Economic Vitality Commission · Wednesday, July 5, 2023 · City Council Digest

3. AGENDA ITEMS

Human Services Division & Equity Board Overview

Jen Davis Hayes, Economic Development Manager Chris Reichley, Economic Vitality Commission Chair · packet pp.3–33

Topics: Equity

▶ Watch from 9:06 Open packet at p.3 ↗

Staff report:

Human Services Division Overview JULY 5 TH , 2023 JOINT EQUITY BOARD & ECONOMIC VITALITY

Economic Development Action Plan Update Discussion

Jen Davis Hayes, Economic Development Manager Juliana Da Cruz, Economic Development Coordinator Farel Otieno, Economic Development Coordinator · packet pp.55–78

Topics: Economic Development

▶ Watch from 1:04:31 Open packet at p.55 ↗

Staff report:

J U LY 5 , 2 0 2 3 J E N D AV I S H AY E S , E C O N O M I C D E V E LO P M E N T M A N A G E R J U L I A N A D A C R U Z , E C O N O M I C D E V E LO P M E N T C O O R D I N ATO R

2960 segments .txt ↗

0:00 ↗ looking for that there you go

0:04 ↗ very welcome I'm preethi Modi Pam the

0:07 ↗ equity board chair and I call the

0:09 ↗ special joint meeting of the equity

0:11 ↗ board and the economic Vitality

0:13 ↗ commission to order at 6 54 PM due to

0:18 ↗ the hybrid format of today's meeting I'd

0:20 ↗ like to start by providing some

0:22 ↗ guidelines this is a reminder that the

0:25 ↗ meeting is being recorded and that we

0:27 ↗ have live Spanish interpretation

0:28 ↗ happening in the background we have

0:31 ↗ participants pretending in person and

0:34 ↗ others who may be attending by a

0:35 ↗ computer or by phone for all meeting

0:38 ↗ attendees please be clearly and pause

0:41 ↗ frequently nature name each time before

0:44 ↗ speaking if applicable Mutual mic when

0:48 ↗ not speaking if having technical issues

0:51 ↗ try joining the meeting using a

0:53 ↗ different device like a smartphone or a

0:56 ↗ tablet or use the call-in information in

0:58 ↗ the meeting invite to call into the

1:00 ↗ meeting

1:02 ↗ um let's see so I think with that we're

1:06 ↗ ready to get started with introductions

1:09 ↗ and attendance

1:11 ↗ uh Monica would you be able to help us

1:13 ↗ with that

1:15 ↗ absolutely I would love to good evening

1:17 ↗ everyone my name is I'm the human

1:19 ↗ services manager here at the city

1:21 ↗ um so we can start with a roll call for

1:25 ↗ the equity board and then I'm going to

1:26 ↗ invite our economic development manager

1:30 ↗ um Jen to do the same for the economic

1:33 ↗ Vitality Commission

1:35 ↗ so with that

1:37 ↗ um Kelly Mann

1:40 ↗ good evening Kelly welcome pretty Maori

1:43 ↗ pan

1:45 ↗ good evening welcome

1:48 ↗ um Lorna Gilmore

1:50 ↗ hi Monica hi Lorna good evening welcome

1:56 ↗ I'm here thank you good evening and

1:59 ↗ welcome

2:01 ↗ and Christina Bonsai give me just a

2:04 ↗ moment I'm gonna unmute you

2:12 ↗ hi everyone I'm here hola Christina good

2:15 ↗ evening hi welcome

2:18 ↗ um and with that I'm gonna pause because

2:20 ↗ we have um other board members who are

2:23 ↗ out

2:24 ↗ um so um Helen kibanja Nima Kali Rayman

2:28 ↗ shalanda Fleming Tony Curry

2:32 ↗ um and Karthik kashinat are absent

2:35 ↗ tonight either excused um all of them

2:38 ↗ are actually excused traveling thank you

2:41 ↗ and we do have quorum

2:45 ↗ wonderful

2:46 ↗ um I'm Jen Davis Hayes economic

2:48 ↗ development manager and I'll start off

2:50 ↗ with our chair Chris richly

2:55 ↗ present

2:56 ↗ our vice chair Ashwin

3:00 ↗ thank you I'm here

3:02 ↗ Joan probola

3:04 ↗ here

3:06 ↗ AJ Taylor

3:08 ↗ greetings I'm here

3:11 ↗ Christy Gerard

3:13 ↗ here Jennifer Larson present Kim Lee

3:19 ↗ present

3:21 ↗ art freeze

3:23 ↗ present a new tadapali

3:26 ↗ present

3:28 ↗ and we do know we have members as well

3:31 ↗ that have been excused and so that

3:33 ↗ includes Tom Brown

3:36 ↗ um

3:38 ↗ Nicoletta machno

3:40 ↗ and we have another member who landed

3:43 ↗ Halverson who is not in attendance as

3:45 ↗ well

3:47 ↗ we do have a quorum although we don't

3:48 ↗ need a corn for this meeting

3:53 ↗ okay so now we're on to the public

3:55 ↗ comments section of our agenda and

3:58 ↗ public comments are an important part of

4:00 ↗ the public process we take them

4:02 ↗ seriously and Factor them into the

4:04 ↗ decisions we make I believe we have one

4:07 ↗ person signed up for public comment are

4:10 ↗ there any other members of the public uh

4:13 ↗ joining us who would like to give public

4:14 ↗ comment

4:16 ↗ thank you pretty I don't see anyone else

4:18 ↗ present in the room or virtually other

4:20 ↗ than the one

4:22 ↗ public member who's here in the room

4:26 ↗ um so that's it thank you

4:29 ↗ okay so then I think with that

4:32 ↗ um we recognize honey Marsh for public

4:34 ↗ comment honey please

4:39 ↗ sorry I'm behind you

4:42 ↗ my name's Connie Marsh and I'm actually

4:44 ↗ a small business owner in Issaquah for

4:46 ↗ almost 30 years now who would believe it

4:49 ↗ when I started out they said the city

4:52 ↗ was going to be helpful we could go to

4:54 ↗ this little meeting and I ended up with

4:56 ↗ an elderly white male who said that's a

4:59 ↗ stupid business plan you'll never make

5:00 ↗ it what are you thinking it's a hobby

5:03 ↗ you should just go home

5:05 ↗ uh which of course

5:08 ↗ really motivated me and

5:11 ↗ this this all all this time later I've

5:13 ↗ made massive quantities of money and and

5:17 ↗ provided for myself so here you go you

5:20 ↗ want to try to make it better for

5:22 ↗ businesses in Issaquah and be inclusive

5:25 ↗ of all different kinds of people

5:30 ↗ um which I don't know I have no idea

5:33 ↗ what that looks like right now so I

5:36 ↗ would suggest doing some test cases to

5:38 ↗ see what exactly that means right now

5:40 ↗ because I don't know if anybody really

5:42 ↗ knows

5:43 ↗ and then two we actually have a vision

5:47 ↗ statement and a mission statement in

5:49 ↗ this town that is supposed to be the the

5:52 ↗ guidance for everything and then we have

5:55 ↗ a massive comprehensive Plan update

5:57 ↗ slated for basically now

6:00 ↗ and I look at the agenda and you guys

6:04 ↗ are talking about the weeds you aren't

6:06 ↗ talking about the new language or the

6:08 ↗ discussion that's going to happen that

6:10 ↗ is going to bring the entirety of

6:12 ↗ Issaquah into current times you're

6:15 ↗ basically saying wow we're down here in

6:17 ↗ the gears ignoring all that let's make

6:19 ↗ decisions I disagree

6:22 ↗ I think that we need to look at what the

6:24 ↗ overarching policies and goals of the

6:27 ↗ city

6:28 ↗ are include our our diversity and our

6:33 ↗ Equity components in that and we do have

6:37 ↗ an economic Vitality chapter in our

6:39 ↗ comprehensive plan

6:41 ↗ that is not noted or written at all in

6:44 ↗ this presentation and so you should

6:47 ↗ start from the top and funnel down to

6:50 ↗ the gears so these gears would be next

6:52 ↗ year or even the year after after you

6:54 ↗ actually figure out what you want to do

6:56 ↗ now this doesn't mean that you're just

6:58 ↗ totally stagnant in life

7:00 ↗ so when I read the presentation what I

7:03 ↗ this is how I took it wow we have some

7:05 ↗ really big employers awesome there's no

7:08 ↗ Mansion of the other two thousand

7:11 ↗ businesses in town who are they who owns

7:15 ↗ them what is the diversity

7:17 ↗ how far does this thread through so

7:20 ↗ where's the data for that

7:22 ↗ no yeah we have big employers okay fine

7:25 ↗ now what do they do for employees who do

7:29 ↗ they hire where do they live and what do

7:32 ↗ they contribute not just whoa It's

7:34 ↗ Costco they're there they must be

7:35 ↗ awesome it's not necessarily true

7:38 ↗ and so when you decide how you're going

7:41 ↗ to thread your your um

7:44 ↗ Myriad of wonderful people through your

7:48 ↗ business Community I don't think you

7:50 ↗ have the data tools even to begin that

7:52 ↗ conversation maybe you do maybe it is

7:56 ↗ simply not in this presentation but

7:59 ↗ given

8:00 ↗ what was provided to you I don't even

8:03 ↗ know how you could tell anyone what you

8:06 ↗ think you should

8:08 ↗ you should get so I think the first step

8:11 ↗ for me would be to review the history

8:14 ↗ and what our town actually says now

8:16 ↗ about what is supposed to be happening

8:18 ↗ and then ask for the most basic of data

8:22 ↗ for what currently exists and then

8:25 ↗ Ponder okay well what are our

8:27 ↗ expectations for the future and how do

8:29 ↗ we make it better and have some

8:30 ↗ generalized conversation to feed into

8:33 ↗ the comprehensive plan

8:35 ↗ not to feed into something like a a

8:38 ↗ low-tiered gears plan yet so I applaud

8:43 ↗ the groups coming together and having

8:45 ↗ the conversation because I think it's

8:47 ↗ important I just think you're speaking

8:49 ↗ at it the wrong level

8:52 ↗ thank you

8:57 ↗ thank you Connie for your thoughtful

8:59 ↗ comment

9:02 ↗ let's see and with that I think we move

9:06 ↗ on to the next agenda item

9:09 ↗ which is the Human Services Division and

9:12 ↗ Equity board overview and I will throw

9:14 ↗ it over to you Monica

9:17 ↗ thank you so much pretty good evening

9:19 ↗ again Commissioners and board members

9:22 ↗ this is Monica I'm the human services

9:25 ↗ manager at the city and so I would love

9:28 ↗ to take the opportunity to give you a

9:32 ↗ little bit of an overview of what human

9:34 ↗ services does at the city

9:37 ↗ um and after that pretty and I will also

9:40 ↗ give you a brief overview of what the

9:45 ↗ equity board does at the City of

9:47 ↗ Issaquah and I just shared the wrong

9:49 ↗ presentation

9:53 ↗ hey

9:57 ↗ moment

10:13 ↗ okay so for those of you

10:16 ↗ um not familiar with the Human Services

10:19 ↗ Division we are actually uh part of the

10:23 ↗ parks and community services department

10:24 ↗ at the city we are probably one of the

10:27 ↗ largest departments at our community

10:28 ↗ facing and providing community services

10:31 ↗ so the human services division is one of

10:34 ↗ the many divisions in the Parks and

10:36 ↗ community services along with Parks

10:39 ↗ planning Parks maintenance Recreation

10:41 ↗ which includes the community center the

10:44 ↗ pool the senior center the rental

10:46 ↗ division including the the farmers

10:48 ↗ market we also have the Arts are in in

10:53 ↗ the Parks and community services and of

10:55 ↗ course Human Services

10:56 ↗ and so I wanted to start by sharing this

11:00 ↗ a small visual of our division

11:02 ↗ organizational chart when I first joined

11:06 ↗ the city about five years ago the Human

11:08 ↗ Services functions were limited to one

11:10 ↗ staff I was joking that I was a team of

11:13 ↗ me and myself and I and the functions

11:15 ↗ were limited to administering the the

11:18 ↗ Human Services Grants that the city was

11:20 ↗ giving to the city since then we became

11:23 ↗ a fully functional division with

11:25 ↗ multiple programs which I'm gonna walk

11:27 ↗ you through in just a few minutes but to

11:31 ↗ summarize we have a behavioral health

11:32 ↗ and homeless outreach program we have

11:35 ↗ our Human Services planning

11:37 ↗ we have our the case management

11:39 ↗ functions for the community court and

11:42 ↗ then our newest newest program is an

11:45 ↗ emergency housing program that we are

11:46 ↗ piloting this year

11:48 ↗ um so with that

11:50 ↗ just a brief overview of how our

11:52 ↗ Behavioral Health and homeless outreach

11:53 ↗ program that we started all of the

11:56 ↗ services and programs starting the last

11:57 ↗ couple of years

11:58 ↗ so prior to 2020 the city was providing

12:02 ↗ some partial grants to Regional

12:04 ↗ organizations

12:05 ↗ inviting them to do homeless Outreach in

12:08 ↗ Issaquah the need was not big at that

12:10 ↗ time but also we learned that as the

12:13 ↗ needs were increasing in in Issaquah the

12:16 ↗ regional Partners were not able to meet

12:18 ↗ up and come they were perhaps coming to

12:20 ↗ Issaquah every six weeks or so and was

12:23 ↗ not needing meeting the needs so in 2020

12:26 ↗ city council approved a pilot with a

12:29 ↗ local non-profit organization to conduct

12:32 ↗ Outreach Services in 2021 we decided to

12:36 ↗ to bring that program in-house and so we

12:40 ↗ we launched the behavioral health and

12:42 ↗ homeless outreach program

12:44 ↗ and at that point the behavioral health

12:47 ↗ program was really created to help and

12:50 ↗ support the work of um our

12:53 ↗ team in the Issaquah police department

12:56 ↗ and so we started supporting uh police

13:00 ↗ with responding to any 911 calls that

13:05 ↗ were Behavioral Health in nature

13:08 ↗ um so in in 2022 we we increased

13:11 ↗ Staffing to two staff one focused mainly

13:13 ↗ on homeless Outreach the other one

13:15 ↗ focused more on Behavioral Health and

13:16 ↗ working in collaboration with police we

13:20 ↗ created a homeless Outreach dashboard if

13:22 ↗ you didn't have a chance to check it out

13:24 ↗ please do so we would love to have it um

13:26 ↗ in your packet you have the link to it

13:28 ↗ it shows you the information

13:31 ↗ um I think uh very beneficial

13:33 ↗ information is the number of Unique

13:35 ↗ Individuals that we connected with that

13:37 ↗ are homeless in Issaquah in the last

13:38 ↗ couple of years

13:40 ↗ and the number is

13:42 ↗ um is more than 150 at this point and

13:46 ↗ also I think

13:47 ↗ um surprising for many

13:49 ↗ um the dashboard also shows you the

13:51 ↗ limited services that exist in Issaquah

13:54 ↗ and regionally as well

13:56 ↗ we are happy to report that city council

13:59 ↗ just approved the expansion of this

14:01 ↗ program we are going to add two more

14:03 ↗ Behavioral Health coordinators who are

14:05 ↗ actually going to help and be stationed

14:07 ↗ in the police department and they are

14:09 ↗ going to be actively responding with

14:11 ↗ police officers for calls

14:13 ↗ from data from the police department

14:15 ↗ houses that from about

14:18 ↗ 17 15 to 19 000 calls that they receive

14:22 ↗ per year about seven to nine hundred and

14:25 ↗ nine thousand are behavioral health

14:26 ↗ related of course those are not all

14:29 ↗ unique calls for Unique people there are

14:32 ↗ multiple often there are multiple calls

14:34 ↗ but still

14:35 ↗ the need is there

14:37 ↗ so that's uh on the behavioral health

14:40 ↗ and homeless outreach program and the

14:42 ↗ Human Services planning site last year

14:45 ↗ for the first time we created a human

14:47 ↗ services strategic plan in Issaquah we

14:49 ↗ worked for about six to nine months with

14:52 ↗ Community

14:53 ↗ organizations non-profit partners and

14:56 ↗ and created the very first Issaquah

14:58 ↗ Human Services strategic plan so our

15:00 ↗ staff Hina Roberts is currently working

15:03 ↗ on on that implementation she's also

15:06 ↗ overseeing the Human Services Grants

15:08 ↗ that the city provides to the uh to

15:11 ↗ non-profit organizations we fund about

15:13 ↗ 47 different programs during this

15:16 ↗ funding cycle and then we also were

15:21 ↗ assigned cultural conversations and

15:23 ↗ community events we are the community

15:25 ↗ facing

15:26 ↗ division that was assigned that

15:32 ↗ just as a fun fact in case anyone's

15:34 ↗ interested in going into the weeds as

15:36 ↗ one of our community members said on the

15:38 ↗ screen you see the Human Services

15:41 ↗ strategic Plan Focus areas

15:44 ↗ again based on conversations that we had

15:47 ↗ with the community

15:49 ↗ we we identified overarching Community

15:52 ↗ needs physical and behavioral health

15:54 ↗ housing Continuum which includes housing

15:57 ↗ affordability and homelessness so

15:59 ↗ keeping people from becoming homeless

16:01 ↗ but also supporting those who are

16:03 ↗ homeless language access and culture

16:06 ↗ specific services and community service

16:08 ↗ resources

16:12 ↗ um

16:12 ↗ just a few visuals some some of the

16:15 ↗ cultural events that we've been hosting

16:18 ↗ in collaboration with the equity board

16:21 ↗ pictures that you see are either

16:22 ↗ probably from the welcoming Week events

16:24 ↗ from pride and also from Hispanic

16:27 ↗ Heritage Month events

16:31 ↗ um next another subgroup in our human

16:34 ↗ services division is the case includes

16:37 ↗ the case management functions for the

16:38 ↗ community Court not sure how many folks

16:41 ↗ are familiar with the community Court

16:42 ↗ model anyone yes no maybe so

16:46 ↗ no so maybe I can oh great thank you

16:51 ↗ um so the community court is an alter

16:53 ↗ alternative to the regular traditional

16:55 ↗ court system

16:57 ↗ um in in this model which was launched

16:59 ↗ the municipal code Court launched this

17:03 ↗ program in August of 2021.

