* This transcript was created by voice-to-text technology. The transcript has not been edited for errors or omissions, it is for reference only and is not the official minutes of the meeting. [00:00:04] UH, TO OUR ECONOMIC AND WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE MEETING ON WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2ND, 10:00 AM UH, THANK YOU ALL VERY MUCH FOR BEING HERE. IT LOOKS LIKE WE DO HAVE A QUORUM, BUT WE'LL HAVE, UM, OUR CLERK PLEASE TAKE THE ROLE. THANK YOU. ON MUTE CHAIR NA YES. COUNCIL MEMBER ROCHA GARCIA HERE. COUNCIL MEMBER SHIRLEY GONZALEZ. COUNCIL MEMBER CAVEO HDA HERE. COUNCIL MEMBER, UH, . MADAM CHAIR. WE DO HAVE A QUORUM. OKAY, GREAT. THANK YOU VERY MUCH. IT LOOKS LIKE, UM, COUNCIL MEMBER GONZALEZ IS TRYING TO CONNECT RIGHT NOW, TOO, SO SHE'LL BE HERE SHORTLY. UM, BUT WE DO NOT HAVE ANY MINUTES AT THIS MEETING. SO OUR FIRST ITEM IS, UM, DO WE HAVE ANY PUBLIC COMMENTS? SO WE HAVE NO PUBLIC COMMENT REGISTERED TODAY OR AS SUBMITTED. SO OUR FIRST ITEM THEN [ 1. 20-5092 Update on the COVID-19 Community Recovery and Resiliency Plan regarding the Small Business Support and Workforce Development Pillars. [Carlos J. Contreras, III; Assistant City Manager; Alejandra Lopez, Director, Economic Development]] IS BRIEFING AND POSSIBLE ACTION ON OUR UPDATE TO C OVID 19 COMMUNITY RECOVERY AND RESILIENCY PLAN REGARDING THE SMALL BUSINESS SUPPORT AND WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT PILLARS. SO, UM, CARLOS OR ALEX AND CAROL? YEAH, I'LL JUST KICK YOU OFF. UH, VERY BRIEFLY. WE'RE GONNA BE FOCUSING MADAM CHAIR, UH, COMMITTEE MEMBERS. GOOD MORNING. WE'LL BE FOCUSING, UH, OF COURSE ON THE TWO PILLARS THAT ARE ASSIGNED TO THIS COMMITTEE. BUT WITH RESPECT TO THE SMALL BUSINESS PILLAR, WE'RE GONNA BE FOCUSING PRIMARILY ON THE GRANTS, BOTH THE MICRO BUSINESS GRANTS AND THE STATUS OF THE, OF THE ALLOCATION OF FUNDING THERE, AS WELL AS THE ARTS GRANTS. ALEX WILL BE PRESENTING ON, ON, ON THE GRANTS AND THE ALGO FROM ARTS AND CULTURE WILL BE PRESENTING ON THE ARTS PORTION. WE'LL NEXT GET INTO THE OUTREACH THAT, OH, EXCUSE ME, THE WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT PILLAR AND THE STATUS OF THE, THAT THE LAUNCH WAS OCCURRED YESTERDAY. UH, AND THEN, UM, ALEX WILL ALSO DISCUSSED THE OUTREACH THAT WE'LL BE, THAT WE'LL BE DOING FOR THE BALANCE OF THE YEAR. SO, ALEX, PLEASE PROCEED. I WANT TO THANK ANN EATON FOR ALL HER HARD WORK AND THE REST OF THE TEAM ON THE SMALL BUSINESS GRANTS. SHE DOING A GREAT JOB. THANK YOU. THANK YOU, CARLOS. UM, SO TO START OFF, GO AHEAD AND START OFF WITH THE, WITH THIS, UH, MICRO BUSINESS GRANTS AND THE NONPROFIT GRANTS, UM, I BELIEVE WE'RE