Equity Board · Wednesday, July 5, 2023 · City Council Digest

3. AGENDA ITEMS

Economic Development & Economic Vitality Commission Overview

Jen Davis Hayes, Economic Development Manager Chris Reichley, Economic Vitality Commission Chair · packet pp.35–54

Topics: Economic Development

▶ Watch from 9:06 Open packet at p.35 ↗

Staff report:

Economic Development & Economic Vitality Commission Overview J U LY 5 , 2 0 2 3 J E N DAV I S HAYES , ECO N O M I C DE V E LO PMENT M A N AGER

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

Approved minutes

Extracted from the next meeting's packet, where this meeting's minutes were approved as a consent-calendar attachment.

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Attendance

Council / Members (5)

Cristina Abonce

Priti Mody-Pan

Lorna Gilmour

Lucrecia Choto

Kelly Munn

Staff (6)

Monica Negrila, Human Services Manager

Jen Davis Hayes, Economic Development Manager

Juliana Da Cruz, Economic Development Coordinator

Farel Otieno, Economic Development Coordinator

Dale Markey-Crimp, Management Analyst

Connie Marsh

Excused

Hellen Kibenge

Ray Manahan

Tony Curry

Shalanda Fleming

Karthik Kashinath

Recommendations & actions (1)

Sentences extracted from the narrative containing words like recommended, requested, directed, moved, or approved. Best-effort — verify against the full minutes for context.

MODY-PAN recommended to conduct outreach to the businesses who have left Issaquah and seek ideas for solutions.