17:06 ↗ um provides an opportunity for those

17:09 ↗ with low low level crimes to enter a

17:14 ↗ problem-solving Court instead of going

17:16 ↗ to jail they enter different services

17:19 ↗ and they follow a different path if

17:21 ↗ they're successful in in those services

17:24 ↗ and that can often folks are homeless or

17:28 ↗ they have a severe behavioral health

17:30 ↗ issues if they are successful with

17:32 ↗ entering in those services and

17:34 ↗ completing successful in those Services

17:35 ↗ then they don't need to go to jail the

17:39 ↗ program can last anywhere between 6

17:40 ↗ months and 12 months depending on each

17:43 ↗ person's individual need so in human

17:46 ↗ services we also so provide the case

17:47 ↗ management functions we're basically one

17:49 ↗ of our staff Works directly with those

17:51 ↗ individuals and making sure that they

17:53 ↗ are connected to community service hours

17:55 ↗ and other social organizations or they

17:57 ↗ they have other needs met whether that

17:59 ↗ is accessing an idea or health care or

18:02 ↗ signing up with a mental health provider

18:05 ↗ whatnot you name it they do it

18:08 ↗ foreign

18:12 ↗ our newest Endeavor it's an emergency

18:15 ↗ housing program that we are piloting in

18:18 ↗ collaboration with Motel 6.