GONNA GO AHEAD AND JUMP TO SLIDE THREE. WHAT YOU'RE GONNA SEE ON THIS SLIDE ARE, UM, TWO TABLES THAT PROVIDE A BREAKDOWN OF THE GRANT APPLICATIONS THAT WE'VE RECEIVED. UM, THIS FIGURE IS SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT FROM WHAT WE'VE PREVIOUSLY REPORTED, UM, AS WE CONTINUE TO FIND A HANDFUL OF DUPLICATE APPLICATIONS ALONG WITH SOME FROM OUTSIDE OF THE CITY LIMITS. UM, WE SHARED THIS LAST MONTH, UM, BUT THE VAST MAJORITY OF THE APPLICATIONS WE RECEIVED WERE FROM BUSINESSES WITH ONE TO FIVE EMPLOYEES, UM, FOLLOWED BY THE BUSINESSES THAT ARE SOLE PROPRIETORSHIPS OR SELF-EMPLOYED. UM, THE TABLE ON THE RIGHT SHOWS THE GENDER, THE RACE, ETHNICITY OF THE BUSINESS OWNERS, UM, ALONG WITH A FEW OF THE PRIMARY INDUSTRIES REPRESENTED IN THE APPLICATIONS THAT WE RECEIVED. ALMOST 44% OF THE APPLICATIONS CAME FROM WOMEN OWNED BUSINESSES, AND OVER 65% CAME FROM, UH, BUSINESSES OWNED BY PEOPLE OF COLOR. ROUGHLY HALF OF THE APPLICATIONS WERE FROM BUSINESSES IN EITHER SERVICES, FOOD SERVICES, AND RETAIL. SO WE'RE GLAD TO SEE THAT THESE ARE THE, THE TYPES OF BUSINESSES THAT ARE AVAILING THEMSELVES OF THE THIS GRANT OPPORTUNITY. NEXT SLIDE. SO ON THIS SLIDE, YOU ONCE AGAIN SEE THE SCORING CRITERIA THAT WE USED WHEN REVIEWING THE APPLICATIONS. 60% OF THE POINTS AVAILABLE WERE AWARDED BASED ON THE GEOGRAPHIC LOCATION OF THE BUSINESS AND THE EQUITY SCORE ASSIGNED TO THE PARTICULAR CENSUS TRACK. UH, SO FOR EXAMPLE, THE DARK BLUE AREAS ON THE MAP REPRESENT CENSUS TRACKS WITH AN EQUITY SCORE OF 10, MEANING THEY HAVE THE HIGHEST CONCENTRATIONS OF RESIDENTS LIVING IN POVERTY AND RESIDENTS OF COLOR. SO APPLICATIONS FROM THESE CENSUS TRACKS RECEIVED ALL 60 POINTS, UM, AND THE POINT ALLOCATION DECREASES AS THE EQUITY SCORES DECREASE WITH CENSUS TRACKS SCORED AT FIVE OR LESS. THEY'RE ACTUALLY NOT RECEIVING ANY POINTS ON THE SCORING CRITERIA. UM, WE ALSO LOOKED AT THE OWNERSHIP OF THE BUSINESS AND ALLOCATED POINTS, UH, FOR VETERAN OWNED BUSINESSES, MINORITY OWNED BUSINESSES, AND, AND WOMEN, UM, BUSINESS OWNERSHIP. [00:05:01] AND LASTLY, WE LOOKED TO SEE IF THE BUSINESS HAD RECEIVED ANY OTHER COVID RELATED FUNDING SUCH AS P P P OR OTHER S B A LOANS. NEXT SLIDE. THE DATABASE THAT WAS USED TO COLLECT THE APPLICATIONS, UM, AND ALL THE INFORMATION ASSOCIATED WITH THOSE APPLICATIONS ASSIGNED A PRELIMINARY SCORE TO EACH OF THE APPLICATIONS WHICH CITY STAFF REVIEWED. UM, WE STARTED REVIEWING THESE IN EARLY AUGUST, UM, TO BEGIN THE GRANT AWARDS AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE. WE BEGAN OUR REVIEW OF THE APPLICATIONS WITH THE HIGHEST PRELIMINARY SCORES AND DEVELOP AN INITIAL ROUND OF GRANTS. THROUGH THIS FIRST ROUND, WE