazil and New York
SERVICES PROVIDED:
● Site selection, connections to local partners for growth and product testing, labor data and research.
● Facilitated partnership with Lyle College of Engineering for internship/hiring pathways.
JOBS BEING CREATED: Robotics Specialists, Field Operators, Field Specialists, Test Operators, and Training Specialists
STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIPS FOR FDI & EXPORTING
MÜNSTER SISTER CITY DELEGATION
Fresno EDC Staff greeted the delegation and gave a presentation highlighting the City of Fresno:
● Brief history of Fresno
● Demographics
● High-Speed Rail overview
● Foreign Direct Investment, with highlights
of German FDI in our county and state
● Fresno Quality of Life - city attractions and
events
The presentation sparked discussion with Economic Developers from the delegation on Foreign Direct Investment and collaborative projects between our regions, including hydrogen power, bike infrastructure, and environmentally sustainable initiatives.
EXPANSION
& RETENTION
BUSINESS EXPANSION & RETENTION
NEW EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES PROGRAM
Marcella Lara
Retention
Specialist
Miguel Ruelas
Business
Expansion and
Retention
Coordinator
Charlene
Holguin
Economic
Development
Specialist
J ackie Cuevas
Economic
Development
Specialist
BUSINESS EXPANSION & RETENTION
● Place based economic development to
support existing local businesses
● Connect businesses to multiple
incentives for:
○ Workforce
○ Financing
○ ADA Compliance
○ Fee Reductions
○ Import/Export of products
○ Tax Credits
○ Energy Savings
○ Grants
● 1,040 Business Engagements
Annually
● 2,220 Referrals Annually
● $14M in PPP Referred Loans
NEW EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES (NEO)
G old Award Recipient
International Economic
Development C ouncil
● NEO is an internationally award -winning program promoting inclusive growth and individual self-sufficiency by pairing industry hiring needs with those who need jobs the most. ● Provides retention support to triage issues before they lead to terminations.
● New Employment Opportunities reimburses businesses for wages paid to eligible Welfare -to-Work participants.
NEO OVERVIEW - CITY OF FRESNO BUSINESSES
Since its inception, NEO has reimbursed
businesses in the City of Fresno more than
$10.6 million in wages.
“Our medical clinic has been using the NE O
program for more than 5 years and it has turned
out to be a very helpful resource and a great
experience! It has brought us great candidates that
we have been able to train to meet the needs of our
business, while offsetting some of the costs
associated with training new hires. The few
employees who have left after working with us
have used the experience they gained to take next
steps in their careers. The partnership has truly
turned out to be a win-win for everyone!”
TRAINING
WORKFORCE TRAINING PROGRAMS
J ohn Lawson Truck Driving
Program
Valley Apprenticeship
Connections
Central Valley Training Center Slated for West Fresno
● Accessible, in -demand & industry -informed
training for West Fresno residents and beyond
● $2 Million secured in Federal Appropriation
● Design & engineering underway for 60,000S F
at Fresno City College’s West Fresno Campus
$25M to support 2,500 jobs in 4 high demand sectors
Companion initiative to CVCF’s F3 Build Back Better Challenge Proposal 4 Pillars & Core Components:
1. Agile new programming co-created by employers to
increase entry -level and upskilled incumbent worker
pipelines
2. Strategic investments in existing career pathways to scale impact
3. Community informed, place-based services including
recruitment, case management, wraparound services
with childcare, translation and career navigation
4. Best-in-class resource navigation platforms for
jobseekers and partner CBOs
EDA GOOD JOBS CHALLENGE
COVID-19
RESPONSE
REVIVE FRESNO: COVID-19 BUSINESS ASSISTANCE
In partnership with the City of Fresno, the EDC
assisted with several activities to further the
COVID -19 economic recovery goals of the City
of Fresno including:
● Developed an Industry Reopening
Survey
● Developed Marketing Collateral
● Launched and staffed an Industry
Assistance Hotline
● Launched a Dedicated One -Stop Shop
Webpage
● Conducted City -Wide Business Outreach
via Email
REVIVE FRESNO: COVID-19 BUSINESS ASSISTANCE
To reach a wide and diverse business audience, EDC enlisted the assistance of Chambers of Commerce, community -based organizations and affiliate partners to assist in outreach and marketing.
● Fresno Chamber of Commerce
● Fresno Metropolitan Black Chamber of Commerce
● Fresno Area Hispanic Foundation
● California Hmong Chamber of Commerce
● J akara Movement
FUTURE
● Traditional company recruitment often based on the cost of doing business, region’s economic assets, industry concentration / specialization, workforce availability, and financial incentives.
● Traditional Economic Development rewards cities that assemble the lowest cost of business and best value proposition (e.g. labor, logistics, taxes, real property ). ● Centering corporate and investment value propositions around impact flip the script and create value for growth companies focused on creating shared value. ● Since 2019, planning underway with partners such as the Fresno Metropolitan Black Chamber of Commerce, City of Fresno ED Staff, Fresno EOC , CVC F and other thought leaders to establish Fresno’s Impact Economy, revamping the traditional approach away from low cost of business but maximizing impact salient to local communities.
Revamping Economic Development Approach
Initiative goals include:
● To accelerate the region’s ability to attract and retain companies that can generate the greatest economic diversification and growth that is both sustainable, equitable, and inclusive while minimizing negative externalities.
● To leverage key local partners with increased staffing/resident leader capacity, intelligence, and resources necessary to carry out Fresno Impact Economy objectives.
● To position Fresno County, it’s community and partners to attract impact-linked capital to catalyze job generating projects.
Fresno’s Impact Economy:
Defined as a company conscientiously locating part or all of its operation for the primary purpose of creating total net environmental, social, and economic impact that enables historically excluded racial minority communities to take part of long -term economic growth.
● Scorecard helps measure total impact – social,
environmental and economic
● Applies a weighted rubric for evaluating quality
and viability of candidate companies beyond job
creation estimates
● Serves as an investable and marketable tool to
attract future conscience capital
● Helps determine funding/incentives amount and
serves as a tool to monitor a firm’s performance
● Illuminates total net impact that embeds racial
inclusion as key factors for company
recruitment, incentive allocation, monitoring &
evaluation
Inclusive Community Scorecard
● Harvard Business School’s Impact Weighted
Account Initiative provides initial framework
for methodology
● Conducting ‘market research’ and ‘alpha
testing’ to evaluate investor / business
reactions to this product
● Identifying additional impact metrics based on
community oversight / ongoing leadership
● Work underway using expert practitioners &
best in class frameworks for community -
engagement and Scorecard methodology
development
Inclusive Community Scorecard
THANK YOU