AGENDA REPORT
TO: Jestin D. Johnson
City Administrator
FROM: Ashleigh Kanat
Director, Economic &
Workforce Development
Department
SUBJECT: Supplemental - Informational
Report on the Economic
Development Action Plan
DATE: September 24, 2024
City Administrator Approval Date:
RECOMMENDATION
Staff Recommends That The City Council Receive This Informational Report On The Status Of The 2021 Economic Recovery Plan And An Update On The 2024-2029 Economic Development Action Plan
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
On March 12, 2024, EWDD staff presented the Status of the 2021 Economic Recovery Plan and provided an overview of the 2024 Economic Development Action Plan (EDAP) process (currently underway) to the Community and Economic Development (CED) Committee.
The March 2024 report to CED detailed the actions that EWDD staff have taken to meet the recommendations of the 2021 Economic Recovery Plan, the City’s previous economic strategy.
In addition, staff presented a Citywide Economic Assessment, intended to serve as a baseline of the existing economic conditions as the 2024 EDAP work was getting underway. Committee members requested the same data that was shared at the Citywide level be gathered at the City Council District level as well as at the Priority Corridor level and shared at a future CED meeting and in one-on-one discussions with Council Members. It was also recommended that EWD return to CED to give an update on the progress of the EDAP.
CITYWIDE AND COUNCIL DISTRICT ECONOMIC ASSESSMENT
The EDAP Economic Assessment is an expansion of the previous EWD economic reporting, which focused primarily on Citywide and Regional information. The updated method incorporates new data from the City’s Business Tax and License dataset and layers this information with CA State Employment Development Department (EDD) labor data, the Jestin Johnson (Sep 13, 2024 08:39 PDT)
Sep 13, 2024
Jestin D. Johnson, City Administrator
Subject: Supplemental - An Update on the Economic Action Plan Date: September 24, 2024 Page 2
Alameda County Assessor’s parcel data, and the American Community Survey, US Census data. These datasets help pinpoint the number and distribution of Oakland’s businesses, employees, sectors, and commercial parcels. The EDAP Economic Assessment enables site specific, neighborhood and business corridor analysis to identify localized insights at the City Council District and local business corridor levels.
This geographic analysis allows the City to monitor the distribution of and access to City resources to promote equitable outcomes. The City’s 2018 Equity Indicators 1 report
demonstrated the economic disparities in Oakland’s neighborhoods comprised of majority Black, Latinx and Asian Pacific Islander residents. These neighborhoods exhibited long-term commercial vacancies, higher volumes of illegal dumping, and degraded open spaces along with adverse social and educational outcomes. This Informational Report and accompanying presentation provide the next chapter of the EDAP Economic Assessment as EWD measures the health of different economic areas within the City and, in turn, informs policy priorities and economic development strategies.
City Council District Headlines 2023
• An equity analysis is embedded into the City Council District profiles to consider illegal dumping, abandoned autos, crime and long-term vacancy. This analysis helps build the picture of the existing conditions of Districts 4, 5, and 6 which have lower numbers of businesses and employees. These Districts hold a combined 33% of businesses and 18% of the City’s employees.
• District 3, containing Downtown and West Oakland, has the largest number of employees (76,593). District 7 has the 2nd highest number of employees (30,564), followed by District 2 (26,866) and District 1 (23,561) • The concentration of businesses across Council Districts is more evenly distributed with District 3 hosting the highest number of businesses (8,481). District 1 (7,346) is a close 2 nd and District 2 has the 3rd highest number of businesses (6,498). • The distribution of businesses across sectors and across City Council Districts provides additional insights.
As a category, Real Estate, Rental and Leasing, with the high numbers of private landlords, is strongest in Districts 1, 2 and 3. District 3 has the highest number of these businesses with half of District 3’s businesses being in this sector. Professional Scientific and Technical businesses are concentrated in Districts 1, 2 and 3. District 3 has the highest number of businesses in this sector (949) and more than double the number of Professional, Scientific and Technical businesses in Districts 1 and 2. Notably, Districts 6 and 7 have much lower numbers of businesses in this sector.