ANTICIPATE AWARDING UP TO 501 GRANTS, AND THIS TABLE SHOWS THE DISTRIBUTION BASED ON THE SIZE OF BUSINESSES. UM, THIS TABLE ALSO SHOWS, SHOWS THE APPLICATION SCORES OR THE RANGE OF SCORES THAT WE'RE GONNA BE FUNDING FUNDING, UM, THROUGH THIS FIRST ROUND, IN MOST CASES, WE'RE FUNDING APPLICATIONS THAT SCORED BETWEEN 50 AND A HUNDRED POINTS. UH, BUT IN THE CATEGORY OF ONE TO FIVE EMPLOYEES, WE'RE CURRENTLY, OR AT LEAST THROUGH THIS FIRST ROUND, WE'RE ONLY FUNDING APPLICATIONS THAT SCORED HIGHER THAN 60, AS WE HAD A VERY LARGE NUMBER OF APPLICATIONS IN THIS PARTICULAR CATEGORY. UM, AND SLIGHTLY MORE THAN HALF OF THE GRANTS WE'RE RECOMMENDING THROUGH THIS INITIAL ROUND WILL GO TO WOMEN-OWNED BUSINESSES. NEXT SLIDE. THIS TABLE PROVIDES DATA DISTRIBUTED BY COUNCIL DISTRICTS, STARTING WITH THE NUMBER OF APPLICATIONS RECEIVED, FOLLOWED BY THE INITIAL GRANTS RECOMMENDED THROUGH THIS FIRST ROUND. UM, THE FOURTH COLUMN SHOWS THE PERCENTAGE OF APPLICATIONS RECOMMENDED FOR FUNDING, UM, BASED ON THE TOTAL APPLICATIONS FOR THE PARTICULAR COUNCIL DISTRICT. NEXT COLUMN SHOWS THE, THE MAXIMUM FUNDING TO BE ALLOCATED THROUGH THIS INITIAL ROUND, ALONG WITH THE PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION BY COUNCIL DISTRICT. AND I REFER TO THE FIGURE AS MAXIMUM AMOUNT BECAUSE LIST FUND WILL ACTUALLY BE VALIDATING THE GRANT INFORMATION TO COMPLY WITH CARESS ACT FUNDING REQUIREMENTS AND PROVIDE AN ACTUAL GRANT AWARD AMOUNT TO US. UM, I MENTIONED EARLIER THAT WE STARTED OUR REVIEW WITH THE APPLICATIONS WITH THE HIGHEST PRELIMINARY SCORES. SO RATHER THAN WAITING UNTIL WE, WE REVIEWED ALL 2,700 APPLICATIONS, WE MOVED FORWARD WITH VALIDATING AND FUNDING THIS INITIAL BATCH BATCH OF 500 GRANTS AND ACTIVATING APPROXIMATELY JUST UNDER $15 MILLION. UM, OF THE 24.7 MILLION THAT'S AVAILABLE FOR THE MICRO BUSINESS GRANTS. NEXT SLIDE. THE DISTRIBUTION THAT YOU SAW ON THE PREVIOUS SLIDE IS VERY MUCH A RESULT OF THE EQUITY FOCUS THAT WAS PLACED THROUGH, THROUGH THE EVALUATION CRITERIA. I MENTIONED EARLIER HOW 60% OF THE EVALUATION POINTS WERE BASED ON THE EQUITY SCORE THAT'S ASSIGNED TO THE BUSINESS' CENSUS TRACK. UM, AND ON THIS SLIDE YOU SEE THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE INITIAL, UH, RECOMMENDED GRANTS BASED ON THE CENSUS TRACK EQUITY SCORES. NEARLY 70% OF THE GRANTS RECOMMENDED ARE FOR BUSINESSES IN CENSUS TRACKS WITH AN EQUITY SCORE OF NINE OR 10, WHICH ARE REPRESENTED BY THE TWO SHADES OF BLUE ON THIS MAP. UM, AND ALL OF THE INITIAL GRANTS RECOMMENDED WILL GO TO BUSINESSES LOCATED IN CENSUS TRACKS WITH A SCORE OF SEVEN OR HIGHER. UM, AS FAR AS THIS INITIAL ROUND OF FUNDING, LIFTFUND HAS VALIDATED OUR RECOMMEND OUR