18:21 ↗ we are actually launching hopefully

18:24 ↗ successfully this program on July 15. we

18:27 ↗ have essentially we are renting long

18:30 ↗ term a dozen rooms from Motel 6 and we

18:34 ↗ are gonna house

18:35 ↗ um

18:36 ↗ participants who are enrolled currently

18:38 ↗ in our homeless outreach program in

18:41 ↗ trying to support them with temporary

18:43 ↗ housing and from that temporary housing

18:45 ↗ we are trying to support them with

18:46 ↗ employment education and access to

18:48 ↗ permanent housing so it's an intensive

18:51 ↗ program it's a high barrier what we call

18:54 ↗ a high barrier shelter meaning that

18:56 ↗ people need to meet certain requirements

18:58 ↗ before entering the program

19:01 ↗ um so we are currently working full

19:04 ↗ speed on finalizing the programmatic

19:07 ↗ aspects of this program we have the

19:09 ↗ Staffing ready the office is being set

19:12 ↗ up at Motel 6 as we speak

19:15 ↗ and um

19:16 ↗ we can come back and Report you on how

19:18 ↗ we are doing uh but that's perfect

19:21 ↗ timing because this concludes my

19:22 ↗ presentation I spoke very fast I

19:25 ↗ apologize interpreters I just realized

19:28 ↗ that I'm always the one reminding uh

19:30 ↗ people to slow down and I just like gosh

19:32 ↗ I spoke very fast but we have um one

19:36 ↗ person in the room with hands up and

19:37 ↗ then we'll we'll go online to lucrecia

19:41 ↗ presentation

19:43 ↗ of the emergency

19:45 ↗ housing

19:46 ↗ um

19:49 ↗ yeah so just curious

19:51 ↗ um

19:52 ↗ I think as per some kind of uh

19:56 ↗ state law

19:57 ↗ that is like a temporary when you're

20:01 ↗ staying in a motel 6. so I heard that

20:04 ↗ you can stay only like X number of days

20:06 ↗ like 60 days or something

20:08 ↗ and then you gotta check out and you can

20:10 ↗ come back in for three days

20:12 ↗ and then you can continue to stay that's

20:14 ↗ what I heard

20:16 ↗ um are you going to hit that bottleneck

20:17 ↗ is I mean you said temporary what is

20:20 ↗ that temporary temporary yes no thank

20:22 ↗ you for that so because we are actually

20:24 ↗ we have an actual program

20:26 ↗ um so participants are going to be

20:28 ↗ enrolled in our program and not

20:30 ↗ necessarily they're not gonna follow the

20:31 ↗ motel six rules because they're not

20:33 ↗ going to be just guests of Motel 6

20:35 ↗ they're gonna be part of our program so

20:37 ↗ then we don't need to worry about that

20:39 ↗ thank you no that's a good one yes there

20:41 ↗ are different rules for that yes thank

20:43 ↗ you

20:44 ↗ the question

20:49 ↗ yes Monica can you please explain what

20:52 ↗ some of these thresholds that they need

20:54 ↗ to meet are and are any of them such

20:57 ↗ that they could be deemed controversial

21:00 ↗ by

21:01 ↗ certain entities in the community that

21:03 ↗ we should kind of be aware of

21:06 ↗ no thank you so much lucrecia so

21:08 ↗ typically when we talk in in uh in

21:11 ↗ services for an house committee members

21:13 ↗ low barrier we Define low barrier by

21:17 ↗ basically saying that oral are welcome

21:19 ↗ to come as as they are and they don't

21:23 ↗ need to meet any requirements for high

21:25 ↗ barrier in this particular case we we

21:28 ↗ ask that people are already involved

21:31 ↗ with with our program for at least a

21:33 ↗ month and they have completed a first

21:36 ↗ level of treatment if they need a

21:38 ↗ treatment for mental health physical

21:40 ↗ health or substance use so um let's say

21:43 ↗ if somebody

21:44 ↗ needed immediate care they're gonna go

21:47 ↗ and take care of the immediate care and

21:49 ↗ then come for services

21:52 ↗ the the program that that we have will

21:56 ↗ not have 24 hour

21:58 ↗ supervision and so because of that we

22:02 ↗ need people to not be in a crisis where

22:05 ↗ they need immediate

22:06 ↗ medical services and that can be Again

22:09 ↗ Medical for physical mental or substance

22:12 ↗ use does that make sense

22:15 ↗ and does that help with your question

22:18 ↗ yes absolutely thank you for clarifying

22:20 ↗ that thank you thank you you're welcome

22:24 ↗ any other questions or comments

22:31 ↗ one question about the community

22:41 ↗ 197.5

22:43 ↗ I'm sorry you cannot be heard you need

22:46 ↗ to speak into the microphone please

22:48 ↗ sorry

22:49 ↗ uh looking at the Issaquah Community

22:51 ↗ Court I'm seeing about 15 participants

22:54 ↗ since August 2021

22:56 ↗ and I'm seeing

22:58 ↗ 197.5 service hours or the service hours

23:01 ↗ typically to most of the participants or

23:04 ↗ just a few or

23:07 ↗ no great great question so it it varies

23:12 ↗ um it's it's based on each person's

23:15 ↗ individual needs so one person might

23:17 ↗ only need two hours of services well

23:20 ↗ whereas another person might need 200

23:22 ↗ hours of services right if we have

23:24 ↗ someone with high needs which we often

23:26 ↗ have in in court somebody who's unhoused

23:28 ↗ does not have an ID does not have

23:30 ↗ medical insurance they they just come

23:33 ↗ with not even close on on them then that

23:36 ↗ person might need several hours in just

23:39 ↗ helping with the day-to-day things

23:41 ↗ whereas somebody who might have had

23:43 ↗ maybe a different type of crime

23:47 ↗ um and maybe to DUI and they just need

23:50 ↗ to enroll in Services they might only

23:52 ↗ need two hours of support in helping

23:54 ↗ them connect with DUI services for

23:56 ↗ example

24:00 ↗ uh clarification this is services

24:02 ↗ rendered

24:04 ↗ to the participants

24:07 ↗ this is services rendered to the

24:09 ↗ participant rather than by the

24:11 ↗ participant I was explaining the

24:13 ↗ services rendered to the participant but

24:15 ↗ you are referring be also track services

24:18 ↗ provided by participants and often that

24:21 ↗ can be community service hours or

24:22 ↗ whatnot okay so both are yes

24:29 ↗ and Lord now you have your hand up

24:33 ↗ hi Monica can you tell me more about how

24:36 ↗ many uh how many people in the Issaquah

24:39 ↗ area that we are helping that are

24:41 ↗ unhoused

24:42 ↗ what is the data show I don't know if

24:45 ↗ you collected on a weekly monthly like

24:48 ↗ times information collected because I

24:50 ↗ was noticing there were 12 available

24:52 ↗ spots in Mattel six and I'm just

24:55 ↗ wondering what is a need and what is

24:57 ↗ availability going to be is there going

24:59 ↗ to be a problem with lack of houses or

25:02 ↗ there's going to be two you know I'm

25:03 ↗ just trying to figure

25:05 ↗ yes so thank you great question Lorna

25:07 ↗ absolutely we know already

25:10 ↗ um that um the the needs for by by far

25:14 ↗ um outweigh the the resources so

25:19 ↗ um the homeless Out Of Reach dashboard

25:21 ↗ is being updated on a monthly basis so

25:23 ↗ we gather information as we go so in the

25:27 ↗ most recent uh dashboard notes that we

25:30 ↗ have connected with 178

25:33 ↗ um unduplicated uh individuals and that

25:38 ↗ is those in September of 2021

25:41 ↗ currently in our services we have active

25:45 ↗ about 40 some people and like you said

25:48 ↗ the the Motel 6 will have only a dozen

25:51 ↗ rooms with a capacity of serving maximum

25:54 ↗ 20 people so we know that the need is

25:58 ↗ much more but we also know and Hope

26:02 ↗ excuse me the program

26:04 ↗ only serves

26:06 ↗ and is just one of the multiple options

26:10 ↗ out there I'm sorry I have a tickle

26:29 ↗ excuse me

26:31 ↗ so sorry Laura now long story short

26:35 ↗ we don't have enough space for sure this

26:37 ↗ is just a um pilot and we are trying to

26:41 ↗ demonstrate the need but we are also

26:43 ↗ hoping that more resources will become

26:45 ↗ available originally

26:48 ↗ Monica also can you clarify can can it

26:51 ↗ be a family or will it just be

26:53 ↗ individuals or like couples so would it

26:56 ↗ would it be possible that at Motel 6

26:59 ↗ would be having children between the

27:01 ↗ ages of zero and 18 staying there

27:05 ↗ primarily we we plan on serving

27:07 ↗ individuals or couples only and we hope

27:10 ↗ to work with our partners in Bellevue

27:12 ↗ for folks who need Family Services we do

27:15 ↗ not have the capacity or expertise

27:17 ↗ currently but on a temporary basis let's

27:19 ↗ say if we have a crisis and

27:21 ↗ there's a family that needs a shelter

27:24 ↗ for the night until we find the

27:28 ↗ connection we will be able to help them

27:30 ↗ however not long term

27:32 ↗ so one one detail that I didn't mention

27:35 ↗ is that one of the rooms we will keep

27:37 ↗ one room as a standby room for any

27:39 ↗ emergencies that come up

27:42 ↗ um that need just like a one time until

27:44 ↗ we'll find better connections so that's

27:46 ↗ what we plan on doing for families or

27:49 ↗ not

27:52 ↗ thank you and then I see someone else

27:54 ↗ online Kimberly hi Kim

27:58 ↗ hi thank you for the presentation that's

28:00 ↗ really helpful

28:02 ↗ um I'm curious uh you know housing

28:05 ↗ affordability and homelessness is a

28:08 ↗ major concern

28:10 ↗ um rightly so uh and I and I see that

28:13 ↗ you know Human Services has grown

28:15 ↗ exponentially over the years but what

28:16 ↗ are you seeing maybe the answer is

28:18 ↗ homelessness and housing affordability

28:20 ↗ but what are you seeing from an equity

28:22 ↗ perspective as being the biggest issue

28:24 ↗ and something that rises to the top

28:28 ↗ um

28:29 ↗ of your concerns going forward

28:32 ↗ thank you so much for that question from

28:35 ↗ an equity uh perspective definitely

28:37 ↗ housing affordability

28:40 ↗ um I think all of the areas that we

28:42 ↗ highlighted in our strategic plan are

28:44 ↗ really uh we we started with an equity

28:47 ↗ lens and and we weaved in an equity lens

28:50 ↗ throughout the process but really we

28:52 ↗ identified Equity issues in all of the

28:55 ↗ Strategic Focus areas so physical and

28:58 ↗ behavioral health there are a lot of

28:59 ↗ inequities housing Continuum

29:01 ↗ affordability and homelessness a lot of

29:03 ↗ inequities language access and culture

29:05 ↗ specific Services lots of inequities

29:09 ↗ um really in in all of all of the areas

29:11 ↗ we identified

29:14 ↗ um

29:14 ↗ options and opportunities to improve

29:17 ↗ equity

29:21 ↗ so lots of work to do a lot of work to

29:23 ↗ do yes

29:24 ↗ thank you for that question of

29:26 ↗ highlighting that very important

29:28 ↗ uh hi this is Anu tarapali from the

29:30 ↗ economic white already commission

29:32 ↗ speaking uh one question that I had for

29:34 ↗ the human services department as a whole

29:36 ↗ is do you guys have like a vision

29:39 ↗ statement or a goal statement that can

29:42 ↗ be socialized more broadly within the

29:46 ↗ community so that you can get more help

29:48 ↗ or more guidance or more support from

29:52 ↗ the community as a whole

29:54 ↗ thank you that's a great suggestion I

29:57 ↗ think the vision and that we have we

30:00 ↗ have it in the Strategic plan but it's

30:02 ↗ not something that we broadcasted or

30:03 ↗ promoted much so I think there are

30:05 ↗ opportunities for us to to do that would

30:07 ↗ love to hear more ideas and suggestions

30:09 ↗ yes thank you for that

30:14 ↗ question on have you looked at other

30:18 ↗ um areas of equity you know I'm thinking

30:21 ↗ things like the deaf or the blind who

30:24 ↗ often have significant issues with

30:26 ↗ finding employment

30:28 ↗ finding

30:30 ↗ appropriate employment for them

30:33 ↗ thank you so that did come up the the

30:35 ↗ various inequities did come up as uh

30:38 ↗ under Community Resources employment and

30:42 ↗ um

30:43 ↗ supporting uh populations by age seniors

30:47 ↗ older adults came up and also Youth and

30:50 ↗ children came up also as as different

30:53 ↗ populations to support so we don't have

30:56 ↗ a specific

30:58 ↗ Focus to just work and identify folks

31:02 ↗ who are deaf or blind but through the

31:04 ↗ Human Services Grants we do support

31:07 ↗ employment agencies that work with a

31:09 ↗ wide range of disabilities so we we

31:12 ↗ support two organizations that do that

31:18 ↗ great questions Commissioners love the

31:21 ↗ interest and the questions and board

31:23 ↗ members okay I don't see other questions

31:26 ↗ at the moment

31:27 ↗ so if you bear with us for another five

31:30 ↗ minutes uh Christina

31:39 ↗ it is Forma

31:46 ↗ de present homeless

31:55 ↗ foreign

32:02 ↗ assistance on this one I'm wondering if

32:06 ↗ there is any way of tracking or any sort

32:09 ↗ of program that gives an indication of

32:12 ↗ people who are verging on homelessness

32:15 ↗ is there contact with banks or something

32:18 ↗ that can tell us who are at risk to

32:21 ↗ become homeless

32:25 ↗ thank you Christina for that question

32:28 ↗ um it would be so nice if we had a magic

32:30 ↗ wand to tell us that the closest that we

32:34 ↗ are currently is in our Communications

32:37 ↗ with our non-profit Partners let's say

32:40 ↗ the food bank who can tell us we also

32:43 ↗ support some of the low-income housing

32:46 ↗ providers so we are in Communications

32:47 ↗ with them for example the most recent

32:51 ↗ rental assistance program that city

32:54 ↗ council funded a couple of months ago it

32:57 ↗ was meant to just Infuse additional

33:00 ↗ funds into the low-income housing units

33:04 ↗ to make sure that people stay housed so

33:06 ↗ those are a couple of things that we are

33:08 ↗ then we are aware of that we are working

33:11 ↗ on but we know that more could be done

33:14 ↗ unfortunately I'm not familiar with bank

33:17 ↗ laws but I don't think that due to

33:19 ↗ confidentiality that would be an Avenue

33:20 ↗ that we could explore I'm looking at the

33:23 ↗ business experts in the room and I think

33:26 ↗ they tell me no way

33:28 ↗ I can speak a little bit commissioner

33:30 ↗ and Chris richly um I work for

33:31 ↗ Harborstone Credit Union actually so and

33:34 ↗ been in banking over 20 years now so I

33:36 ↗ can tell you yes due to privacy policies

33:38 ↗ we're not able to release that

33:40 ↗ information about who's foreclosing on

33:43 ↗ their homework who's behind on their car

33:45 ↗ note or primarily home we're not able to

33:48 ↗ do that can we

33:49 ↗ is there information that's out there

33:51 ↗ it's public information as far as who

33:52 ↗ owns a home correct right but as far as

33:54 ↗ privacy policy who's defaulting and all

33:56 ↗ whatnot no we we would be in the banks

33:59 ↗ and Credit Unions we had a lot of

34:00 ↗ trouble for that right exactly what

34:03 ↗ however probably could be an option is

34:06 ↗ if their resources in place we could

34:08 ↗ share them with banks who could then

34:10 ↗ perhaps share them with their customers

34:12 ↗ so so that's how I think ideas still are

34:16 ↗ great too and there are programs for

34:18 ↗ your bank and your local credit unions

34:19 ↗ that you can talk to and discuss with

34:21 ↗ your Bankers or your mortgage reps that

34:23 ↗ help I do know a lot of banks and Credit

34:26 ↗ Unions like ours we do offer assistance

34:28 ↗ in payment forgiveness for so many

34:31 ↗ months skip a pays there's a lot to go

34:34 ↗ around you know especially now times

34:36 ↗ with you know way that fees are going up

34:39 ↗ and interest rates going up on credit

34:40 ↗ cards counting a lot costing a lot of

34:42 ↗ hardship with within the household with

34:44 ↗ the bills going up especially on credit

34:46 ↗ so that is dampening you know what what

34:48 ↗ do I pay first do I pay my home no do I

34:50 ↗ pay my car note do I pay my credit card

34:52 ↗ so definitely talk to your Banker first

34:55 ↗ or your your financial advisor whoever

34:57 ↗ you seek accountant on that and they

34:59 ↗ have different programs I know a lot of

35:01 ↗ them do so

35:04 ↗ very helpful thank you all right you may

35:06 ↗ be also you may also be able to work

35:09 ↗ with companies like Fannie Mae and

35:12 ↗ Freddie Mac

35:13 ↗ and some of the other secondary mortgage

35:15 ↗ markets because they work with the

35:17 ↗ servicers

35:18 ↗ and like a servicing counselor would be

35:21 ↗ able to suggest programs they wouldn't

35:23 ↗ be able to tell the program

35:26 ↗ you know to go to these people but they

35:28 ↗ would be able to tell the people to go

35:29 ↗ to the program

35:33 ↗ another comment that just to piggyback

35:36 ↗ on Art there are programs that are

35:39 ↗ for credit counseling

35:42 ↗ suggestions for payments and how to

35:44 ↗ create a budget Financial education that

35:46 ↗ are available for that and we do within

35:49 ↗ bylaws of the financial institutions do

35:51 ↗ follow that because we don't obviously

35:53 ↗ want to default or have defaults because

35:55 ↗ let's face the banks aren't in the the

35:58 ↗ business to own homes or cars

36:01 ↗ so oriented to help people maintain

36:03 ↗ their homes so there is credit

36:04 ↗ counseling that we provide that to our

36:07 ↗ members that are up disclosed up front

36:09 ↗ of what they have for that as well so

36:11 ↗ seeking credit counsel would be helpful

36:13 ↗ resources well I don't know if you've

36:15 ↗ talked to different credit counseling a

36:17 ↗ lot of them are non-profits as well that

36:19 ↗ can help with that even Mortgage

36:21 ↗ Assistance payment assistant and whatnot

36:23 ↗ right thank you

36:25 ↗ Christina did that answer your question

36:31 ↗ is

36:38 ↗ um

37:03 ↗ so that leads me to another idea I'm

37:08 ↗ wondering then if there's some way to

37:11 ↗ get those people in connection

37:14 ↗ uh or in contact with the service

37:17 ↗ providers if perhaps the bank could let

37:21 ↗ them know of the services available

37:24 ↗ within the municipality within our city

37:27 ↗ and how they can get in contact with

37:30 ↗ some of those

37:33 ↗ thank you Christina and the interpreters

37:35 ↗ yes Christine I think that that's

37:36 ↗ exactly great idea and suggestion I

37:38 ↗ think that's probably the option to go

37:40 ↗ about just to provide those resources to

37:44 ↗ their customers

37:46 ↗ okay thank you thank you and just to

37:49 ↗ comment on that I could tell you

37:50 ↗ firsthand from our credit union and

37:52 ↗ other Banks

37:54 ↗ um at least Harborstone we do that's a

37:56 ↗ first step we do offer that that service

37:59 ↗ we do have a service called Green Path

38:01 ↗ that we we co-partner with in that

38:03 ↗ situation so most financial institutions

38:06 ↗ have a first step which is credit

38:08 ↗ counseling which is to provide providers

38:11 ↗ like that or similar to that that know

38:14 ↗ how they can help them create that

38:15 ↗ budget create a payment option create

38:18 ↗ plans in that sense so again it's it's