Retail, by comparison, is evenly distributed across City Council Districts with about 300 businesses in each District. District 3 has 419 retail businesses, and the lowest number is District 6 with 242 retail businesses. • The distribution of employees across sectors and across City Council Districts adds additional nuance.
The largest sector of employees in each district is Health and Social Care. District 3 hosts the highest numbers of Professional Scientific and Technical employees.
1 City of Oakland, Dept of Race and Equity, Equity Indicators Report, 2018 Jestin D. Johnson, City Administrator
Subject: Supplemental - An Update on the Economic Action Plan Date: September 24, 2024 Page 3
The next largest sectors are Educational Services and Accommodation and Food Service. Educational Services employees are evenly distributed at around 1,500- 2,000 per District with the exception of Districts 2 and 4 which have closer to 4,000 Educational Services employees.
Accommodation and Food Service employees, the 5th largest sector, are evenly distributed across Council Districts 1, 2, and 3 and much lower in Districts 5 and
6. A full City Council District Profile is available for 2022 and 2023. Updated data will be available at these Council District-level geographies by the end of the year when the data is refreshed.
PROGRESS ON THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ACTION PLAN
Preparation of the EDAP is in progress. The framework of the EDAP is organized around, Vision, Mission, Goals, and Actions and guided by four Guiding Principles. The EDAP identifies the Vision that we are working towards, and the Mission describes EWDD’s approach to achieving the Vision. The five Goals define EWDD’s areas of focus, and each Goal is underpinned by a list of actions that will set EWDD’s priorities in the coming years. The four Guiding Principles reflect the values that will guide the work.
The EDAP goals correspond with EWD’s departmental core activities including:
• Admin/Fiscal – support Department with budget and hiring requirements and processes; process contracts and vendor payments
• Business Development – retain, sustain, attract businesses; identify and grow key sectors; increase private investment in Oakland
• Workforce Development – staff the Oakland Workforce Development Board (OWDB); oversee workforce investments in the City; play a strategic role in job creation • Cultural Affairs – manage the City’s cultural arts programming, including cultural grant- making and public art, steward cultural assets
• Public/Private Development – negotiate and implement real estate development on City land
• Real Estate Asset Management – oversee leasing, asset management, appraisal, acquisition, and disposition of City properties
• Special Activities – promote equitable ownership and employment opportunities within the cannabis industry; develop and implement the film incentive program; issue permits for special events and film production
These core activities are focused on increasing investment and generating sustainable revenue streams to support essential government services and opportunity in every neighborhood, EWD’s mission. The EDAP goals begin with EWD 2024/2025 activities. The EDAP project timeline makes use of EWD’s existing relationships with the business community to refine and expand these activities to fit their current needs.
Jestin D. Johnson, City Administrator
Subject: Supplemental - An Update on the Economic Action Plan Date: September 24, 2024 Page 4
Economic Development Action Plan Goals and Activities
1. Support Businesses and Attract/Retain Key Industries – Business Development • Develop 5-year Economic Development Action Plan
• Serve as the City’s primary business contact and liaison to connect, support and steward business development activities, permit and departmental navigation • Develop a business incentive toolbox and attract private-sector investment • Support $1.5 million Corridor Safety Ambassador Program in 2024/25 • Project Manage Place Based Strategies such as Uptown Entertainment District and Nighttime Economy Working Group, Hegenberger Corridor Inter-Agency Working Group, 7th Street Thrives
• Administer Foreign Trade Zone
• Administer 11 Community Benefit and Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) and support feasibility and formation efforts in strategic business corridors citywide
• Lead Neighborhood Business Assistance Program
• Implement Façade/Tenant Improvement Program
• Provide technical assistance, local contractor training programs, and other small business support
• Identify and leverage additional investments, grants and other resources to support business development activities, partnerships and programs
2. Build Oakland’s Workforce – Workforce Development
• Oversee Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), including American Job Centers of California and Adult and Youth Year-round Workforce Programming
• Manage Summer Youth Employment Program and Oakland Forward Program (Youth Job Corps Program)
• Administer FY 2022-2025 Adult and Youth Service Provider Contracts • Oversee Special Projects (e.g., Day Labor Program, Prison to Employment, Marine Trade & Water Transportation Career Initiative, BayTech Career Initiative
3. Steward Social Cohesion – Cultural Affairs and Special Activities • Manage the Cultural Funding Grant program with more than $1.0M in annual grants to arts organizations and festivals
• Oversee Public Art in private development and capital improvement projects • Develop Public Art Plan
• Steward cultural assets (such as Chabot, Children’s Fairyland, Oakland Museum of California, Peralta/Hacienda, and the Oakland Asian Cultural Center) • Staff the Cultural Affairs Commission, the Public Art Advisory Committee, and the Funding Advisory Committee
Jestin D. Johnson, City Administrator
Subject: Supplemental - An Update on the Economic Action Plan Date: September 24, 2024 Page 5
• Support the Cultural Strategists program and Creative Economies of Belonging arts jobs program.