RECOMMENDED LIST AND WILL BEGIN NOTIFYING ELIGIBLE BUSINESSES OF GRANT AWARDS THIS WEEK ALREADY. NEXT SLIDE. BUT WE'VE, UM, GONE AHEAD AND REVIEWED MORE APPLICATIONS GOING DOWN A BIT LOWER A BIT, UM, BELOW THE INITIAL SCORE OF 50 THAT WE HAD REVIEWED IN THE FIRST ROUND. SO AGAIN, THE VAST MAJORITY OF THE APPLICATIONS, UH, AND OF THE GRANTS THAT YOU SEE ON THIS PARTICULAR TABLE, UM, THROUGH THIS SECOND ROUND THAT WE'RE RECOMMENDING ARE ACTUALLY FOR BUSINESSES WITH A ONE TO FIVE EMPLOYEES, UM, IN THAT CATEGORY. IN THE FIRST ROUND, WE STOPPED REVIEWING APPLICATIONS IN THIS CATEGORY, UH, THAT SCORED LOWER THAN 60. UH, BUT BEFORE WE FUND ANY APPLICATIONS, UM, THAT SCORED SUBSTANTIALLY LOWER THAN THAT AMOUNT IN OTHER BUSINESS SIZE CATEGORIES, WE, WE ACTIVATED MORE FUNDING FOR THIS PARTICULAR GROUP AND THIS SIZE OF BUSINESSES. SO IN THIS SECOND ROUND, WE'RE GONNA BE RECOMMENDING AN ADDITIONAL 208 GRANTS FOR A PRELIMINARY TOTAL OF 709 GRANTS, BOTH FROM ROUND ONE AND ROUND TWO OF THIS AMOUNT. ROUGHLY HALF OF THE BUSINESS ARE STILL, UM, WOMEN-OWNED BUSINESSES. SO WE'RE GLAD TO SEE THAT THAT, UH, PROPORTION CONTINUE. NEXT SLIDE. SO THIS TABLE IS SIMILAR TO THE PREVIOUS TABLE. UM, IT SHOWS THE DISTRIBUTION, BUT IT SHOWS THE RISK, THE DISTRIBUTION OF BOTH ROUNDS, UM, OF THE GRANT RECOMMENDATIONS. [00:10:01] SO THESE ARE THE 709 GRANTS. UH, WE WOULD ACTIVATE, UM, THAT WOULD ACTIVATE, UM, A MAXIMUM AMOUNT OF $22.3 MILLION. UM, WE STILL HAVE AT LEAST $2 MILLION LEFT TO AWARD, SO WE'LL CONTINUE TO REVIEW APPLICATIONS AND RECOMMEND A THIRD ROUND, UM, OF GRANTS IN THE, IN THE COMING WEEKS. NEXT SLIDE. AND AS FAR AS CENSUS TRACK EQUITY SCORES WITH THE SECOND ROUND, WE BEGIN TO SEE ADDITIONAL GRANTS TO BUSINESSES IN AREAS WITH A SCORE OF SEVEN AND EIGHT. UM, AND WE ALSO SEE A FEW GRANTS, UM, IN CENSUS TRACKS WITH A SCORE OF SIX, BUT WE STILL SEE MORE THAN HALF OF THE RECOMMENDED GRANTS GOING TO BUSINESSES IN CENSUS TRACKS WITH AN EQUITY SCORE OF NINE OR 10. NEXT SLIDE. SHIFTING GEARS A BIT, UH, WE'RE ALSO PLANNING FOR 10% OF THE AVAILABLE GRANT FUNDS TO BE AWARDED TO NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS. SO OUR INITIAL RECOMMENDATION FOR NON-PROFIT FUNDING INCLUDES 45 ORGANIZATIONS WHOSE APPLICATION SCORED BETWEEN 30 AND 70 POINTS. WE USED A SIMILAR CRITERIA AS EVALUATING OUR MICRO BUSINESSES. HOWEVER, THE 30 POINTS ASSOCIATED WITH BUSINESS OWNERSHIP WERE NOT APPLICABLE FOR NONPROFITS, WHICH IS WHY THE HIGHEST SCORE POSSIBLE IN THIS GROUP IS 70. UM, OUR FOCUS IN REVIEWING THE NONPROFIT APPLICATIONS HAS BEEN TO FUND ORGANIZATIONS THAT PROVIDE DIRECT SOCIAL SERVICES IN OUR COMMUNITY. GIVEN THE VAST NEED FROM OUR RESIDENTS TO ACCESS