38:20 ↗ yeah we can reach out and believe me

38:23 ↗ they know but it's also the first step

38:25 ↗ of them coming in as well

38:28 ↗ because they are getting notified via

38:30 ↗ letter via statement calls and whatnot

38:34 ↗ but it's also how can we get the word

38:36 ↗ out that they can also come in and see

38:38 ↗ somebody physically and we can give them

38:39 ↗ those resources a lot of times it's all

38:42 ↗ done on the phone and digital

38:43 ↗ so

38:44 ↗ come in person a lot you'll learn a lot

38:46 ↗ if you come in person

38:51 ↗ thank you thank you

38:53 ↗ I think I think that's a good idea

38:55 ↗ because also sometimes we are paying

38:57 ↗ more about uh we are paying more credit

39:00 ↗ than the real price thank you

39:05 ↗ okay thank you so much uh

39:08 ↗ Commissioners and board members would

39:10 ↗ like to move forward with the agenda but

39:13 ↗ um just so Lucrezia you have a common

39:16 ↗ question

39:18 ↗ and then yes I it's just a comment I

39:21 ↗ just wanted to

39:22 ↗ um add that it's important to keep in

39:24 ↗ mind that

39:26 ↗ what we're discussing in terms of

39:28 ↗ intervention

39:30 ↗ um is for people who actually have

39:32 ↗ access to banking already and so that

39:35 ↗ there are also there's also a group of

39:37 ↗ community members who have chronic

39:40 ↗ poverty they come from generational

39:43 ↗ poverty and so they are the ones who are

39:47 ↗ probably most vulnerable because they

39:49 ↗ don't even have these Avenues where

39:52 ↗ there can be intervention right they

39:54 ↗ don't even have a bank account they

39:56 ↗ don't they just simply don't have access

39:58 ↗ to this and so I think that when

40:01 ↗ when we discuss you know strategies for

40:04 ↗ reaching out to a wider pool of

40:08 ↗ community members it's important to ask

40:10 ↗ questions about okay so if these things

40:13 ↗ are in place what percentage of people

40:15 ↗ are accessing them

40:17 ↗ and if

40:20 ↗ the number of people who are in poverty

40:22 ↗ who are homeless who who are homeless

40:27 ↗ um not in in the sense of being visibly

40:30 ↗ homeless because they're in a tent but

40:33 ↗ homeless because they are couch surfing

40:35 ↗ from place to place or farming out their

40:38 ↗ children to spend the night with

40:39 ↗ relatives that sort of poverty

40:41 ↗ um we need to ask you know like what

40:43 ↗ what

40:45 ↗ what's up

40:47 ↗ what can we put in place to capture that

40:50 ↗ level of poverty right

40:53 ↗ um and I'm just trying to like give

40:55 ↗ voice to the to the notion that there is

40:59 ↗ a safety net and people are accessing it

41:02 ↗ and we're doing everything that we can

41:04 ↗ because in reality that safety net is

41:07 ↗ only applicable to people who are

41:09 ↗ already of a certain Financial threshold

41:11 ↗ and it's not covering people who are

41:14 ↗ much more poor and or come from

41:17 ↗ generational poverty that prevents them

41:19 ↗ from even having access to banking thank

41:22 ↗ you

41:25 ↗ thank you lucrecia for that comment

41:28 ↗ um thank you so much

41:31 ↗ okay so board members Commissioners if

41:34 ↗ we might have five more minutes of your

41:36 ↗ time to give you just a brief overview

41:38 ↗ of another Human Services uh

41:42 ↗ um related program which is not a

41:45 ↗ program but it's our newest Equity it's

41:48 ↗ our newest board at the city and that's

41:50 ↗ an overview of the equity board

41:53 ↗ um

41:56 ↗ love to email put pretty on this I can

42:00 ↗ go ahead and get started with telling

42:03 ↗ you uh that

42:05 ↗ um

42:06 ↗ back in 2020 as I was the staff liaison

42:09 ↗ for the Human Services Commission uh the

42:12 ↗ Human Services Commission was

42:14 ↗ tasked with reviewing the role of

42:18 ↗ residents in the city's Equity

42:20 ↗ initiatives and so that started a

42:23 ↗ one-year

42:24 ↗ community-led conversation about what

42:27 ↗ roles should residents have in the

42:30 ↗ city's Equity initiatives

42:32 ↗ after that

42:34 ↗ a year-long of community conversations

42:37 ↗ and co-creations

42:39 ↗ the community proposed the creation of

42:41 ↗ an equity board to city council and now

42:45 ↗ that is history we have now an equity

42:47 ↗ board that's been in place for a little

42:48 ↗ bit over a year they launched in

42:51 ↗ November of 2021

42:53 ↗ so almost two years now in five six

42:56 ↗ months

42:58 ↗ um sorry my math problem is now right

42:59 ↗ there but

43:01 ↗ but that's uh in in essence the the

43:04 ↗ brief overview of how the equity board

43:06 ↗ was created

43:07 ↗ um at the city uh currently we have the

43:11 ↗ internal facing Equity initiatives are

43:14 ↗ led by our human resources uh Department

43:16 ↗ uh that also has used an equity

43:20 ↗ consultant and has an equity team the

43:22 ↗ community facing Equity initiatives have

43:25 ↗ uh been led by the Human Services

43:27 ↗ Division up to this point and we are

43:29 ↗ also Staffing the equity board currently

43:31 ↗ and you heard me talk about Community

43:33 ↗ conversations and events and we also are

43:36 ↗ involved in other local and Regional

43:38 ↗ groups focused on advancing equity

43:42 ↗ um so the really what I would like to

43:44 ↗ highlight before uh handing it over to

43:46 ↗ pretty a little bit is uh the the

43:48 ↗ objective and the the role of the equity

43:51 ↗ board really was to support and call and

43:54 ↗ cultivate the voices of the diverse

43:55 ↗ communities in Issaquah and it's an

43:58 ↗ Advisory Board to the mayor city council

44:00 ↗ and other City departments on a variety

44:03 ↗ of things from City plans policies

44:05 ↗ regulations programs related to equity

44:08 ↗ initiatives

44:10 ↗ um we would love to invite you have a

44:12 ↗ link to I'm not gonna go through the

44:14 ↗ entire board role

44:17 ↗ um but um it's a it's a unique board in

44:20 ↗ terms of membership uh this is the only

44:23 ↗ board that has a requirement to have a

44:25 ↗ majority of the board members be a bypoc

44:29 ↗ Representatives

44:31 ↗ um and um

44:33 ↗ I think it's a Forward Thinking

44:35 ↗ initiatives for the city uh for sure

44:38 ↗ compared to all other cities in in our

44:40 ↗ region

44:42 ↗ um the the work plan is developed in

44:46 ↗ following the city's wide work plan and

44:49 ↗ and budget process in collaboration with

44:52 ↗ other departments and City staff

44:54 ↗ and this is where I'm gonna invite

44:56 ↗ pretty to walk us through some of the

44:59 ↗ initiatives and work plan items in 2020

45:02 ↗ before on the board thanks Monica yeah I

45:05 ↗ was just looking through my notebook at

45:08 ↗ our first Equity board meeting where we

45:10 ↗ had a welcoming remarks by the mayor and

45:13 ↗ technical details about covid and the

45:15 ↗ open public meetings to kick us off in

45:17 ↗ November of 2021 and our first in-person

45:21 ↗ meeting was

45:22 ↗ a year ago

45:24 ↗ or in August

45:27 ↗ hybrid for 11 meetings now or so so it's

45:31 ↗ it's been a it's been a journey and um

45:33 ↗ all but three of our current members are

45:36 ↗ our founding members

45:39 ↗ um so in terms of our 2023 work plan

45:42 ↗ um we have a work plan items where

45:45 ↗ different uh departments have asked us

45:48 ↗ for uh advice or feedback on different

45:51 ↗ tools that they have so like that ADA

45:54 ↗ transition plan the public engagement

45:56 ↗ toolkit the capital Improvement plan

45:59 ↗ sustainable purchasing we've also

46:02 ↗ supported the rollout of the equity

46:04 ↗ framework as an equity analysis tool to

46:08 ↗ support programs policies other types of

46:11 ↗ implementation and planning uh the board

46:14 ↗ has also identified I think late last

46:17 ↗ year identified about four major work

46:20 ↗ plan areas to focus on this year as well

46:22 ↗ they're up on the slide but um there's a

46:25 ↗ certain pattern here but uh the first

46:28 ↗ three are related to exploring bias and

46:30 ↗ privilege so one is using data and

46:34 ↗ exploring that with different city

46:36 ↗ departments focusing on the police

46:40 ↗ department first that when the police

46:43 ↗ chief came and spoke with us that kind

46:45 ↗ of sparked the idea we're also

46:47 ↗ interested in exploring bias and

46:50 ↗ privilege and business and customer

46:51 ↗ service which we'd love to reach out and

46:54 ↗ connect more with you all on that topic

46:57 ↗ and then in general we've heard a lot of

47:01 ↗ incidences of bias and hate and so we

47:04 ↗ want to get a better understanding of

47:06 ↗ how prevalent that is is it increasing

47:09 ↗ what the trends are in Issaquah so we're

47:12 ↗ exploring a little bit more about that

47:14 ↗ topic and then we've uh along with the

47:18 ↗ human services department staff

47:20 ↗ partnered on different cultural

47:22 ↗ conversations most recently a gay pride

47:27 ↗ event or pride month event and then

47:29 ↗ Juneteenth event over at the community

47:31 ↗ center and there's more to account so

47:34 ↗ those are some of our work plan items

47:36 ↗ for the year

47:39 ↗ thank you pretty and with that board

47:40 ↗ members and Commissioners

47:42 ↗ if you have any questions

47:44 ↗ we would love to hear them otherwise we

47:47 ↗ would love to move on to hear from you

47:50 ↗ all

47:53 ↗ um just an idea in terms of additional

47:56 ↗ items to consider

47:58 ↗ um in Bellevue this has been something

48:01 ↗ that the police chief has represent has

48:03 ↗ mentioned and it could very well

48:05 ↗ transcend to Issaquah as well is

48:08 ↗ crime that is targeted towards certain

48:10 ↗ communities and protecting residents

48:14 ↗ from that so since you're already

48:17 ↗ collaborating with the pde Department it

48:19 ↗ might make sense to consider that as

48:21 ↗ well

48:32 ↗ and if there's no other questions or

48:34 ↗ comments we can move on to our next

48:36 ↗ agenda topic which is a Jen and Chris

48:40 ↗ talking about economic developments and

48:42 ↗ the economic fatality Commission

48:47 ↗ wonderful thank you very much and this

48:49 ↗ has been a great conversation so far and

48:51 ↗ it Blends in really nicely to now I'm

48:54 ↗ trying to figure out this in real time

48:57 ↗ um to the conversations that we would

48:59 ↗ like to have

49:01 ↗ um with you so

49:03 ↗ um uh it's always it's always wonderful

49:06 ↗ to go after Monica

49:08 ↗ um but it's also scary because she's

49:09 ↗ pretty amazing and what she does but she

49:11 ↗ also gives me ideas of what to include

49:13 ↗ in my presentation that I did not

49:14 ↗ include initially so again

49:16 ↗ um I'm Jen Davis Hayes an economic

49:18 ↗ development manager I have two of my

49:19 ↗ colleagues here Pharrell Antonio's to my

49:22 ↗ left here is economic development

49:23 ↗ coordinator and Juliana here is economic

49:27 ↗ development coordinator as well and we

49:28 ↗ can pass the mic to her um she'll be

49:30 ↗ speaking in our next presentation

49:33 ↗ um so when we uh I did not unfortunately

49:35 ↗ provide a nice overview of our depart

49:38 ↗ our division and when that started but

49:40 ↗ we our division started in 2012 we're

49:43 ↗ our own department at that time and in

49:45 ↗ 2020 we were reorganized into the

49:48 ↗ executive department which is also known

49:50 ↗ as the mayor's office and so that was

49:52 ↗ with two um two members and we added

49:57 ↗ Juliana's position this year as a

50:00 ↗ limited term employee for two years as

50:02 ↗ my role has begin to focus on

50:05 ↗ affordable Housing and Redevelopment in

50:07 ↗ central Issaquah area

50:09 ↗ um and so with that founding of the

50:12 ↗ department in 2012 the economic Vitality

50:15 ↗ commission was started that year as well

50:16 ↗ so

50:18 ↗ um in this presentation trying to give a

50:20 ↗ broad overview of uh kind of when people

50:24 ↗ think about economic vitality and

50:26 ↗ economic development in Issaquah I you

50:29 ↗ know we jokingly sometimes say

50:30 ↗ everything in in our community is about

50:33 ↗ economic Vitality so it's not just about

50:36 ↗ the businesses it's not just about the

50:38 ↗ jobs it's about education it's about

50:41 ↗ arts and culture it's about Equity it's

50:43 ↗ about feeling included people want to

50:46 ↗ live here people want to work here

50:48 ↗ because of multiple things and so while

50:51 ↗ we may be focused on

50:54 ↗ um you know businesses and providing

50:56 ↗ small businesses assistance it really is

50:58 ↗ important and we are and tangentially

51:00 ↗ involved in multiple other places so but

51:03 ↗ this just gives a quick overview again

51:06 ↗ of our major employers but to the point

51:10 ↗ of our previous public commenter there's

51:14 ↗ 2600 home-based businesses I'm sorry

51:17 ↗ home base and brick and mortar

51:19 ↗ businesses in Issaquah right so the

51:22 ↗ number of businesses that have more than

51:24 ↗ 75 employees

51:27 ↗ slower is sorry I do just I do speak

51:31 ↗ fast

51:32 ↗ um is pretty much represented here

51:33 ↗ there's some other businesses that are

51:35 ↗ above 75 employees but that just tells

51:37 ↗ you the majority of our businesses are

51:39 ↗ going to be your

51:41 ↗ home-based your 1 2 10 employee

51:45 ↗ businesses that's who we really provide

51:48 ↗ assistance to because while we love

51:52 ↗ Costco they really don't need our help

51:54 ↗ or our business assistance workshops to

51:57 ↗ help them succeed

51:59 ↗ um

52:01 ↗ uh my Commissioners always like to see

52:04 ↗ this yeah you have a question

52:10 ↗ I would like

52:15 ↗ sorry take these things

52:17 ↗ um

52:19 ↗ I would like to see the small businesses

52:21 ↗ identified as well I don't think I think

52:24 ↗ it's not equal treatment to have the

52:25 ↗ large businesses

52:27 ↗ identified for the Commissioners and

52:29 ↗ just the other ones just be small

52:30 ↗ business owner

52:32 ↗ okay so I'd like to see art by fire

52:34 ↗ there I'd like to see the other small

52:35 ↗ businesses identified specifically

52:42 ↗ um so this is uh from our commissioners

52:45 ↗ uh when I say it's here again this is an

52:48 ↗ image that once I discovered it I use

52:50 ↗ all the time and really talks about why

52:53 ↗ uh to do Economic Development so it's

52:57 ↗ um if you look at the on the right hand

52:59 ↗ side the business development side

53:00 ↗ that's what we as City staff and other

53:04 ↗ people who work in Economic Development

53:05 ↗ really can do to impact

53:08 ↗ um the the economic Vitality those of

53:11 ↗ you in the room that have businesses or

53:13 ↗ have been involved in businesses know

53:15 ↗ that you're the one every day making

53:17 ↗ those decisions and making

53:19 ↗ um creating those jobs but we can do

53:21 ↗ things such as marketing the community

53:22 ↗ again and looking at business attraction

53:26 ↗ how can we help uh maintain retain and

53:30 ↗ grow the businesses here and Export and

53:32 ↗ trade we do less here in Issaquah but in

53:34 ↗ other communities that's an important

53:35 ↗ thing but then as You Follow That circle

53:37 ↗ around it's why right so it's for job

53:40 ↗ creation which creates payroll and

53:42 ↗ capital Investments and then the

53:45 ↗ economic outcome really is what I care

53:47 ↗ about is the increased prosperity for

53:49 ↗ everybody the job opportunities for

53:51 ↗ everybody and increased standard living

53:52 ↗ for everybody so we're in a pretty

53:55 ↗ fortunate uh Community here where the

53:58 ↗ economic foundations we have are strong

54:00 ↗ but that does not mean we don't have

54:02 ↗ work to do to help bring all of our

54:04 ↗ community along there so again this is a

54:07 ↗ real you know a lot of times people

54:09 ↗ think about Economic Development as

54:10 ↗ giving away money to corporations to

54:13 ↗ businesses we have a state constitution

54:15 ↗ does not allow us to do incentives so we

54:18 ↗ my entire 20 plus years in Economic

54:20 ↗ Development here in this in the state

54:22 ↗ I've never been able to do that and I go

54:25 ↗ to other places and they talk about

54:27 ↗ you know being able to do those things

54:29 ↗ we have to rely on things that really

54:32 ↗ help businesses in different ways

54:35 ↗ so in general this is uh what we do in

54:39 ↗ Economic Development as a staff so again

54:41 ↗ we really try to be that first point of

54:43 ↗ contact for businesses so they may come

54:45 ↗ into the city through our permit Center

54:47 ↗ through our Police Department through

54:49 ↗ walking in the front front door through

54:52 ↗ our Arts commission you know Arts

54:53 ↗ connections whatever it may be but we're

54:55 ↗ here to help them get to get answers get

54:58 ↗ connected to people in the community

55:00 ↗ um and again mentioning retention and

55:02 ↗ expansion that is really the bread and

55:04 ↗ butter of Economic Development

55:06 ↗ attracting a business takes a lot more

55:08 ↗ time if any of you have employees you

55:10 ↗ know how hard it is to attract and to

55:12 ↗ get a new employee on board and

55:15 ↗ um and aware of of uh what to do in

55:18 ↗ their job but keeping your employees and

55:20 ↗ helping them grow is an easier job but

55:22 ↗ also keeps you know loyalty so that's

55:25 ↗ what we really focus on is retention and

55:27 ↗ expansion

55:28 ↗ uh tourism in partnership with our

55:31 ↗ commissioner here commissioner Gerard

55:32 ↗ who's with a visit Issaquah we have a

55:36 ↗ lodging tax advisory commit committee

55:38 ↗ that we are also staff and we look at

55:41 ↗ focusing on tourism for 50 miles plus

55:46 ↗ recruitment we partner with a regional

55:48 ↗ organization to do that but also we will

55:51 ↗ cold call anybody so if you have ideas

55:53 ↗ uh we're not we are not into trying to

55:57 ↗ steal other businesses but help them

55:58 ↗ grow and have a second or third location

56:00 ↗ in our community that is really for our

56:03 ↗ region that's what makes sense stealing

56:04 ↗ a business from Kent to Issaquah or

56:06 ↗ Issaquah to Kent it doesn't grow our

56:08 ↗ region and that's what's important and

56:10 ↗ then Workforce Development which really

56:13 ↗ you know is inclusive of our education

56:15 ↗ system and working with how to upskill

56:18 ↗ our current employees

56:22 ↗ um we unfortunately our work plan is is

56:26 ↗ often uh as other duties as assigned so

56:29 ↗ we put a few examples of things that we

56:32 ↗ do here but there may be some other

56:33 ↗ examples that you may have encountered

56:35 ↗ uh with our department the creative

56:38 ↗ district is something that Juliana

56:40 ↗ serves on the committee for the downtown

56:43 ↗ and Gilman area that is with the Arts

56:45 ↗ commission we have a small business

56:47 ↗ assistance program we really have

56:49 ↗ increased over the past uh three years