• Develop and implement Mayor’s Film Incentive Program
• Permit special events and film production
• Regulate cannabis businesses, cabarets, massage parlors, mobile food vending, second-hand dealers, and sound amplification
4. Invest in Place – Public/Private Development and Real Estate • Manage large development deals on City-owned land
• Advance sites declared as surplus land by the City Council for future development, consistent with State Surplus Lands Act
• Progress major commercial projects: SMU Campus, 2100 Telegraph, HJK Center for the Arts
• Coordinate emergency/permanent affordable housing projects on City-owned land: Barcelona Parcel at Oak Knoll, 73rd & Foothill (BCZ+Eden), E. 12th Street (EBALDC) and 3050 International (SAHA + Native American Health Center) • Manage Oakland Renaissance New Markets Tax Credits
• Wind down the Oakland Redevelopment Successor Agency (ORSA) • Manage acquisition, disposition, leasing and asset management for all City properties and departments.
• Oversee a City real estate portfolio of over 1,100 owned parcels and approx. 170 leases/licenses (e.g., Oakland Ice Center, 1911 Telegraph, Scotlan Convention Center)
• Manage complex real estate transactions, including leasing and acquiring property for homeless interventions and other community-serving uses.
Equitable Community Engagement
At the March 2024 CED meeting, Committee Members were interested in how engagement would include the many voices within corridors, communities, and sectors.
The development of the Economic Development Action Plan offers an opportunity and time to speak to many of our 53,000 Business License holders in Oakland. Importantly, engagement on the strategy opens an ongoing dialogue that provides Oakland businesses with a gateway for continuous feedback and partnership.
Business Development serves as the City’s primary business contact and liaison to connect, support and steward business development activities and departmental navigation. This role requires a data-led foundation to identify local businesses and their trusted community partners.
The team’s approach also accounts for previous needs assessment and the feedback businesses have already given over the years regarding public service improvement. For example, this information can be found in needs assessment data from the 2023 applications for the Facade and Tenant Improvement Program and Activate Oakland programs.
Jestin D. Johnson, City Administrator
Subject: Supplemental - An Update on the Economic Action Plan Date: September 24, 2024 Page 6
Oakland’s Administrative Instruction 6802 on Inclusive Community Engagement (AI6802) requires City Services to “conduct equity-centered community engagement and reduce inequities in community access to City government.”
AI 6802 provides guidance to ensure “. ... needs assessment data is complemented by the views of those in the communities most impacted by the City's planned actions. Significant decisions have been made by municipal and regional governments with limited participation from communities of color.”
Specifically, the AI defines the City of Oakland Methods for Inclusive Engagement, • Coordinate engagement processes and events with partners where appropriate, enabling information sharing, collaboration, and communications supported by a wide range of community agencies and trusted community advocates. • City staff should focus on identifying trusted advocates and organizations with a demonstrable track record of serving these communities. • Collect, analyze and use evidence to shape service priorities and delivery, making sure community input is built into the design process.
• Build upon prior engagement activities conducted by the City, by reporting back on input received and progress made in response to that input.
• Ask community members and organizations how they prefer to be contacted and use those communication channels to keep them updated on the project. • Sustain these new relationships
City staff and consultants that are hired by the City of Oakland are required to:
• Develop an engagement plan that defines an equitable vision and goals, works to understand key needs and priorities of the community, and develops key performance metrics.