THIS TYPE OF, THESE TYPES OF SERVICES, SMALL ORGANIZATIONS THAT PROVIDE SOCIAL SAFETY NET SERVICES, UM, OFTENTIMES INCLUDING CHURCHES, UH, HAVE ALSO DEMONSTRATED SUBSTANTIAL LOSSES DUE TO COVID. AND THESE GRANTS ARE INTENDED TO HELP THEM CONTINUE TO PROVIDE ASSISTANCE TO OUR RESIDENTS. THESE RECOMMENDED GRANTS WOULD ACTIVATE UP TO $1.8 MILLION, UM, BUT IT'S STILL LEAVING ALMOST 700, UH, THOUSAND DOLLARS AVAILABLE. SO SIMILAR TO OUR MICRO BUSINESS GRANTS, WE'LL CONTINUE TO REVIEW NONPROFIT APPLICATIONS AND LIKELY RECOMMEND ADDITIONAL GRANTS TO IN THIS CATEGORY. NEXT SLIDE. SO THIS SHOWS A DISTRIBUTION OF THE RECOMMENDED NONPROFIT GRANTS BY COUNCIL DISTRICT WITH OVER 90% OF THEM GOING TO NONPROFITS THAT ARE LOCATED IN COUNCIL DISTRICTS ONE THROUGH FIVE. NEXT SLIDE. AND AS FAR AS NEXT STEPS FOR THE MICRO BUSINESS GRANT CATEGORY, UM, WE'LL CONTINUE TO FUND THE INITIAL ROUND OF GRANTS. UM, WE'RE ALSO GONNA FINALIZE AND VALIDATE THAT SECOND ROUND THAT I MENTIONED AND THAT YOU SAW SOME OF THE DATA FOR ALREADY. AND WE'RE GONNA BEGIN TO DEVELOP THE THIRD ROUND, UM, FOR NONPROFITS. WE'RE GONNA BEGIN FUNDING THAT THE, THOSE GRANTS EARLY NEXT WEEK. UM, AND WE'LL BEGIN DEVELOPING THE SECOND ROUND. UM, SINCE THERE'S STILL FUNDING AVAILABLE, WE'RE GONNA CONTINUE TO REVIEW APPLICATIONS, NONPROFIT APPLICATIONS. AND THE LAST CATEGORY OF FUNDING WE'LL ACTIVATE IS ASSOCIATED WITH LOAN FORGIVENESS FOR SMALL BUSINESSES THAT ACCESS CAPITAL VIA THE CITY'S PROGRAM WITH LIFT FUND FOR ZERO INTEREST LOANS. SO THESE BUSINESSES CAN RECEIVE UP TO 10 MONTHS OF PAYMENT FORGIVENESS. AND WE ARE CURRENTLY REVIEWING THE LIST OF SMALL BUSINESS BORROWERS WITH LIFT FUND RATE. OUR PLAN IS TO CONTINUE TO DISTRIBUTE THE FUNDS FOR ALL THREE OF THESE DIFFERENT PROGRAMS IN THE COMING WEEKS AND HAVE ALL OF THE FUNDS DISTRIBUTED BY THE END OF SEPTEMBER. I, I BELIEVE, UM, FOR THE NEXT SLIDE, I BELIEVE CARLOS MENTIONED THAT DIANA IGO FROM ARTS AND CULTURE IS ACTUALLY GONNA BE PROVIDING THE UPDATE ON THE ARTS NONPROFITS AND ARTISTS GRANTS, AND SURE. COULD I JUST JUST SAY ONE THING BEFORE WE GO TO, TO DEANNA? UM, WE WOULD LIKE SOME DISCUSSION WITH THE COMMITTEE ABOUT THE NONPROFITS, UM, AND SOME, AND SOME DIRECTION FROM THE, FROM THE COMMITTEE. UM, UNLIKE THE, UM, THE, UM, MICRO BUSINESS, UM, GRANTS WHERE WE, IT'S CALLED OUT SPECIFIC TYPES OF BUSINESSES THAT WERE NOT ELIGIBLE. UH, WE WOULD LIKE TO HAVE SOME DISCUSSION WITH THE COMMITTEE ABOUT PRIORITIZING NON THE NONPROFITS. SO WE PRIORITIZE SO FAR THOSE THAT ARE SERVING THE PUBLIC. BUT THERE'S A NUMBER OF OTHER NONPROFITS THAT HAVE APPLIED AS WELL. AND SO ALEX, WHEN WE GET BACK TO THAT DISCUSSION, WE SHOULD TALK ABOUT THOSE