56:52 ↗ we have been a startup 425 founding

56:55 ↗ partner that's the East Side cities that

56:58 ↗ have collaborated with funding and

57:01 ↗ efforts to make sure we have small

57:02 ↗ businesses have workshops and other

57:05 ↗ assistance and during during the

57:06 ↗ pandemic that was our you know real

57:09 ↗ important resource to help businesses

57:11 ↗ and then we've also been involved in the

57:14 ↗ creation of the community business

57:15 ↗ connector program which again during the

57:19 ↗ pandemic and you probably know this I

57:21 ↗ yourself is that we relied on a lot of

57:23 ↗ people to get connected to those small

57:25 ↗ businesses and the businesses who were

57:26 ↗ not connected in those in within our

57:29 ↗ ecosystem already so we we turned to a

57:32 ↗ lot of non-profit organizations and and

57:34 ↗ they wanted to help their communities

57:36 ↗ and they did that during the pandemic

57:39 ↗ and what we then we as a region did for

57:44 ↗ King County was to create and invest

57:46 ↗ money in a community business connector

57:48 ↗ program which helped to

57:50 ↗ provide additional connections for those

57:52 ↗ who did not were not as connected into

57:54 ↗ the system because of language culture

57:56 ↗ whatever it may be geography

58:00 ↗ um and so those are now paid contracts

58:04 ↗ with non-profit organizations to provide

58:06 ↗ those Services

58:07 ↗ um and again I don't need to read

58:08 ↗ through all of these but Vision Partners

58:10 ↗ I'll just explain is an organization of

58:13 ↗ our our five Community organizations

58:15 ↗ including our economic Vitality

58:17 ↗ commission our Chamber of Commerce our

58:20 ↗ downtown Issaquah Association Issaquah

58:22 ↗ Highlands Council Gilman Village

58:24 ↗ Merchants Association and visit Issaquah

58:27 ↗ all those organizations work with touch

58:29 ↗ somehow with businesses and so we come

58:31 ↗ together on a monthly basis to really

58:33 ↗ make sure we're connected with what's

58:35 ↗ going on and are able to adjust as

58:38 ↗ necessary

58:39 ↗ um and again we're here tonight to talk

58:42 ↗ about our economic development plan

58:43 ↗ update so

58:45 ↗ um and here's the lovely pictures of

58:47 ↗ ourselves you get to see them in person

58:49 ↗ for those who are here but um the most

58:51 ↗ important one is that bottom left hand

58:53 ↗ corner is is everybody that's here today

58:55 ↗ because because economic Vitality is

58:58 ↗ everything and and we 2600 businesses we

59:02 ↗ don't know all 2 600. we don't know when

59:05 ↗ somebody's having a problem so if we say

59:08 ↗ this to our you know peers in our city

59:11 ↗ to everybody we talk to please do not

59:14 ↗ hesitate to send somebody our way

59:17 ↗ um you know we are here to help and to

59:20 ↗ be able to offer assistance and even if

59:24 ↗ if not about a question that we can

59:26 ↗ answer we will help make that connection

59:28 ↗ so that's really

59:30 ↗ um how we're going to be successful

59:33 ↗ I'm gonna then pass it over to our chair

59:36 ↗ uh Chris richly

59:38 ↗ um I did hear on this slide just went

59:39 ↗ and put where people are from again

59:41 ↗ because of the diversity of economic

59:43 ↗ Vitality to kind of show you where

59:45 ↗ people may work and or represent on our

59:48 ↗ commission so thank you Chris

59:50 ↗ thank you Jen and thank you

59:53 ↗ um my name is Chris richly commission uh

59:55 ↗ chair of the economic Vitality

59:57 ↗ commission for the city of esqua thank

1:00:00 ↗ you Equity board to inviting us this

1:00:03 ↗ meeting to go over the economic

1:00:04 ↗ development plan as you can see like Jen

1:00:06 ↗ said we have a diverse background of

1:00:08 ↗ different businesses business owners

1:00:10 ↗ representatives and and also you know

1:00:13 ↗ diversity within ourselves on our

1:00:16 ↗ commission from Thomas Brown with Costco

1:00:18 ↗ we have Landon who's the East Side he's

1:00:21 ↗ one of our newest Commissioners Landon's

1:00:24 ↗ Eastside Catholic uh teacher and also

1:00:26 ↗ part of deca art freeze as you've seen

1:00:29 ↗ art by fire he's a small business owner

1:00:31 ↗ right downtown if you haven't been to

1:00:32 ↗ his glass shop go to squash shop and

1:00:34 ↗ learn how to blow some glass and also

1:00:36 ↗ it's part of the creative District right

1:00:38 ↗ Christy Garda who's visited Issaquah

1:00:41 ↗ director and so she's recently you know

1:00:44 ↗ gotten that and really done a really

1:00:46 ↗ good job of looking at you know how do

1:00:48 ↗ we attract

1:00:49 ↗ tourism to Issaquah how do we include

1:00:51 ↗ small business how does that incorporate

1:00:53 ↗ diversity how does it incorporate

1:00:55 ↗ different demographics within you know

1:00:57 ↗ Esquire what does this call would only

1:00:59 ↗ be known for right to attract those

1:01:01 ↗ businesses and and people to come visit

1:01:03 ↗ us and want to stay uh Jennifer Larson

1:01:06 ↗ part of San Mar right here in our in our

1:01:08 ↗ room uh Kimberly Lee Lakeside Industries

1:01:11 ↗ we have a developer on on on staff you

1:01:14 ↗ know as far as commission

1:01:16 ↗ um Ashwin small business owner of the

1:01:18 ↗ Chevron and uh your Tech business and a

1:01:21 ↗ vitamin shop so he owns three businesses

1:01:23 ↗ so I mean we we got a lot of business

1:01:25 ↗ Insight we got Nicoletta she's also not

1:01:27 ↗ present but she is a small business

1:01:29 ↗ owner as well myself I manage the

1:01:32 ↗ Harborstone Credit Union up in the

1:01:33 ↗ highlands been in banking for over 20

1:01:35 ↗ years and small business when I come

1:01:37 ↗ from a small business family

1:01:40 ↗ um we have uh Anew who's one of our

1:01:43 ↗ commissioners new Commissioners this

1:01:44 ↗ year she's also a part of I can't I

1:01:47 ↗ can't even say your name what's the name

1:01:48 ↗ Dolores and then we also have uh AJ

1:01:52 ↗ who's part of Microsoft been in

1:01:54 ↗ Microsoft for a while so as you can see

1:01:55 ↗ again abroad diversity and then we have

1:01:58 ↗ John provola who's been everywhere I

1:02:01 ↗ forgot Jones sorry retired realtor and

1:02:03 ↗ actually been on almost every commission

1:02:05 ↗ that I can think of in the city so great

1:02:07 ↗ Insight on Arts great Insight on what's

1:02:09 ↗ Happening Community part of Kiwanis Club

1:02:12 ↗ in in just a big

1:02:14 ↗ um

1:02:15 ↗ oh and Dia downtown so a lot of there so

1:02:21 ↗ uh let's see what do we got cat I'm

1:02:23 ↗ sorry our commission objectives so we

1:02:24 ↗ act as a catalyst between the city

1:02:26 ↗ council same similar to you but we we

1:02:29 ↗ act as Catalyst between the city council

1:02:31 ↗ developers residents and the business

1:02:33 ↗ Community to expand the improved

1:02:35 ↗ economic climate of issquare within the

1:02:37 ↗ context of the city commitment

1:02:40 ↗ to Social and environmental objectives

1:02:42 ↗ so what does that mean in a nutshell we

1:02:44 ↗ basically help everything business and

1:02:46 ↗ how to develop it you know who's here

1:02:49 ↗ our residents we talk to community what

1:02:51 ↗ kind of businesses would you like to see

1:02:53 ↗ within escrow what kind of you know what

1:02:56 ↗ are you seeing that you don't like why

1:02:58 ↗ you know we talk to businesses what what

1:03:00 ↗ keeps you here what's going to make you

1:03:01 ↗ leave what's going to help you go you

1:03:03 ↗ know grow your business and then so

1:03:05 ↗ forth so we we

1:03:08 ↗ are more of a

1:03:10 ↗ I should I say

1:03:13 ↗ that's what I'm looking for yeah there

1:03:15 ↗ you go Advisory Board more than a

1:03:17 ↗ development board we're more of an

1:03:18 ↗ Advisory Board to that

1:03:20 ↗ uh some past EV projects that we've done

1:03:23 ↗ for the economic commission uh economic

1:03:25 ↗ quality commission we worked on creating

1:03:27 ↗ an economic development planning

1:03:28 ↗ strategy from 2014 to 2018 since it's

1:03:31 ↗ been developed uh that's what we're

1:03:33 ↗ currently working on now is the new Ed

1:03:35 ↗ plan

1:03:37 ↗ um responded to council's requests and

1:03:39 ↗ certain things for Central Issaquah uh

1:03:41 ↗ Catalyst project

1:03:43 ↗ we've also helped on providing feedback

1:03:46 ↗ on the recent business license code

1:03:49 ↗ update there's several codes that need

1:03:51 ↗ to be updated within the business

1:03:52 ↗ licensing but also we looked at you know

1:03:54 ↗ diversity and objectives around you know

1:03:57 ↗ verbiages it made sense back then but

1:03:59 ↗ now do we make them current for the

1:04:01 ↗ current work status and how do we make

1:04:03 ↗ it current so it's easier to read and

1:04:04 ↗ easier to get by for for businesses to

1:04:07 ↗ understand and not so complex

1:04:09 ↗ we provided input on Title 18 land use

1:04:12 ↗ code update we looked at several things

1:04:14 ↗ as far as how do we we had different

1:04:16 ↗ advisory boards come to us and ask what

1:04:18 ↗ are our business wanting what are our

1:04:19 ↗ businesses seeing as far as development

1:04:21 ↗ and the use of that land and does it

1:04:23 ↗ make sense now again for the current

1:04:25 ↗ times or the later times

1:04:27 ↗ and as you can see we've

1:04:29 ↗ um nope you're good well you can go

1:04:31 ↗ forward so the new plan for 2023 we are

1:04:34 ↗ working on a current economic

1:04:35 ↗ development plan action plan as we speak

1:04:38 ↗ we have a business leadership Forum that

1:04:41 ↗ we put together April and then we have

1:04:43 ↗ one coming up in September that

1:04:46 ↗ basically the first one we had in April

1:04:48 ↗ was up in the esqua islands we brought

1:04:50 ↗ together several city

1:04:53 ↗ um

1:04:54 ↗ different partners within the city we

1:04:56 ↗ had developers we had the police we had

1:04:59 ↗ the fire department we had different bit

1:05:01 ↗ we had two different small business

1:05:04 ↗ groups that helped with Small Business

1:05:06 ↗ Development and just business plan

1:05:07 ↗ development and whatnot we had EV

1:05:10 ↗ Commissioners present we had small

1:05:12 ↗ business President we had the mayor

1:05:14 ↗ president everybody we had permitting

1:05:15 ↗ president so we put everybody together

1:05:17 ↗ in one room for the public and small

1:05:19 ↗ businesses to come see

1:05:21 ↗ the one that we have in September coming

1:05:24 ↗ up sound Mar is going to happily

1:05:26 ↗ host us is going to be more for the

1:05:29 ↗ bigger opportunities for the business

1:05:30 ↗ owners to come in and we can talk to

1:05:32 ↗ them about the economic development plan

1:05:34 ↗ around

1:05:35 ↗ you know retention future expansion how

1:05:38 ↗ could we work on working with their

1:05:40 ↗ vendors if it's Costco on bringing their

1:05:43 ↗ vendors into Issaquah or or is it more

1:05:46 ↗ expansion as far as how we can help them

1:05:48 ↗ with hiring and development and whatnot

1:05:51 ↗ um so that's that next leadership board

1:05:52 ↗ then we have business retention and

1:05:55 ↗ expansion visits so as Commissioners we

1:05:58 ↗ have different Commissioners go out with

1:05:59 ↗ City staff and development and we talk

1:06:02 ↗ to small businesses because a lot of

1:06:03 ↗ times they won't talk to City staff

1:06:05 ↗ they'll talk to the commissioner but

1:06:06 ↗ maybe they think all the city's not

1:06:08 ↗ going to talk to us but they'll reach

1:06:10 ↗ out to the Commissioners and we can ask

1:06:12 ↗ those questions around you know again

1:06:15 ↗ how could we help support you what what

1:06:17 ↗ are you looking for in Issaquah what's

1:06:20 ↗ the future look like for you are you in

1:06:21 ↗ trouble are you not what can we do to

1:06:23 ↗ support your growth and expansion and

1:06:25 ↗ retention of employees and keep them

1:06:27 ↗ here and prosper

1:06:29 ↗ and then coordinate with the creative

1:06:31 ↗ district for Recruitment and marketing

1:06:33 ↗ you're trying to look at what are we

1:06:34 ↗ known for you know are we known for

1:06:36 ↗ sports medicine like the old Ed plan are

1:06:39 ↗ we looking for Creative Arts and

1:06:41 ↗ Industry and different small business

1:06:42 ↗ opportunities that we have within the

1:06:44 ↗ city

1:06:45 ↗ and then coordinating with our vision

1:06:46 ↗ partners so as Jen mentioned we may

1:06:48 ↗ monthly it's a working meeting believe

1:06:51 ↗ it or not but we do get in front of

1:06:54 ↗ economic Vitality was really important

1:06:56 ↗ to get in front of as well as with visit

1:06:58 ↗ Issaquah you're looking at Downtown iska

1:07:01 ↗ Association Gilman Village and really

1:07:03 ↗ getting the heart and pulse of what's

1:07:05 ↗ going on business-wise and what the

1:07:07 ↗ future does look like and the input for

1:07:09 ↗ that

1:07:17 ↗ thank you commissioner richly are there

1:07:20 ↗ any questions comments if not we'll move

1:07:23 ↗ on to the Ed plan but I want to pause

1:07:26 ↗ allow any questions and I am sorry for

1:07:28 ↗ speaking so fast so I will try to

1:07:30 ↗ continue to slow down

1:07:33 ↗ I know our commissioners pretty much

1:07:35 ↗ have seen this presentation in one

1:07:37 ↗ format or another in orientation or such

1:07:40 ↗ I just have a quick question so I am one

1:07:44 ↗ of the 2600 people or business in

1:07:46 ↗ Issaquah because I have a business

1:07:48 ↗ license in Issaquah but I have my

1:07:51 ↗ business in Renton and I can't couldn't

1:07:54 ↗ get a business license in Renton unless

1:07:57 ↗ I had a business license in Issaquah

1:08:00 ↗ so when you talk about 2600 businesses

1:08:03 ↗ do you kind of separate and look at

1:08:08 ↗ you know

1:08:09 ↗ where it's coming from or if they're you

1:08:11 ↗ know contributing to the economic

1:08:13 ↗ development of Issaquah

1:08:15 ↗ yes thank you and so um that is correct

1:08:17 ↗ so anybody who comes in and does

1:08:19 ↗ business in Issaquah so you hire a

1:08:22 ↗ plumber from out of town they have to

1:08:24 ↗ have an Issaquah business license we are

1:08:26 ↗ not counting those in the 2600 so those

1:08:28 ↗ are physically home-based or brick and

1:08:32 ↗ mortar businesses 2600 otherwise yeah

1:08:34 ↗ there's about 7 000 or so each year that

1:08:37 ↗ again people come in to do business that

1:08:39 ↗ have to have a business license

1:08:41 ↗ um in here too in the city

1:08:44 ↗ yes art this quick question do you have

1:08:47 ↗ a number for the number of businesses

1:08:49 ↗ that are paying tax in Issaquah

1:08:52 ↗ like sales tax or bno tax we could

1:08:55 ↗ probably find that out so there is a

1:08:57 ↗ threshold of if you're making a hundred

1:08:59 ↗ thousand dollars or less you do you do

1:09:01 ↗ not pay business and occupation tax

1:09:03 ↗ sales tax of course goes to the state

1:09:05 ↗ and then we get a proportion back

1:09:07 ↗ um and I don't think there's an

1:09:08 ↗ exemption for that but we can find that

1:09:11 ↗ out

1:09:12 ↗ good question

1:09:18 ↗ okay seeing no other questions is there

1:09:21 ↗ somebody else okay so we'll dive into uh

1:09:24 ↗ what we're here to talk about tonight uh

1:09:26 ↗ again on your list of people who've come

1:09:29 ↗ in front of the equity board to get

1:09:30 ↗ input

1:09:31 ↗ um hopefully you get to add a now about

1:09:34 ↗ the economic development plan and so as

1:09:37 ↗ you may have seen on the things that the

1:09:39 ↗ commission did in the past so when the

1:09:41 ↗ the commission started at the end of

1:09:43 ↗ 2012 one of the things they did in 2013

1:09:46 ↗ and into 2014 was to create the first

1:09:49 ↗ economic development plan for the

1:09:53 ↗ department and so really it was an

1:09:55 ↗ important opportunity to as new

1:09:58 ↗ Commissioners new staff to go okay who

1:10:00 ↗ who's out there who are those 2600

1:10:02 ↗ businesses who are those

1:10:04 ↗ um who's in the community now and what

1:10:06 ↗ do they need and so it was a looking

1:10:09 ↗ back on that work and the SWAT this the

1:10:12 ↗ strength weaknesses opportunities and

1:10:15 ↗ threats they did then was really

1:10:16 ↗ interesting because it hasn't changed

1:10:18 ↗ but of course things have changed so we

1:10:22 ↗ are um uh we are here tonight to talk

1:10:26 ↗ about the update of our action plan now

1:10:28 ↗ because

1:10:30 ↗ um does that do not share twice because

1:10:35 ↗ um

1:10:36 ↗ the uh the plan was through 2018

1:10:41 ↗ and as I mentioned we were a department

1:10:43 ↗ we got reorganized into a division our

1:10:47 ↗ plan was to update our plan was to

1:10:50 ↗ update our plan our plan was to update

1:10:52 ↗ our economic development plan after the

1:10:54 ↗ city did a strategic plan which its

1:10:56 ↗ first one in 2019. so in 2020 we were

1:10:59 ↗ going to update our plan so now you know

1:11:02 ↗ why we haven't done it till now

1:11:04 ↗ um and one of the things we as we were

1:11:06 ↗ talking about

1:11:08 ↗ still feels that our businesses and

1:11:10 ↗ what's happening in our business

1:11:11 ↗ community and and climate it's still not

1:11:15 ↗ solid quote-unquote back to normal right

1:11:17 ↗ so for us to create a longer term plan

1:11:20 ↗ uh thinking about five years out it just

1:11:23 ↗ feels like we're not there yet and I

1:11:24 ↗ think nowadays especially with other

1:11:26 ↗ strategic planning efforts you realize

1:11:28 ↗ that you know it's better to think short

1:11:30 ↗ term think about those long-term goals

1:11:32 ↗ but what are those short-term things to

1:11:33 ↗ get there so that's really why we're

1:11:35 ↗ looking at this action plan and so we

1:11:39 ↗ want to tell you a little bit about the

1:11:40 ↗ plan where we're at we're the very

1:11:42 ↗ beginning of it and then gather feedback

1:11:45 ↗ and input on the process and we want to

1:11:49 ↗ hear from you right so this is the

1:11:51 ↗ opportunity for our commissioners to

1:11:54 ↗ hear from Equity board members and then

1:11:58 ↗ you know be able to ask those follow-up

1:12:00 ↗ questions so you may be seeing our

1:12:02 ↗ commissioners not as as active in these

1:12:04 ↗ questions because they're here to listen

1:12:06 ↗ and then follow up you know going okay

1:12:09 ↗ what did you mean by that or what do you

1:12:10 ↗ think about that so um that's really our

1:12:14 ↗ purpose tonight and and you'll see in

1:12:16 ↗ the slides I said and other things to

1:12:19 ↗ consider because really this is not a we

1:12:21 ↗ are not baked this is what we're doing

1:12:23 ↗ this is what we've done we really value

1:12:26 ↗ your partnership and your ability to

1:12:29 ↗ um provide that input and we're willing

1:12:31 ↗ to and want to listen

1:12:33 ↗ so um this is again that 2015 to 2018 uh

1:12:38 ↗ strategic plan the big plan goal areas

1:12:40 ↗ and as the public commenter mentioned

1:12:43 ↗ before I neglected to put the