• Set an equity goal for the project and identify the historically underserved and underrepresented communities that will be impacted by the project and the plan for reaching them
• Develop outreach materials and communications that are simple and easy to understand • Use multiple channels and outreach methods to ensure representative participation • collect racial and geographic demographic information related to participants in the process
In keeping with these methods, the EDAP Stakeholder Engagement Plan builds on existing relationships with the business community that are sustained through regular engagement. This consistent community engagement informs the Economic Development Action Plan as we co- create strategies with our business communities to align with EDAP Goals.
Jestin D. Johnson, City Administrator
Subject: Supplemental - An Update on the Economic Action Plan Date: September 24, 2024 Page 7
Direct Business Engagement
In addition to meeting the requirements of AI 6802, EDAP engagement goals include holding relationships directly with the business community, facilitating access to and supporting navigation of City services, providing information, and making direct connections to the appropriate service, program, or other request for support. Many of EWDD’s programs facilitate these links.
Business Development’s Neighborhood Business Assistance program offers weekly appointments in seven neighborhood libraries, providing accessible support for entrepreneurs and business owners, while also informing our understanding of economic trends and the community’s needs.
EWDD staff attend monthly business meetings to document business priorities, solutions and service requests for neighborhood corridors.
• 7th St. in West Oakland
• Hegenberger Owners & Operators
• Fruitvale
• Downtown 19th St
• Downtown Old Oakland
• Raimondi Park
• BID Alliance and Chambers of Commerce
EWDD’s Business Development team has also cultivated relationships with the City’s local Ambassador teams to collaborate on business corridor priorities.
Additional EDAP Business Engagement
• OAKTalkx Focused outreach and representation of Black, Latinx and Asian Pacific islander owned businesses through the Cultural Strategist-led OAKTalkx project which has developed relationships with 20 businesses create a platform with City services for business owners to share their experience, challenges and aspirations as they continue to invest in Oakland.
• Oakland’s Business Leaders The Business Development team’s engagement strategy includes cultivating relationships with Oakland’s largest businesses across several categories: by revenue, as employers, land holders and taxpayers. Many of these entities have been in Oakland for years.
• Sector Partnerships Partnering with Workforce Development to align supply chain relationships with employer engagement strategies and ensure the EDAP has a focus on the sectors that have been Oakland’s leading industries for decades. • Retail, Accommodation and Food Services,
• Educational, Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services, • Transportation and Warehousing and
• Health Care and Social Assistance
• Construction, real estate and property management.
• Additional sectors like arts, culture, manufacturing, and design will have special outreach as priority sectors.
Jestin D. Johnson, City Administrator
Subject: Supplemental - An Update on the Economic Action Plan Date: September 24, 2024 Page 8
Ashleigh Kanat (Sep 12, 2024 11:23 PDT)
Early meetings with sector partnerships will focus on service gaps and strategies including the economic opportunities in Climate and Creative industries as well as mobile food vending, import/export and retail businesses. • Community and Economic Development Agencies Census data showed that Oakland’s residents are 72% Latinx, Black, Asian Pacific Islander and Indigenous, and 40% of households do not speak English at home. Early data from the Oakland Business Tax and License application shows that many business owners are also non- English speaking and culturally diverse.
EWD currently administers a CA State grant to support immigrant entrepreneurs to sustain business startups and growth. The EDAP will work within these relationships with historically underserved and underrepresented communities to ensure there is an inclusive outreach plan to reach them as we build the list of Actions and Activities.
This initial set of engagement will enable EWD to test community findings with Council Members and other City departments.
ACTION REQUESTED OF THE CITY COUNCIL
Staff Recommends That The City Council This Informational Report On The Status Of The 2021 Economic Recovery Plan And An Update On The 2024-2029 Economic Development Action Plan.
For questions regarding this report, please contact Cristy Johnston Limon, Deputy Director, Economic and Workforce Development Department, at (510) 238-6318.
Respectfully submitted,
ASHLEIGH KANAT
Director, Economic & Workforce Development
Department
Reviewed By:
Cristy Johnston Limon, Deputy Director, Economic
and Workforce Development
Prepared By:
Shawnee Keck, Urban Economic Analyst III,
Economic and Workforce Development