AS WELL, SO WE CAN GET SOME DIRECTION ON HOW TO PROCEED. THEY INCLUDE BUSINESS ORGANIZATIONS, UH, SOME OF 'EM RECEIVE FUNDING FROM THE CITY, UM, AND, AND THEN OTHER TYPES, FRATERNAL AND OTHER NONPROFITS. SO THANK YOU RICCAR. DIANA? YEAH. HI. UM, BEFORE WE MOVE ON, [00:15:01] DEANNA, I THINK YOU'RE ON, YOU MAY BE ON MUTE TO CHECK. OKAY. THERE WE GO. AND PLEASE USE YOUR, YOUR HAND FUNCTION TO MY COUNCIL COLLEAGUES IN THE, UM, WEBEX SECTION WHERE IT HAS PARTICIPANTS, AND THEN WE WILL BE TAKING QUESTIONS AT THE END OF ALL OF THE PRESENTATIONS SO WE CAN HAVE IT ALL TOGETHER. ALL RIGHT, THANK YOU. GO AHEAD, DEANNA. HI, GOOD MORNING. CAN YOU ALL HEAR ME? YES. GREAT. HI, UH, I'M DIANA VEGO. I'M THE CULTURAL AFFAIRS ADMINISTRATOR FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF ARTS AND CULTURE, AND I'M GOING TO BE GIVING YOU AN OVERVIEW, AN UPDATE ON THE SA HARRIS FOR ARTS GRANT THAT WERE ADMINISTERED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF ARTS AND CULTURE. WE CAN GO TO THE NEXT SLIDE. THE DEPARTMENT ADMINISTERED TWO SEPARATE GRANT CATEGORIES. THE FIRST ONE WAS FOR INDIVIDUAL ARTISTS GRANT, AND IT WAS A TOTAL INVESTMENT OF $600,000. AS YOU CAN SEE HERE, WE HAD A LIST OF GRANT ELIGIBILITY THAT WE USED TO ENSURE THAT THESE ARTISTS THAT WERE APPLYING FOR GRANTS WOULD QUALIFY FOR THIS GRANT. AND WE HAD 143 APPLICANTS THAT APPLIED FOR THIS GRANT. WE USED THE SCORING CRITERIA THAT YOU SEE OVER TO THE RIGHT IN ORDER TO REVIEW THESE APPLICATIONS. AND THEY INCLUDED THE COMBINED EQUITY ATLAS SCORE, GENDER, RACE, LGBTQIA PLUS STATUS, VETERAN STATUS, THEIR ANNUAL INCOME, THE PERCENTAGE OF THEIR INCOME THAT CAME FROM ARTISTIC ACTIVITY, AND THEN THEY PROVIDED A ARTISTIC PORTFOLIO AND THEIR PROOF OF LOSS. THESE GRANT AWARDS WILL BE IN THE AMOUNT OF VERIFIED LOSS UP TO $5,000, AND WE HOPE TO ADMINISTER A HUNDRED PERCENT OF THESE ELIG ELIGIBLE GRANT AWARDS BY THE END OF SEPTEMBER. BUT WE, UH, WE, WE FORESEE THAT THAT WILL BE WAY BEFORE THEN. NEXT SLIDE. THIS SLIDE SHOWS A BREAKDOWN OF THE ELIGIBLE APPLICANTS BY COUNCIL DISTRICT AND THEIR VERIFIED LOSS. THE INDIVIDUAL APPLICANT GRANTS, THE INDIVIDUAL ARTIST GRANTS HAD A TOTAL INVESTMENT OF $600,000, AND WE CAME VERY CLOSE TO THAT IN THE AMOUNT OF VERIFIED LOSS BY THESE APPLICANTS. WE HAVE AN OVERAGE OF $3,319 IN THESE 130 ELIGIBLE APPLICANTS, AND WE HOPE TO, TO FUND ALL 130 ELIGIBLE APPLICANTS, AND WE WILL COVER THIS OVERAGE BY USING DONATED FUNDS. IN APRIL, THE DEPARTMENT OF ARTS AND CULTURE BEGAN TAKING DONATIONS ON OUR WEBSITE TO GIVE THE COMMUNITY AWAY TO SUPPORT THE ARTS. TO DATE, WE HAVE 2030 $1 THAT HAS BEEN DONATED BY THE COMMUNITY, AND THESE FUNDS WILL BE USED TO SUPPORT