1:12:46 ↗ comprehensive plan here but at the same

1:12:48 ↗ time we were creating this the

1:12:49 ↗ comprehensive plan was being updated and

1:12:51 ↗ we utilized these goals at a higher

1:12:54 ↗ level so these same concepts are

1:12:56 ↗ currently in our comprehensive plan and

1:12:58 ↗ we anticipate that that's not going to

1:13:00 ↗ change drastically now that may change

1:13:02 ↗ you know the comprehensive plan is a 20

1:13:05 ↗ 30-year plan document that you want to

1:13:08 ↗ have those High arching goals

1:13:10 ↗ um but you obviously want to change

1:13:12 ↗ according to how your community is

1:13:13 ↗ changing so there may be some

1:13:15 ↗ adjustments there but what we and the

1:13:17 ↗ comprehensive plan is at one level the

1:13:19 ↗ cities as you plan at the next level Ed

1:13:21 ↗ plan at the next level so

1:13:23 ↗ um she was right that there's this hot

1:13:25 ↗ you know order of of kind of thinking

1:13:27 ↗ about vision and such and so encourage

1:13:29 ↗ you to think think about that as you

1:13:31 ↗ move forward but again

1:13:34 ↗ um you know our the plan goals and these

1:13:35 ↗ are kind of quote-unquote fancy words

1:13:37 ↗ where successful business environment

1:13:39 ↗ just means that people are being able to

1:13:41 ↗ start their business and grow their

1:13:43 ↗ business here promote value proposition

1:13:45 ↗ at the time we're like why would people

1:13:47 ↗ want to come to do business here in

1:13:48 ↗ Issaquah what is that about and where

1:13:50 ↗ and so that was about the recruiting and

1:13:53 ↗ the marketing of who we are and what

1:13:55 ↗ what we're about as far as a community

1:13:57 ↗ Workhorse and development housing that's

1:13:59 ↗ self-explanatory it's still something

1:14:01 ↗ that's important and a Vibrant Community

1:14:03 ↗ which is kind of all those other things

1:14:05 ↗ that really make why people want to be

1:14:07 ↗ here so those were our main goal our

1:14:09 ↗ main focus points and I think again they

1:14:11 ↗ will continue to be maybe some nuanced

1:14:14 ↗ changes

1:14:15 ↗ this is a lot of words on this slide but

1:14:18 ↗ again this is our city strategic plan

1:14:20 ↗ and we are under the social economic

1:14:23 ↗ Vitality goal and there is one objective

1:14:27 ↗ um so uh they're talking about an

1:14:29 ↗ increase in new and existing businesses

1:14:32 ↗ that choose to locate an expand in

1:14:34 ↗ Issaquah

1:14:35 ↗ especially those with wage levels that

1:14:37 ↗ enable workers to also live in the

1:14:39 ↗ community it is a mouthful it is

1:14:41 ↗ something that you can probably won't be

1:14:43 ↗ able to get out in an elevator speech

1:14:45 ↗ but the idea is that unfortunately I

1:14:49 ↗ think it feels like you're putting a lot

1:14:49 ↗ of things into one sentence but we want

1:14:52 ↗ to look at if we're attracting employers

1:14:54 ↗ here we want to think about the wage

1:14:56 ↗ levels they are providing that people

1:14:58 ↗ who are working in our community can

1:15:01 ↗ afford to live in our community as well

1:15:02 ↗ so that is one aspect of it doesn't mean

1:15:05 ↗ that's our only thing that we're doing

1:15:07 ↗ but at a city strategic level

1:15:10 ↗ plan what as level that's what was

1:15:12 ↗ important in 2019

1:15:14 ↗ again I think I saw in this very Council

1:15:18 ↗ room virtually

1:15:20 ↗ um the pivot that our council did about

1:15:21 ↗ really supporting our current uh

1:15:24 ↗ businesses and how important they are

1:15:25 ↗ and the real like recognizing that and

1:15:27 ↗ investing in that

1:15:30 ↗ um and this might be a little small to

1:15:31 ↗ see on the screen sorry about that so

1:15:33 ↗ our Economic Development action plan was

1:15:35 ↗ funded this year

1:15:37 ↗ um and we'll have some additional

1:15:38 ↗ resources to implement in 2024 so we did

1:15:42 ↗ an RFQ and we hired Community attributes

1:15:45 ↗ Inc so Cai

1:15:47 ↗ um that is a consultant firm that

1:15:49 ↗ actually even though we we received

1:15:51 ↗ about nine applicants uh we uh worked

1:15:55 ↗ with them on the getting data for us in

1:15:58 ↗ our past strategic plan uh we are

1:16:01 ↗ focused on the next one to three years

1:16:02 ↗ again because the ever-changing position

1:16:04 ↗ we're in right now our economic Vitality

1:16:08 ↗ commission serves as that Advisory Group

1:16:10 ↗ to that to this plan although we have

1:16:12 ↗ lots of other opportunities for input so

1:16:15 ↗ we're we with our Consultants are doing

1:16:17 ↗ one-on-one interviews we're doing focus

1:16:20 ↗ groups uh we're about to launch a

1:16:22 ↗ resident focused survey and a business

1:16:24 ↗ small business focused survey and then

1:16:27 ↗ we're also doing and those those surveys

1:16:29 ↗ are in Spanish translating to Spanish

1:16:31 ↗ and Mandarin and we're also doing office

1:16:34 ↗ hours in the community so you'll see one

1:16:37 ↗ of us sitting there with a sign at a

1:16:39 ↗ coffee shop a Krispy Kreme at some all

1:16:42 ↗ places around town there's probably

1:16:43 ↗ about six of them I believe we're doing

1:16:45 ↗ we're doing so like 12 to 15 hours of

1:16:49 ↗ sitting in the community letting people

1:16:50 ↗ know we're there starting up a

1:16:52 ↗ conversation with people didn't know we

1:16:53 ↗ were there and just really having the

1:16:55 ↗ opportunity for people to ask questions

1:16:57 ↗ and we'll be able to whether it's about

1:17:00 ↗ the plan whether it's about a workshop

1:17:02 ↗ or you know I'm thinking about starting

1:17:03 ↗ a business where do I start do I need to

1:17:05 ↗ have a business license in issaquad what

1:17:06 ↗ do I need those type of questions are

1:17:08 ↗ asked over and over again

1:17:10 ↗ um and then a couple other things so

1:17:12 ↗ we're doing Joint Commission meetings

1:17:14 ↗ with Arts commission we did that in June

1:17:16 ↗ and Equity board which we're here

1:17:18 ↗ tonight and I wrote commission sorry

1:17:19 ↗ about that

1:17:20 ↗ and then we are also looking at we have

1:17:23 ↗ 2014 data economic data yeah that's

1:17:26 ↗ that's sad right so we are looking at

1:17:28 ↗ updating that data to learn more about

1:17:30 ↗ those 2600 businesses that are here

1:17:33 ↗ um and with that we do we do know that

1:17:35 ↗ it's challenging to get good data for a

1:17:38 ↗ couple of reasons but

1:17:40 ↗ um does the data sources aren't caught

1:17:42 ↗ up so we're gonna a lot of the data is

1:17:43 ↗ gonna be from 2020 which again we know

1:17:46 ↗ things have changed even that short

1:17:47 ↗ amount of time

1:17:49 ↗ um when we talk about the equity lens as

1:17:51 ↗ we have gone through this process so the

1:17:53 ↗ the image to the

1:17:56 ↗ um left is what was actually in our the

1:17:59 ↗ Consultants

1:18:00 ↗ um proposal response to our RFQ

1:18:04 ↗ um and it really it's hard to see but

1:18:06 ↗ there's a ribbon that says equity and

1:18:07 ↗ inclusion which goes over the work they

1:18:09 ↗ do so it's not a separate oh and we want

1:18:13 ↗ to focus on equity and inclusion it's

1:18:15 ↗ part of what they do throughout the way

1:18:16 ↗ but just to step back for a second we as

1:18:19 ↗ the three of us took our City's Equity

1:18:22 ↗ framework and reviewed it as we walk

1:18:24 ↗ through it as we created the RFQ ask

1:18:27 ↗ those questions

1:18:30 ↗ um and then we also ensured there were a

1:18:32 ↗ few interview questions to every

1:18:34 ↗ panelist and as we're looking at the

1:18:38 ↗ scope we made sure that we asked those

1:18:40 ↗ questions again from the equity

1:18:42 ↗ framework and how are we ensuring that

1:18:45 ↗ we're going to achieve what we wanted to

1:18:47 ↗ achieve and then looking at the Outreach

1:18:49 ↗ we are again not just talking to Costco

1:18:52 ↗ and and other large businesses but we

1:18:56 ↗ really are looking at how can we make

1:18:58 ↗ sure that we reach the small businesses

1:19:00 ↗ the entrepreneurs who are thinking about

1:19:02 ↗ starting businesses so and then you see

1:19:04 ↗ again other ideas and that's one of the

1:19:06 ↗ things we're here to talk to you about

1:19:07 ↗ to make sure we don't miss out so I am

1:19:11 ↗ going to oh and so um the timeline we're

1:19:15 ↗ looking at we're doing Outreach we're

1:19:17 ↗ just starting Outreach June in July the

1:19:20 ↗ plan will be you know kind of drafted

1:19:23 ↗ August September and finalized through

1:19:25 ↗ November

1:19:26 ↗ um so it's a quick one again we're not

1:19:28 ↗ looking at recreating the wheel we're

1:19:30 ↗ looking at what's needed to be done and

1:19:32 ↗ where are those focuses that we as staff

1:19:35 ↗ and we as partners need to do for the

1:19:38 ↗ next few years so I'm going to turn it

1:19:41 ↗ over I'm going to pause for questions

1:19:42 ↗ but I'm going to turn it over to my

1:19:44 ↗ colleagues to uh then uh to ask the

1:19:47 ↗ discussion questions so are there any

1:19:49 ↗ questions in the room or on this on uh

1:19:53 ↗ on Virtual

1:19:55 ↗ up to this point

1:19:59 ↗ uh Kelly Munn Equity committee um

1:20:03 ↗ you had on there that you did the equity

1:20:05 ↗ framework on your RFQ

1:20:08 ↗ was there anything in particular that

1:20:10 ↗ you that stood out that was useful to

1:20:13 ↗ you in using the tool and was there

1:20:16 ↗ anything in particular that challenged

1:20:18 ↗ you in the tool

1:20:21 ↗ what a great question yes and yes

1:20:24 ↗ um I know that you guys have had a lot

1:20:26 ↗ of conversations about the equity

1:20:27 ↗ framework and

1:20:30 ↗ um and as I also serve on the internal

1:20:32 ↗ Equity team so I know that you know

1:20:34 ↗ looking at that is it's super important

1:20:37 ↗ I think one of the the

1:20:40 ↗ the the the actual

1:20:43 ↗ um saying let's here here's a piece of

1:20:45 ↗ paper with some questions most helpful

1:20:46 ↗ right because

1:20:48 ↗ he may be thinking about Equity

1:20:49 ↗ inclusion different I may be thinking

1:20:51 ↗ about different she may be thinking

1:20:52 ↗ about differently so having something

1:20:53 ↗ that's okay here's the things we need to

1:20:55 ↗ consider and we all bring in our own

1:20:56 ↗ other aspects of it so that was really

1:20:58 ↗ helpful

1:20:59 ↗ um I think one of the challenges and

1:21:01 ↗ this is not about the framework but is

1:21:02 ↗ that it asks questions that we didn't

1:21:04 ↗ have data for right and then that

1:21:06 ↗ sometimes made you feel stuck and felt

1:21:09 ↗ like can I move forward unless I had

1:21:11 ↗ these answers and you know after more

1:21:13 ↗ conversation you're like okay no but we

1:21:15 ↗ need to how can we get that data right

1:21:17 ↗ so that actually forced us to kind of

1:21:18 ↗ think about how to do that and sometimes

1:21:20 ↗ data just isn't available

1:21:23 ↗ um but

1:21:24 ↗ um and yeah I think there's some other

1:21:25 ↗ feedback uh you know about just

1:21:29 ↗ uh the the framework that I think again

1:21:32 ↗ first time using it second time using is

1:21:34 ↗ a little easier but I think there's some

1:21:35 ↗ other things that probably could be you

1:21:37 ↗ know as you use it you get a little bit

1:21:39 ↗ more familiar but also figure out what

1:21:42 ↗ things and how to do it better I don't

1:21:44 ↗ know if Pharrell or Juliana want to add

1:21:46 ↗ anything to that because we sat there

1:21:48 ↗ and you know Shrugged through those 13

1:21:50 ↗ questions

1:21:52 ↗ yeah my name is the economic development

1:21:57 ↗ coordinator with the city of issaqua so

1:21:59 ↗ what I can add to that is and first let

1:22:02 ↗ me take you back because we had like

1:22:05 ↗ 10

1:22:07 ↗ 10

1:22:08 ↗ we had 10 applications and in the 10

1:22:11 ↗ application I think few of them just tap

1:22:14 ↗ uh on Equity Equity land so we were

1:22:17 ↗ trying also to iron them out because our

1:22:19 ↗ main focus is that Equity piece

1:22:22 ↗ does this consultant outline this

1:22:26 ↗ the way that we want it so we we tend to

1:22:29 ↗ uh highlight

1:22:32 ↗ the ones that mentioned the equity lens

1:22:34 ↗ and Equity forecast in the process and

1:22:37 ↗ we invite them for the interview so our

1:22:39 ↗ main goal is the equity place we are

1:22:40 ↗ taking we are treating it as a serious

1:22:42 ↗ aspect within the city we support

1:22:46 ↗ and I just wanted to add this is Juliana

1:22:48 ↗ to Chris uh staff with the City of

1:22:51 ↗ Issaquah and I wanted to add that the

1:22:53 ↗ redundancy of some of the questions was

1:22:55 ↗ actually quite helpful because it kind

1:22:57 ↗ of just tried to give you more angles to

1:23:00 ↗ get at that same question so I found

1:23:01 ↗ that really helpful of giving new light

1:23:04 ↗ to the same idea but one challenge which

1:23:08 ↗ Jen highlighted was am I absolutely

1:23:10 ↗ convinced that my opinion captures the

1:23:14 ↗ diversity of the community and the

1:23:15 ↗ answer was no and so it could feel a

1:23:18 ↗ little paralyzing and so we just wanted

1:23:20 ↗ to keep that limitation in mind as we

1:23:23 ↗ move forward but just being mindful that

1:23:25 ↗ that could feel like an insurmountable

1:23:27 ↗ barrier

1:23:31 ↗ yeah thanks for that question I believe

1:23:33 ↗ there is

1:23:35 ↗ Christina

1:23:38 ↗ see um

1:23:52 ↗ yes I was just wondering are there any

1:23:54 ↗ programs that focus on uh encouraging

1:23:57 ↗ minorities to open businesses or are

1:24:00 ↗ there leaders for for that Focus or will

1:24:04 ↗ there be in the future

1:24:06 ↗ thanks Christina that's a really great

1:24:08 ↗ question and so one of the programs that

1:24:11 ↗ we were involved in was is called the

1:24:12 ↗ community business connector program and

1:24:14 ↗ it's king county-wide and they we have

1:24:17 ↗ hired through that program and so I'm

1:24:20 ↗ going to say we I mean our community our

1:24:22 ↗ regional uh Partners have hired

1:24:25 ↗ organizations uh focused that do reach

1:24:28 ↗ out and speak Spanish and from the

1:24:30 ↗ Spanish Community as well as other

1:24:32 ↗ languages include including Korean some

1:24:36 ↗ um and some other languages I can't

1:24:37 ↗ remember all the languages right now but

1:24:38 ↗ that are specifically focused on

1:24:43 ↗ um small businesses how to start a

1:24:45 ↗ business how to grow a business

1:24:47 ↗ um the startup 425 program again we

1:24:50 ↗ stepped back and said okay

1:24:52 ↗ all these things have happened since

1:24:53 ↗ 2020

1:24:54 ↗ what we were doing at as workshops in a

1:24:58 ↗ library in the evening does that make

1:25:01 ↗ sense anymore and we said no

1:25:03 ↗ uh so we we worked with our city

1:25:07 ↗ Partners so that includes Bellevue uh

1:25:10 ↗ Renton Redmond Kirkland and ourselves to

1:25:13 ↗ set to revamp and to really refocus and

1:25:17 ↗ and uh host different events with

1:25:21 ↗ different community-based organizations

1:25:22 ↗ to get out to those who may not

1:25:25 ↗ automatically read the business e-news

1:25:29 ↗ and know to come to this Workshop so

1:25:31 ↗ it's still a work in progress we we

1:25:33 ↗ every day try to do what we can we also

1:25:37 ↗ one of the things that was not included

1:25:39 ↗ on this slide is during covid we applied

1:25:42 ↗ for federal fund fun funding to do

1:25:45 ↗ business micro Enterprise Outreach and

1:25:49 ↗ so that's for businesses with five

1:25:51 ↗ employees or less that including the

1:25:53 ↗ owner and and you had to be a lower

1:25:56 ↗ moderate income so that we had uh hired

1:26:01 ↗ a consultant who had different languages

1:26:03 ↗ represented on their in their staff and

1:26:05 ↗ they went out and worked directly with

1:26:07 ↗ businesses getting them connected with

1:26:09 ↗ not just assistance but also with

1:26:11 ↗ financing and so that was something as

1:26:13 ↗ well so it's definitely not something

1:26:15 ↗ that we have complete you know check the

1:26:18 ↗ box we got it 100 percent but something

1:26:20 ↗ that we know that's important for our

1:26:23 ↗ community especially

1:26:25 ↗ thank you

1:26:27 ↗ thank you

1:26:30 ↗ when I was reviewing the slide deck I

1:26:33 ↗ had I have a whole bunch of different

1:26:35 ↗ questions in my mind so they might not

1:26:37 ↗ all make sense but one of the

1:26:40 ↗ the issues that occurred to me is that

1:26:44 ↗ so ultimately it seems the goal here is

1:26:47 ↗ to have a Vibrant Community and these

1:26:50 ↗ the other boxes are in service to that

1:26:53 ↗ and I also know that incoming inequality

1:26:57 ↗ is something that tears apart a

1:27:01 ↗ community so as you know you you think

1:27:04 ↗ about these you know Economic

1:27:06 ↗ Development plans

1:27:08 ↗ um

1:27:09 ↗ I'm just wondering how how do you Center

1:27:13 ↗ those who have not benefited from past

1:27:16 ↗ Economic Development policies how do you

1:27:20 ↗ understand who they are so who's been

1:27:23 ↗ harmed or not received the same level of

1:27:26 ↗ benefit

1:27:27 ↗ and make sure you hear from them to

1:27:31 ↗ figure out how you can serve

1:27:33 ↗ that those communities better

1:27:36 ↗ um

1:27:37 ↗ and then I think tied to that so when

1:27:40 ↗ you you know she pulled together an

1:27:41 ↗ Outreach plan try to really find where

1:27:43 ↗ those folks are and uh authentically you

1:27:47 ↗ know engage with them not just say well

1:27:48 ↗ we tried we couldn't do it so we got to

1:27:51 ↗ move on

1:27:52 ↗ um and then I'm also looking at this

1:27:54 ↗ handout that Dale had produced a while

1:27:56 ↗ ago around demographic ships in Issaquah

1:27:58 ↗ from 2010 to 2020 and

1:28:02 ↗ um there's stuff around uh languages

1:28:04 ↗ spoken so three quarters of the

1:28:06 ↗ population only spoke English now it's

1:28:08 ↗ down to two-thirds and so how are you

1:28:11 ↗ factoring language you know issues to

1:28:14 ↗ make sure uh Outreach is accessible

1:28:18 ↗ um there's you know a different you know

1:28:20 ↗ I haven't mapped it but I'm looking at

1:28:22 ↗ like the the income I grew you know at

1:28:25 ↗ different tiers and so just kind of

1:28:27 ↗ wondering uh how to make sure that

1:28:30 ↗ everyone is

1:28:32 ↗ no one's left behind in this process so

1:28:35 ↗ I I totally appreciate how complex this

1:28:38 ↗ is if you're focused on businesses but

1:28:40 ↗ how does that when how does that Ripple

1:28:43 ↗ out to everyone's well-being

1:28:46 ↗ great question and I don't have the

1:28:48 ↗ exact answer yes

1:28:51 ↗ um but uh I think you know one of the

1:28:53 ↗ things that we try to do is to to tap

1:28:57 ↗ into the programs that we've already

1:28:58 ↗ connected with the micro Enterprise

1:29:00 ↗ businesses that we connected with and

1:29:02 ↗ and one of the things I did not mention

1:29:04 ↗ which is the again most of their work is

1:29:07 ↗ being proactive and reaching out to

1:29:09 ↗ different business owners