THIS INDIVIDUAL ARTIST GRANT. NOW, WE STILL HAVE A VERY SMALL BALANCE OF A LITTLE BIT OVER A THOUSAND DOLLARS ONCE WE USE THESE DONATED FUNDS. AND WE PLAN TO TAKE THE REMAINING $1,000 FROM THE NONPROFIT AGENCY GRANT, SINCE THAT WILL BE LESS OF AN IMPACT TO THE NONPROFIT AGENCIES VERSUS THE INDIVIDUAL ARTISTS. NEXT SLIDE. SO, FOR THE NONPROFIT, UM, AGENCIES, WE HAD 47 APPLICANTS THAT WERE ELIGIBLE, AND THEY MET THE ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA THAT YOU SEE HERE ON THE LEFT. THAT'S WHAT WE USED TO SCREEN ALL APPLICANTS. AND ON THE RIGHT HAND SIDE, YOU WILL SEE THE BUDGET RANGE AND THE MAXIMUM AWARD OF WHAT WE WILL BE ADMINISTERING. NOW, AGAIN, BECAUSE WE'RE TAKING THIS VERY SMALL OVERAGE FROM THE INDIVIDUAL ARTISTS, OUR TOTAL INVESTMENT FOR NON-PROFIT SMALL BUSINESS ARTS, SMALL BUSINESSES WILL BE JUST UNDER $2 MILLION. AND THAT WILL GO TO FUND THESE 47 ELIGIBLE NONPROFITS. NEXT SLIDE. ON THIS SLIDE, WE, WE SHOW A REVIEW AND PAYMENT PROCESS TIMELINE FOR THE OVERALL PROCESS. THE GRANT APPLICATION CLOSED JULY 30TH, AND BY AUGUST 12TH, WE HAD REVIEWED THE 143 INDIVIDUAL ARTISTS APPLICATIONS AS WELL AS THE 47 NONPROFIT ARTS, UH, APPLICATIONS. AND THOSE WERE REVIEWED BY STAFF, AS WELL AS THE PANEL OF THE SAN ANTONIO ARTS COMMISSION. [00:20:01] WE ALSO HAD THE, AN AUDITOR, A CITY AUDIT TEAM REVIEW OUR APPLICATION. AND A MAJORITY OF THAT REVIEW IS ALREADY COMPLETED, BUT WE FORESEE THE RE THE REMAINING PORTION OF THAT REVIEW BEING DONE BY FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 4TH. BY SEPTEMBER 18TH, WE WILL, UH, NOTIFY ALL OF THESE AWARD AWARDEES OF THEIR GRANT THAT THEY, THAT THEY WERE SELECTED TO RECEIVE A GRANT AND THEIR GRANT AMOUNT. UH, WE, WE WILL BE PRIORITIZING INDIVIDUAL ARTISTS, AND WE FORESEE GETTING ALL OF THOSE NOTICES OUT BY THIS FRIDAY. UM, AND THEN AFTER THAT, WE WILL FOCUS ON THE NONPROFIT ARTS BUSINESSES. DURING THIS TIME, WE'RE ALSO CREATING NEW VENDOR ACCOUNTS, AND THAT WILL BE DONE BY SEPTEMBER 22ND, SO THAT WE CAN MAKE ALL OF THESE PAYMENTS TO THESE NEW VENDORS, NEW CITY VENDORS. BY SEPTEMBER 30TH, WE WILL HAVE CONTRACT EXECUTION AND FUNDS DISBURSEMENT. AGAIN, WE'RE PRIORITIZING THE INDIVIDUAL ARTISTS, AND WE FORESEE THAT THOSE INDIVIDUAL ARTIST PAYMENTS WILL BE MADE CLOSER TO SEPTEMBER 18TH, AND THEN ALL GRANTEES WILL BE REQUIRED TO SUBMIT A FINAL REPORT BY NOVEMBER THE 10TH TO THE DEPARTMENT. THANK YOU. THANK YOU. AND, UM, WE'LL GO AHEAD AND SHIFT INTO THE WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM UPDATE NOW, UM, NEXT SLIDE. AND JUST AS A REMINDER TO EVERYBODY, WE HAVE A NUMBER OF PARTNERS IN EXECUTING THIS WORK, INCLUDING ALAMO COLLEGES AND PROJECT QUEST