1:29:11 ↗ um and also entrepreneurs who are

1:29:13 ↗ starting businesses there's a lot of

1:29:14 ↗ people who reach out to us again are not

1:29:16 ↗ the even the 75 person organized you

1:29:19 ↗ know business it's somebody who wants to

1:29:21 ↗ open a business and um I will say our

1:29:23 ↗ biggest partner is you know Monica and

1:29:27 ↗ her team we have done several things

1:29:29 ↗ over the past and some of them work and

1:29:31 ↗ some of them don't and so Pharrell you

1:29:32 ↗ know is exploring do we do a job fair

1:29:35 ↗ that is less about come one come all

1:29:38 ↗ throw your resume in the pile of

1:29:40 ↗ everybody else but working with people

1:29:42 ↗ who may be willing to hire those who

1:29:46 ↗ have a criminal record or who has other

1:29:49 ↗ barriers we are still working on trying

1:29:52 ↗ to to put that together but we're trying

1:29:54 ↗ to

1:29:55 ↗ figure out different ways of doing what

1:29:57 ↗ we had done in the past right

1:30:00 ↗ um and I think so the language we we

1:30:02 ↗ have two you know two languages we have

1:30:04 ↗ the survey translated to does not cover

1:30:07 ↗ all of our community

1:30:09 ↗ um I think we'll also we are tapping

1:30:11 ↗ into we will be tapping into our the

1:30:14 ↗ community business connector groups to

1:30:15 ↗ see because those organizations if they

1:30:18 ↗ serve somebody who speaks whatever

1:30:19 ↗ language they're not just only working

1:30:21 ↗ in Kent or working in in

1:30:24 ↗ um Bellevue they're working you know all

1:30:26 ↗ throughout the community so trying to

1:30:27 ↗ tap into that

1:30:29 ↗ um uh again human human services staff

1:30:33 ↗ often refer we we send a lot of our

1:30:35 ↗ information out to the nonprofits who

1:30:37 ↗ work with those individuals as well and

1:30:40 ↗ so hoping that kind of gets to people

1:30:41 ↗ again who either have small businesses

1:30:43 ↗ on the side who want to start a business

1:30:46 ↗ um and so we are you know are very

1:30:49 ↗ interested in in hearing other ways to

1:30:52 ↗ to get to those

1:30:53 ↗ um uh communities

1:30:56 ↗ um and thinking about also the income

1:30:57 ↗ changes yeah that is that is uh I would

1:31:01 ↗ say drastic but it's it's something that

1:31:02 ↗ it was really interesting to see how

1:31:05 ↗ much is happening here in Issaquah where

1:31:07 ↗ we think about affluence most of the

1:31:10 ↗ time right and

1:31:11 ↗ um and so uh it really did show what's

1:31:14 ↗ Happening throughout the country of the

1:31:16 ↗ income inequality and so how do we

1:31:19 ↗ continue to make sure that the services

1:31:21 ↗ we are doing so we offer free services

1:31:23 ↗ we offer you know we need to be looking

1:31:25 ↗ at more languages we need to be offering

1:31:27 ↗ them different times to have child care

1:31:29 ↗ you know all those kind of things we're

1:31:30 ↗ not at that point yet to say those are

1:31:32 ↗ the answers but we are here to kind of

1:31:34 ↗ hear that so how do we do that right so

1:31:38 ↗ um we're hoping to through our efforts

1:31:40 ↗ we mentioned but we're open to hearing

1:31:43 ↗ other ways that we should be looking at

1:31:44 ↗ that

1:31:50 ↗ this is Julianna de Cruz I just wanted

1:31:52 ↗ to add that we as Government are

1:31:55 ↗ prevented from asking about certain

1:31:57 ↗ demographic data of business owners and

1:32:00 ↗ so we we collect what we can based on

1:32:04 ↗ the folks we know and we have

1:32:07 ↗ prioritized trying to reach out to them

1:32:09 ↗ in our business Outreach efforts and

1:32:13 ↗ communicating with the survey about them

1:32:15 ↗ is a goal but we know we're not reaching

1:32:18 ↗ everyone and we know we don't have the

1:32:20 ↗ data there so we're hoping that part of

1:32:23 ↗ this conversation will sort of dredge up

1:32:25 ↗ some ideas of who else we should be

1:32:27 ↗ asking some things we're thinking about

1:32:30 ↗ are some Focus areas of our economy that

1:32:34 ↗ we care about so we know creative

1:32:37 ↗ district is one that's really important

1:32:39 ↗ to Issaquah and outdoor recreation and

1:32:41 ↗ we know that there are diverse voices in

1:32:44 ↗ those Arenas and so we're trying to be

1:32:47 ↗ thoughtful about what groups exist and

1:32:49 ↗ asking them if we can into those

1:32:51 ↗ networks to reach those business owners

1:32:54 ↗ and residents because we know many

1:32:56 ↗ people will become entrepreneurs and

1:32:58 ↗ they might be residents now but they'll

1:33:00 ↗ be business owners in the future

1:33:05 ↗ and and this this file uh the economic

1:33:08 ↗ development coordinator just to add on

1:33:11 ↗ what my colleague has said

1:33:13 ↗ so we do a lot of BR we are trying to

1:33:15 ↗ understand these businesses because if

1:33:17 ↗ we don't talk to them some of them won't

1:33:19 ↗ understand their challenges what they

1:33:22 ↗ are going through so we do day in day

1:33:25 ↗ out we do couple of BR and I've been

1:33:28 ↗ successful with the home-based

1:33:29 ↗ businesses I think she she mentioned

1:33:31 ↗ about our main focus is the creative

1:33:34 ↗ industry out direct and now also the

1:33:37 ↗ home-based business is our main focus so

1:33:39 ↗ we tend to look at it in the direction

1:33:41 ↗ that

1:33:42 ↗ 90 of these folks are minority-owned

1:33:45 ↗ businesses they're people of diverse

1:33:46 ↗ they speak different language English is

1:33:48 ↗ not their first language so that

1:33:50 ↗ engaging them one-on-one is key to us we

1:33:53 ↗ don't have the exact data but as much as

1:33:56 ↗ we do our BR we try and document

1:34:07 ↗ commissioner Lerner you have a question

1:34:12 ↗ yes thank you and thank you Juliana and

1:34:14 ↗ for all I can I understand the

1:34:16 ↗ limitations

1:34:18 ↗ um that you have as you're trying to

1:34:20 ↗ reach out to some of our our community

1:34:22 ↗ members

1:34:23 ↗ um I was actually wondering about space

1:34:26 ↗ I know that this was very expensive to

1:34:29 ↗ rent spaces is there any plans to have

1:34:34 ↗ some kind of business area because I

1:34:37 ↗ know

1:34:38 ↗ that there are many individuals in this

1:34:41 ↗ community who are trying to start small

1:34:43 ↗ businesses and for all you kind of

1:34:45 ↗ mentioned that you know home-based

1:34:46 ↗ businesses

1:34:47 ↗ is there any plan to open some kind of a

1:34:51 ↗ kind of like a mall type space that has

1:34:54 ↗ many small spaces to make it more

1:34:58 ↗ feasible for some of the business owners

1:35:00 ↗ to start out their businesses and be

1:35:04 ↗ more visible

1:35:06 ↗ there was one question my second

1:35:08 ↗ question is

1:35:09 ↗ um I have as we're getting families who

1:35:13 ↗ are

1:35:14 ↗ um lower income as I suppose expanding

1:35:17 ↗ and getting more you know Section 8

1:35:19 ↗ housing I've also noticed that there's a

1:35:22 ↗ shift in what kind of supports and

1:35:24 ↗ services our families need and the cost

1:35:28 ↗ of some of those services and sometimes

1:35:31 ↗ Issaquah does tend to lean towards more

1:35:34 ↗ high-end

1:35:36 ↗ um stores and you know services

1:35:38 ↗ so are we also looking at some services

1:35:42 ↗ and locations for businesses that might

1:35:47 ↗ support

1:35:48 ↗ you know some less not as expensive

1:35:52 ↗ businesses so I guess I'm looking

1:35:54 ↗ because I'm I'm thinking that those

1:35:57 ↗ businesses might have a harder time

1:35:58 ↗ paying their rent given their cost of

1:36:00 ↗ rent so how do we balance that and make

1:36:03 ↗ it feasible for people to live and buy

1:36:06 ↗ locally because I hear a lot of families

1:36:08 ↗ going to Renton or to Kent for certain

1:36:12 ↗ items because it's cheaper there are

1:36:14 ↗ services

1:36:16 ↗ that is a great question and probably

1:36:19 ↗ one of the hardest question things to to

1:36:22 ↗ address because it is a private uh owner

1:36:26 ↗ who who controls the rent and controls

1:36:28 ↗ that so the question about if we have

1:36:30 ↗ plans to open up a incubator's smaller

1:36:34 ↗ space pop-up there's nothing there's

1:36:36 ↗ nothing happening now but part of this

1:36:38 ↗ is having so that potentially may be one

1:36:41 ↗ of our action items moving forward is to

1:36:44 ↗ explore that

1:36:45 ↗ um and so that is that's something that

1:36:47 ↗ we hear over and over again we actually

1:36:49 ↗ heard in our Arts commission joint

1:36:52 ↗ meeting space for artists and creative

1:36:55 ↗ businesses is challenging as well we

1:36:57 ↗ have a 1.9 percent retail vacancy rate

1:37:01 ↗ yay for economic Vitality bad for trying

1:37:04 ↗ to find a place and so when you have

1:37:06 ↗ such low availability

1:37:11 ↗ rent is high right so I think that is

1:37:13 ↗ definitely something we are as we

1:37:15 ↗ continue to hear it then that justifies

1:37:17 ↗ that that's something we should focus on

1:37:19 ↗ so

1:37:20 ↗ um you know in 2012 and 13 when we were

1:37:23 ↗ talking to the community that wasn't you

1:37:25 ↗ know what was brought up so um I think

1:37:27 ↗ that's something that again we want to

1:37:28 ↗ hear and um I don't know if either of

1:37:31 ↗ you want to say anything more to that

1:37:33 ↗ I wish I wish we could uh allow the

1:37:36 ↗ opportunity for people to

1:37:39 ↗ um to uh be able to to start businesses

1:37:42 ↗ that's if we don't have opportunities

1:37:44 ↗ for people to start businesses you're

1:37:45 ↗ right they're going to go to other

1:37:46 ↗ locations and that's not good for our

1:37:48 ↗ community although I do live in Renton

1:37:50 ↗ and like that but I want that here as

1:37:53 ↗ well

1:37:54 ↗ yes

1:38:02 ↗ one of the things as we

1:38:05 ↗ one of the things we're going to have to

1:38:07 ↗ do is we address these issues is as you

1:38:09 ↗ bring in those creative spaces and

1:38:10 ↗ things like that

1:38:13 ↗ giving people like a seminar or a

1:38:16 ↗ workshop on pricing

1:38:18 ↗ because I will tell you one of the

1:38:20 ↗ particularly in the creative space

1:38:23 ↗ you kind of smack your head a lot when

1:38:25 ↗ you see how some people price things

1:38:27 ↗ because you know the price of materials

1:38:28 ↗ you know the price of Labor

1:38:30 ↗ and you know that what they're putting

1:38:33 ↗ out there is not survivable

1:38:35 ↗ and pulls the prices down for the other

1:38:38 ↗ artists because I you know you see

1:38:41 ↗ I would probably say 80 to 90 percent of

1:38:43 ↗ all artists are pricing their work for

1:38:45 ↗ materials only

1:38:48 ↗ and that really hurts that

1:38:51 ↗ arts and the Vitality of the Arts

1:38:53 ↗ Community is really struggling with its

1:38:55 ↗ own

1:38:55 ↗ poor pricing

1:38:58 ↗ that's a great point I think it's part

1:38:59 ↗ of the business assistance that we do

1:39:01 ↗ connect people to so it's not Pharrell

1:39:04 ↗ and Juliana and myself are telling them

1:39:05 ↗ that but people who've worked with the

1:39:07 ↗ hundreds and thousands of businesses to

1:39:10 ↗ uh have them look at the data and have

1:39:12 ↗ them look at their own books which when

1:39:14 ↗ you're an entrepreneur you're really

1:39:16 ↗ good at creating this but you may not be

1:39:18 ↗ aware as all the other things you need

1:39:20 ↗ to think about a business so

1:39:22 ↗ um and so you guys are diving into our

1:39:24 ↗ questions already so I pulled the screen

1:39:25 ↗ back up

1:39:27 ↗ um and so uh I'm gonna let Juliana talk

1:39:31 ↗ a little bit about the pros I think or

1:39:33 ↗ for you sorry

1:39:38 ↗ thanks again this is foreign

1:39:51 ↗ aspects of the economic development

1:39:54 ↗ action plan process that we should

1:39:57 ↗ consider adjusting a from what gen have

1:40:00 ↗ presented from the Outreach how we

1:40:04 ↗ anticipate of doing this so these are

1:40:06 ↗ key question uh especially for the

1:40:09 ↗ equity Equity team and the EVC team can

1:40:13 ↗ also uh chip in and number one what

1:40:16 ↗ we're trying to look at maybe to ensure

1:40:18 ↗ Equity is considered in each phase that

1:40:20 ↗ this economic development plan is going

1:40:23 ↗ to pass through and to enhance

1:40:26 ↗ opportunities for inclusion and I think

1:40:29 ↗ Jenna has also mentioned some other

1:40:30 ↗ ideas other ideas is just there like we

1:40:32 ↗ want to hear from you guys what you

1:40:34 ↗ think

1:40:37 ↗ and I'm going to jump in real quick to

1:40:39 ↗ say if if there's an organization if

1:40:41 ↗ there's a person if there's a group a

1:40:43 ↗ business owner whatever that you think

1:40:45 ↗ we want to reach out to you can

1:40:46 ↗ definitely let us know now you can let

1:40:48 ↗ us know afterwards because we are again

1:40:50 ↗ we're willing to go out and speak to

1:40:52 ↗ anybody anywhere about this so thank you

1:40:56 ↗ and just to highlight uh on the our

1:40:59 ↗ Focus Area 3 creative industry

1:41:04 ↗ businesses and that does not limit us

1:41:07 ↗ from expounding more opportunities or

1:41:10 ↗ ideas that you may have

1:41:15 ↗ I don't know my uh this is preethi from

1:41:18 ↗ the equity board I don't know if my

1:41:20 ↗ comments respond directly to your

1:41:22 ↗ questions but I was thinking around

1:41:24 ↗ um

1:41:25 ↗ in the Outreach phase when you're

1:41:28 ↗ getting information from various

1:41:30 ↗ communities have you all considered

1:41:33 ↗ thinking about the businesses that have

1:41:36 ↗ left Issaquah that understand their

1:41:38 ↗ reasons for leaving

1:41:40 ↗ um I don't know if this would work for

1:41:42 ↗ folks who residents who leave maybe

1:41:45 ↗ because they're priced out from housing

1:41:47 ↗ things like that to get a sense of

1:41:50 ↗ why people can't stay in the city

1:41:55 ↗ um so I think that might be a good uh

1:41:58 ↗ point of information and then

1:42:01 ↗ um

1:42:02 ↗ when I'm also thinking about Outreach

1:42:04 ↗ not just to understand kind of

1:42:05 ↗ challenges and barriers but also like

1:42:07 ↗ definitely seek their ideas what do they

1:42:09 ↗ need and yeah just so I didn't know if

1:42:12 ↗ that's part of your thinking but like

1:42:14 ↗ have them co-create the solutions that

1:42:16 ↗ they need

1:42:21 ↗ thank you that's a that's a good input

1:42:28 ↗ yes Lorna

1:42:30 ↗ I was also wondering if you reach out to

1:42:34 ↗ the Stalls for the Saturday market for

1:42:39 ↗ salmon days or in at uh Christmas there

1:42:43 ↗ was an activity or there was an event at

1:42:45 ↗ the train depot and I'm wondering you

1:42:48 ↗ know having those Boutique pop-up places

1:42:51 ↗ if there's a possibility for the city to

1:42:54 ↗ kind of organize more of them over time

1:42:58 ↗ because I attended both days of the

1:43:01 ↗ pop-up event at the train depot and I

1:43:05 ↗ was really impressed about the number of

1:43:07 ↗ small businesses that were able to

1:43:10 ↗ Showcase their Wares there the old

1:43:12 ↗ Mainly Home Based and I just wanted them

1:43:15 ↗ more opportunities more frequently and

1:43:17 ↗ maybe they that would they would come

1:43:19 ↗ out more so that it would become more

1:43:21 ↗ visible because I think part of it was a

1:43:23 ↗ lack of visibility and one of the things

1:43:25 ↗ I'd heard about for salmon days was

1:43:27 ↗ really hard and very competitive to get

1:43:30 ↗ us all at salmon day so I'm sure there's

1:43:33 ↗ an entire history behind that but I was

1:43:35 ↗ just wondering what other venues there

1:43:37 ↗ were to Showcase some of the businesses

1:43:41 ↗ and we'll pop up kind of

1:43:44 ↗ situations throughout the year

1:43:48 ↗ thank you Lord for your uh comment this

1:43:50 ↗ Chris richly commission economic

1:43:52 ↗ Vitality

1:43:54 ↗ um just to comment on that just to kind

1:43:55 ↗ of get clarification when you say

1:43:57 ↗ businesses pop up can you provide a

1:44:00 ↗ little more clarity on where these

1:44:01 ↗ businesses are coming from are these

1:44:03 ↗ true local businesses Sequoia has a

1:44:05 ↗ business license or are you wanting

1:44:07 ↗ others to come in from other cities to

1:44:10 ↗ to conduct business I'm just curious

1:44:18 ↗ there can be venues because real estate

1:44:21 ↗ is so expensive to kind of bring them in

1:44:24 ↗ you know a couple several times a year

1:44:27 ↗ and I don't know have some kind of uh

1:44:29 ↗ you know requirement that they have to

1:44:32 ↗ be issco business so basically saying

1:44:35 ↗ shop local to to kind of help Market

1:44:39 ↗ those businesses when you do have events

1:44:42 ↗ like the market days or honestly that's

1:44:45 ↗ event at the train depot or salmon days

1:44:49 ↗ so that we are giving

1:44:52 ↗ um people who have businesses in

1:44:54 ↗ Issaquah the leg up to sell their Wares

1:44:57 ↗ in Issaquah locally salmon days I know

1:45:00 ↗ most of the people are from out of town

1:45:01 ↗ but for other kind of venues like that

1:45:05 ↗ where a lot of people locally you are

1:45:06 ↗ shopping

1:45:08 ↗ um to come in and then kind of Market

1:45:10 ↗ the awares and show sell their Wares and

1:45:13 ↗ if the olden days

1:45:15 ↗ small town I was in Guatemala for two

1:45:17 ↗ years and you know Saturday the market

1:45:18 ↗ day everyone would come in with their

1:45:20 ↗ Wares and that was this small shop so

1:45:23 ↗ something like that

1:45:25 ↗ to create more of a community and help

1:45:27 ↗ the people try to build up their

1:45:29 ↗ businesses in Issaquah be able to

1:45:31 ↗ Showcase their Wares and

1:45:33 ↗ as they grow hopefully to develop a

1:45:36 ↗ store so

1:45:38 ↗ good idea Luna thank you

1:45:42 ↗ yes I just want to follow up on that

1:45:45 ↗ sometimes when you bring in a pop-up

1:45:48 ↗ business from somewhere else

1:45:50 ↗ its purpose is to help the economic

1:45:54 ↗ Vitality of the city of the businesses

1:45:56 ↗ that are here

1:45:57 ↗ so you bring in a

1:46:00 ↗ cookie place and people are around there

1:46:04 ↗ and they go to the other restaurants and

1:46:07 ↗ the other other businesses so you can't

1:46:09 ↗ just say we're gonna

1:46:10 ↗ concentrate on only

1:46:14 ↗ Issaquah owned businesses to do that

1:46:16 ↗ pop-up you have to really look at you

1:46:19 ↗ know Dia does a lot of that bringing

1:46:20 ↗ different people and encouraging it but

1:46:24 ↗ my question I think

1:46:25 ↗ it's probably really silly but

1:46:28 ↗ what's the definition of equity

1:46:35 ↗ so Equity I think is to bring more

1:46:37 ↗ opportunities to people to historically

1:46:41 ↗ marginalized communities that have not

1:46:43 ↗ had the access

1:46:45 ↗ or the ability to get those

1:46:47 ↗ opportunities to raise them up

1:46:51 ↗ I don't know I look at Equity as being

1:46:53 ↗ equal

1:46:54 ↗ to

1:46:56 ↗ you know everybody to incorporate every

1:47:00 ↗ good ideas so

1:47:02 ↗ I'm a little confused of of exactly

1:47:07 ↗ you know I think Monica has a slide in

1:47:09 ↗ the definition of equity versus equality

1:47:11 ↗ equality is giving everyone equal

1:47:14 ↗ opportunity to for to all of these uh

1:47:17 ↗ different

1:47:18 ↗ choices and opportunities but as we are

1:47:22 ↗ recognizing some groups have

1:47:24 ↗ historically not have had as many

1:47:27 ↗ opportunities and so it is to raise the

1:47:30 ↗ ability for groups that historically

1:47:31 ↗ have not had the opportunity to reach up

1:47:34 ↗ and get those opportunities so actually

1:47:36 ↗ inequality are different and Monica I

1:47:39 ↗ think has a slight I don't know if you

1:47:41 ↗ have easy access to that slide monitor

1:47:43 ↗ to

1:47:44 ↗ differentiate for the group the

1:47:46 ↗ definition of equity versus equality

1:47:52 ↗ but she will look for the slide but it's

1:47:55 ↗ a yeah it's a she'll get that up there

1:47:57 ↗ right I think I think the simplest

1:48:00 ↗ definition of equality means each

1:48:03 ↗ individual all group of people is given

1:48:06 ↗ the same resources or opportunities

1:48:09 ↗ but if you look at Equity Equity now

1:48:12 ↗ recognizes that each person has

1:48:14 ↗ different circumstances and allocates

1:48:16 ↗ the exact resource and opportunity

1:48:19 ↗ needed to reach an equal outcome

1:48:27 ↗ thank you for all

1:48:29 ↗ and so we what Monica said off cam off

1:48:32 ↗ Mike is that we can provide some

1:48:34 ↗ additional information sorry we didn't

1:48:36 ↗ kind of dive into that more with um

1:48:38 ↗ before we started so

1:48:40 ↗ um

1:48:41 ↗ yeah thank you for that question yes

1:48:45 ↗ yes going back to my professional life a

1:48:46 ↗ little bit I think it might be helpful

1:48:48 ↗ you know there's a a lot of different

1:48:51 ↗ perspectives on the the definitions

1:48:54 ↗ putting a business glossary together or

1:48:56 ↗ a dictionary together with the

1:48:58 ↗ definitions that you're working with I

1:48:59 ↗ think would be huge help in making that

1:49:02 ↗ definitional set you know public on the

1:49:05 ↗ website or something like that that

1:49:06 ↗ might help

1:49:08 ↗ have people come in clear you know clear

1:49:11 ↗ from the start rather than having to go

1:49:13 ↗ back to the definitions

1:49:19 ↗ people assuming that

1:49:22 ↗ um

1:49:23 ↗ just because you're you're

1:49:26 ↗ a regular

1:49:28 ↗ person

1:49:30 ↗ um

1:49:31 ↗ that you don't have some rights and some

1:49:37 ↗ reality for the city to help you

1:49:41 ↗ you know if you have two businesses come

1:49:42 ↗ in one's a Spanish business and one is a

1:49:47 ↗ English whatever a Portuguese or a

1:49:50 ↗ Puerto Rican business

1:49:52 ↗ they're equal

1:49:54 ↗ to some extent and this they should

1:49:57 ↗ expect the city to help

1:49:59 ↗ either one

1:50:01 ↗ equally

1:50:03 ↗ you know you just can't just look at

1:50:06 ↗ getting

1:50:08 ↗ um

1:50:10 ↗ different ethnic businesses started you

1:50:12 ↗ have to support the ones that you have

1:50:15 ↗ absolutely think I think our next

1:50:18 ↗ question is more the same with the first

1:50:21 ↗ one and as we talk about let's

1:50:24 ↗ look at it are there Focus areas we

1:50:27 ↗ should consider for the action plan and

1:50:30 ↗ I like the conversation that we're

1:50:31 ↗ having because we're trying to bring in

1:50:32 ↗ uh other ideas like business pop-ups I

1:50:36 ↗ think this is the idea that now uh we

1:50:38 ↗ are having so at their focus areas we

1:50:40 ↗ should consider for the action plan

1:50:49 ↗ and Monica just jumped up this is the

1:50:52 ↗ the slide that or the image that I think

1:50:55 ↗ is a really great opportunity to

1:50:58 ↗ understand how equity and equality are a

1:51:01 ↗ little different right so again you have

1:51:03 ↗ three boxes quote unquote and you can

1:51:05 ↗ give everybody one but that doesn't give

1:51:07 ↗ people the same uh view or the you know

1:51:10 ↗ the of the baseball game or whatever

1:51:11 ↗ kind of game that is

1:51:13 ↗ um and so by giving that person two in

1:51:15 ↗ the middle and a ramp for the third it

1:51:17 ↗ actually gives everybody the same

1:51:19 ↗ opportunity to and so when you think

1:51:21 ↗ about that with other circumstances if

1:51:24 ↗ we are providing uh information in a

1:51:27 ↗ translated language it doesn't mean that

1:51:29 ↗ we're giving them something you know

1:51:31 ↗ more we're giving them that what is

1:51:33 ↗ needed for them to order to understand

1:51:35 ↗ the information we have and the

1:51:36 ↗ resources available and so we as

1:51:38 ↗ Government are not allowed to provide

1:51:40 ↗ more to one person versus another if

1:51:43 ↗ we're providing services but we can

1:51:44 ↗ provide them in different manners and

1:51:46 ↗ and to provide again to provide that the

1:51:49 ↗ person is in a wheelchair in this

1:51:51 ↗ example with a box to be able to see

1:51:53 ↗ that's not useful and so what we need we

1:51:56 ↗ need to understand as city employees and

1:51:59 ↗ members to of our community is to what

1:52:03 ↗ is truly needed from individuals and

1:52:05 ↗ that could mean you know um commissioner

1:52:08 ↗ fries has mentioned before about people

1:52:10 ↗ with disabilities people who are blind

1:52:11 ↗ bearing problems whatever it may be and

1:52:14 ↗ so it's not to say well I'm not going to

1:52:17 ↗ serve that person because of the color

1:52:18 ↗ of their skin because of their uh

1:52:20 ↗ whatever I'm not going to provide those

1:52:22 ↗ extra Services I want them to be

1:52:23 ↗ successful no matter who they are and

1:52:25 ↗ what challenges they have and I want to

1:52:27 ↗ be able to provide the assistance to get

1:52:29 ↗ those challenges addressed so I think

1:52:32 ↗ this again this is uh whenever you see

1:52:35 ↗ it's it's simple when you see this but

1:52:37 ↗ again then you take that to other

1:52:38 ↗ examples of what is really needed to

1:52:40 ↗ help given that opportunity we're not

1:52:42 ↗ giving extra you know money we don't

1:52:45 ↗ have money we don't give good money to

1:52:46 ↗ people but we don't give extra money we

1:52:48 ↗ we help people who are who come to us

1:52:52 ↗ and help them to go with every business

1:52:54 ↗ is different one business may need more

1:52:56 ↗ hand-holding than another business that

1:52:58 ↗ has the exact same circumstances we will

1:53:01 ↗ do that to help them be successful

1:53:05 ↗ and just to piggyback off that similar

1:53:07 ↗ to your program that you put together

1:53:08 ↗ like Monica stated one may need two

1:53:10 ↗ hours of assistance one may need 200. so

1:53:13 ↗ business is the same way when you think

1:53:15 ↗ about it in the equality piece of it we

1:53:18 ↗ we're not able to just look at it from

1:53:21 ↗ that as much as we would like to

1:53:22 ↗ business isn't function that way if they

1:53:26 ↗ one one business may be like

1:53:28 ↗ example there are very many home-based

1:53:31 ↗ successful businesses they don't need

1:53:33 ↗ much assistance they don't need us to

1:53:35 ↗ tell them where to go and then there's

1:53:37 ↗ others like the micro businesses that

1:53:39 ↗ are like where do I get business how do

1:53:40 ↗ I put together business plans they

1:53:42 ↗ require more resources in that that such

1:53:45 ↗ so we advise on that more so than

1:53:48 ↗ hey we're not going to help help you

1:53:50 ↗ because you're successful and you make

1:53:51 ↗ this much annual revenue a year that

1:53:53 ↗ doesn't get factored into that at all

1:53:55 ↗ they come to us for advice in in that

1:53:58 ↗ sort we're going to help them

1:54:01 ↗ I just wanted to make sure that that was

1:54:03 ↗ brought up into the conversation because

1:54:05 ↗ what I was hearing was strictly on one

1:54:08 ↗ side that we should help these new

1:54:10 ↗ businesses develop

1:54:14 ↗ and I wanted to make sure that the city

1:54:16 ↗ was talking about all of it thanks

1:54:18 ↗ thanks again

1:54:20 ↗ and I think when we we get back to this

1:54:22 ↗ question of the focus areas um Pharrell

1:54:24 ↗ said this as we talk about a focus on

1:54:26 ↗ Creative Industries home-based

1:54:28 ↗ businesses and

1:54:30 ↗ um outdoor recreation a lot of what we

1:54:33 ↗ know in economic development is building

1:54:34 ↗ upon what your assets are and that's

1:54:37 ↗ what we we see as our assets we may be

1:54:39 ↗ missing an asset that and that's part of

1:54:42 ↗ this question is are there other Focus

1:54:43 ↗ areas that does not mean that we will

1:54:45 ↗ not go and recruit and try to get a

1:54:47 ↗ business or help a business that's

1:54:48 ↗ outside those Focus areas but if you're

1:54:51 ↗ going to although we're amazing group of

1:54:53 ↗ three we cannot again you know uh do

1:54:57 ↗ everything and so how do you focus the

1:54:59 ↗ limited amount of resources and time we

1:55:01 ↗ have and so we we feel that

1:55:05 ↗ um by focusing on the assets we have

1:55:07 ↗ it's it's easier to grow you have more

1:55:09 ↗ Partners Etc so part again of this

1:55:12 ↗ question is are there other Focus areas

1:55:14 ↗ where where uh missing out on or that

1:55:17 ↗ are tangentially involved so like

1:55:19 ↗ outdirect tourism is obviously

1:55:21 ↗ tangentially about people are coming

1:55:23 ↗ here for those tours or creative you

1:55:25 ↗ know Industries so there may be some

1:55:26 ↗ tentacles that uh we can build upon that

1:55:28 ↗ but again we are not when we talk about

1:55:31 ↗ Focus areas where we talk about a

1:55:33 ↗ certain Community thing uh Focus we are

1:55:36 ↗ not excluding others we're just trying

1:55:38 ↗ to get a better feel so we have a more

1:55:40 ↗ holistic ideas before we get to that

1:55:43 ↗ this is exactly what we're doing

1:55:46 ↗ yeah so um just this conversation and

1:55:49 ↗ I'm also thinking about the conversation

1:55:51 ↗ we had last week with the Arts

1:55:52 ↗ commission

1:55:54 ↗ um one of the focus areas that we can

1:55:56 ↗ consider is cultural immersion that goes

1:55:59 ↗ beyond just what we already have so what

1:56:04 ↗ I mean is people from different parts of

1:56:08 ↗ the world or different backgrounds

1:56:10 ↗ different life experiences bringing that

1:56:13 ↗ and making a business out of it in

1:56:16 ↗ Issaquah to serve two purposes first

1:56:19 ↗ there's definitely economic vitality and

1:56:20 ↗ growth but also education by whatever

1:56:24 ↗ their

1:56:26 ↗ channel of choice B restaurants is the

1:56:28 ↗ easiest thing that comes to mind as

1:56:30 ↗ diverse as they can be but that it can

1:56:33 ↗ be more than just restaurants it can be

1:56:35 ↗ art it can be dance it can be

1:56:37 ↗ I don't know a million other things

1:56:39 ↗ which can help it can be religion for

1:56:42 ↗ those who care right

1:56:45 ↗ um that could be a focus area that the

1:56:48 ↗ Ed plan can account for

1:56:54 ↗ thank you I think I think for the

1:56:55 ↗ interest of time

1:56:58 ↗ I don't know I don't know how we're

1:57:00 ↗ going to run this but we we will create

1:57:02 ↗ some follow-up and maybe provide other

1:57:05 ↗ questions to the equity board I know the

1:57:07 ↗ EVC will meet in the next

1:57:13 ↗ a couple of weeks so that you can maybe

1:57:16 ↗ discuss this have this conversation

1:57:18 ↗ robustly but for the equity but I think

1:57:21 ↗ we'll just provide the question that we

1:57:22 ↗ had maybe we can you can discuss

1:57:25 ↗ internally and we can exchange email in

1:57:27 ↗ email address uh

1:57:38 ↗ yeah thank you and if I would yeah

1:57:41 ↗ encourage you to uh email the questions

1:57:44 ↗ to the boredom uh folks into your

1:57:46 ↗ individual follow-up with you all I know

1:57:49 ↗ we don't have another meeting until

1:57:50 ↗ September so it may not be timely enough

1:57:53 ↗ if we waited for the group to meet but I

1:57:57 ↗ think there's um some engagements who

1:57:59 ↗ hopefully will be willing to follow up

1:58:01 ↗ thank you

1:58:03 ↗ foreign

1:58:06 ↗ we'll share the recording the

1:58:08 ↗ presentation and the questions so they

1:58:10 ↗ get some context

1:58:12 ↗ um and appreciate it this conversation

1:58:14 ↗ it's already 8 52 and we sorry that we

1:58:16 ↗ are past our time

1:58:18 ↗ um on the agenda but this is a

1:58:19 ↗ definitely a robust conversation that we

1:58:22 ↗ don't want to end here so just to

1:58:24 ↗ summarize our next steps we're doing the

1:58:26 ↗ survey it's going to be launched in the

1:58:28 ↗ next couple days we'll make sure you

1:58:29 ↗ have that so please share that with

1:58:31 ↗ everybody you know again there's a

1:58:32 ↗ resonant focused one and a business

1:58:34 ↗ focused one

1:58:36 ↗ um we're going to be looking at our

1:58:37 ↗ updating our economic data profile so we

1:58:40 ↗ have new numbers rather than 2014 and

1:58:43 ↗ again we will have to take that with a

1:58:45 ↗ um awareness that might be 2020 data but

1:58:49 ↗ will give us a better idea of what our

1:58:52 ↗ business data is in Issaquah and then we

1:58:54 ↗ will continue as I mentioned the

1:58:56 ↗ economic Vitality commission is the

1:58:59 ↗ advisor group for this plan so at every

1:59:01 ↗ meeting we're going to be talking about

1:59:03 ↗ this so you are always invited to come

1:59:05 ↗ and participate you know in public

1:59:08 ↗ comment

1:59:09 ↗ um to you know we don't record our

1:59:12 ↗ meetings but our information is online

1:59:14 ↗ and if you wanted to come and ask

1:59:17 ↗ questions if you want to send an email

1:59:19 ↗ we would love to hear from you multiple

1:59:21 ↗ times and and as

1:59:24 ↗ makes sense come back for future

1:59:25 ↗ conversations

1:59:27 ↗ um knowing that we have full agendas but

1:59:29 ↗ that I think this is a partnership that

1:59:31 ↗ we hope to not just be here once but

1:59:34 ↗ that we come in and look at this from

1:59:36 ↗ multiple ways and invite you also to our

1:59:39 ↗ board our commission meetings to have

1:59:41 ↗ conversations about things that you want

1:59:43 ↗ to work on I know that one of your work

1:59:44 ↗ plan items so we'd love to have that

1:59:46 ↗ conversation continue

1:59:51 ↗ great well thank you all for that robust

1:59:53 ↗ conversation and discussion our last

1:59:56 ↗ agenda item is other business and

1:59:59 ↗ announcements so just checking to see if

2:00:01 ↗ there are if there is any other business

2:00:03 ↗ or announcement folks would like to make

2:00:09 ↗ my name is Christy and I'm the economic

2:00:13 ↗ development commissioner and economic

2:00:15 ↗ Vitality commissioner and represent

2:00:18 ↗ visit Issaquah and for the equity board

2:00:20 ↗ I just wanted to let you know that the

2:00:22 ↗ visit Issaquah website has been redone

2:00:25 ↗ and the events calendar at visit

2:00:30 ↗ issaquah.com it has been designated by

2:00:34 ↗ the mayor as the official events

2:00:35 ↗ calendar for the City of Issaquah and

2:00:39 ↗ I'm the only employee of visit isqua but

2:00:41 ↗ I want you to know that I make a real

2:00:43 ↗ effort to really mine for everything

2:00:46 ↗ that's happening in our city and really

2:00:49 ↗ focus and pull out things that are free

2:00:51 ↗ and low cost to make being you know

2:00:55 ↗ involved socially in our community

2:00:57 ↗ accessible for all people

2:01:00 ↗ and I would just ask that if you're ever

2:01:03 ↗ on the website and you see you know this

2:01:06 ↗ updated website it just launched at the

2:01:09 ↗ beginning of April if you see that we're

2:01:11 ↗ missing an event opportunity that should

2:01:14 ↗ be shared or if there's anything on the

2:01:16 ↗ website that through the equity lens

2:01:19 ↗ deserves attention I would very much

2:01:22 ↗ appreciate that feedback and this has

2:01:24 ↗ been a really great conversation thank

2:01:26 ↗ you for arranging Monica and Jen I I

2:01:30 ↗ um I know I take this role very

2:01:32 ↗ seriously as being an ambassador for

2:01:35 ↗ the commission as I'm sure all of you do

2:01:39 ↗ as well and what's helpful about a

2:01:41 ↗ gathering like this is when I'm out in

2:01:43 ↗ the community meeting with my

2:01:44 ↗ stakeholders and they ask a question

2:01:46 ↗ about well what is the city doing about

2:01:47 ↗ and it's something to do with human

2:01:49 ↗ services I feel that I can provide an

2:01:52 ↗ educated

2:01:55 ↗ answer and and or direct that question

2:02:00 ↗ to an appropriate contact and I hope

2:02:03 ↗ that all of you with the equity

2:02:05 ↗ commission or Equity board also receive

2:02:09 ↗ the information that was shared tonight

2:02:11 ↗ by our leadership the same what is the

2:02:15 ↗ city doing for small businesses what is

2:02:17 ↗ the city doing to make sure that

2:02:20 ↗ business is representative of the

2:02:23 ↗ um

2:02:24 ↗ uh the makeup of our community those are

2:02:26 ↗ fair questions and now you kind of have

2:02:28 ↗ had an introduction and know that that

2:02:30 ↗ work is ongoing and that your feedback

2:02:32 ↗ is welcome so

2:02:34 ↗ um please continue to bring that that

2:02:36 ↗ feedback as you're out being ambassadors

2:02:38 ↗ with your community that when you hear

2:02:40 ↗ those questions that are specific to

2:02:42 ↗ economic Vitality to please make sure we

2:02:45 ↗ get that feedback so that we can always

2:02:46 ↗ take all the voices into consideration

2:02:49 ↗ thank you

2:02:52 ↗ yes lucrecia

2:02:57 ↗ thank you this is lucasia speaking

2:03:00 ↗ um I did go on your uh web page today

2:03:03 ↗ and I can't see your calendar so all I

2:03:08 ↗ see is plan your event things to do

2:03:10 ↗ about an Inquirer now those are the

2:03:13 ↗ options

2:03:14 ↗ thank you so thanks those are all drop

2:03:17 ↗ down menus so if you click on things to

2:03:20 ↗ do

2:03:21 ↗ uh there's a list of things that are

2:03:23 ↗ always ongoing for things to do and then

2:03:25 ↗ the events calendar is at the bottom of

2:03:27 ↗ that drop down menu

2:03:28 ↗ thank you for got it thank you for

2:03:30 ↗ asking for clarity happy to provide

2:03:32 ↗ thank you

2:03:35 ↗ foreign

2:03:36 ↗ any other last minute announcements or

2:03:39 ↗ other business

2:03:44 ↗ great well I thank you all for your

2:03:46 ↗ grace as the meeting ran over by a half

2:03:49 ↗ hour but I appreciated the opportunity

2:03:51 ↗ to partner with the economic Vitality

2:03:54 ↗ commission so thank you all for joining

2:03:56 ↗ our meeting today and I look forward to

2:03:58 ↗ uh future uh collaboration with you all

2:04:01 ↗ and with that the meeting is adjourned

2:04:05 ↗ at 8 58 pm

2:04:08 ↗ the next Equity board meeting is set for

2:04:10 ↗ September 6th

2:04:12 ↗ thank you

Minutes for this meeting haven't been published yet. Council and committee minutes are approved at the next meeting and embedded as a consent-calendar attachment in that meeting's agenda packet — they will appear here once that next packet is processed.