WORKFORCE SOLUTIONS, ALAMO AND SA WORKS. UM, AND THEN WE ALSO HAVE SOME OF OUR DELEGATE AGENCIES PARTICIPATING, LIKE FAMILY SERVICE AND RESTORE EDUCATION AND CHRYSALIS MINISTRIES. UM, AND THEN WE ALSO HAVE PARTNERS ON THE CHILDCARE DELIVERY SIDE. THOSE INCLUDE UNITED WAY AND THE AREA FOUNDATION, ALONG WITH LOCAL LICENSED CHILDCARE PROVIDERS. NEXT SLIDE. LAST MONTH, WE SHOWED THIS TIMELINE WITH SOME OF THE MAJOR MILESTONES WE HAD PLANNED FOR AUGUST. AND AS YOU CAN SEE, WE ACCOMPLISHED THE VAST MAJORITY OF THEM WITH, UM, THE ONLY ITEM THAT'S STILL REMEN REMAINING IS THE FINALIZING OF OUR MARKETING CAMPAIGN. NEXT SLIDE. FROM A PLANNING PERSPECTIVE, UH, WORKFORCE SOLUTIONS, ALAMO IS OUR PRIMARY MARKETING PARTNER, AND OUR CAMPAIGN WILL BE FOCUSED ON REACHING OUR TARGET POPULATIONS, WHICH INCLUDE RESIDENTS FROM CENSUS TRACKS WITH HIGH EQUITY SCORES, UM, PEOPLE OF COLOR, WOMEN AND VETERANS, AND FORMERLY INCARCERATED RESIDENTS. UM, WE'RE ALSO LOOKING FOR DISABLED RESIDENTS AND RE RESIDENTS EXPERIENCING HOMELESSNESS, UM, ALONG WITH ELDERLY AND, AND ALTOGETHER THOSE LIVING IN POVERTY. SO THESE RESIDENTS ALREADY FACED MULTIPLE BARRIERS PRIOR TO COVID, AND OUR WORKFORCE RECOVERY EFFORTS ARE FOCUSED ON SUPPORTING, UH, THEIR TRANSITION INTO JOBS WITH CAREER PATHWAYS AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR WAGE GROWTH. NEXT SLIDE. OUR MARKETING PLAN WILL INCLUDE A VARIETY OF STRATEGIES SUCH AS DOOR-TO-DOOR ENGAGEMENT AND VIRTUAL AND CALL-IN EVENTS, UM, ALONG WITH SOCIAL MEDIA AND CONNECTIONS WITH NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATIONS. UM, WE ALSO PLAN TO USE BILLBOARDS ALONG WITH PRINT AND DIGITAL MEDIA, AND VIA BUS BENCHES AND SHELTERS, AND IN BUS ADVERTISING. UM, WE ALSO PLAN TO ENGAGE COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS AND CHURCHES AS PART OF THIS MARKETING CAMPAIGN. AND DURING THE NEXT D W D C MEETING, YOU'RE GONNA GET, UM, A LOT MORE DETAILS AS WE FINALIZE THIS MARKETING PLAN AND THE ASSOCIATED TIMELINE. AND I, I THINK WHAT'S IMPORTANT TO KEEP IN MIND IS THAT THIS PROGRAM ACTUALLY RUNS THROUGH THE END OF SEPTEMBER. SO SOME OF THE APPROACHES AND SOME OF THE STRATEGIES THAT WE'RE GONNA BE USING, UM, WILL, WILL BE A LITTLE BIT MORE LONG-TERM. UM, AND, AND WE, WE PLAN TO DO A MORE, A MORE, IN A MORE, UM, TIME INTENSIVE CAMPAIGN, UM, SINCE THE PROGRAM SPANS A LITTLE BIT LONGER AS WELL. UM, NEXT SLIDE. BUT FOR NOW, WE THOUGHT IT WAS IMPORTANT TO BEGIN ENROLLING RESIDENTS INTO THE PROGRAM. UM, AND THE ENROLLMENT PROCESS BEGINS WITH INTAKE, WHICH INCLUDES A RESIDENT CALLING EITHER THE CITY VIA 3 1 1 OR, UH, WORKFORCE SOLUTIONS ALAMO VIA, UM, 2 1 0 2 2 4 HELP. THEY CAN ALSO EMAIL WORKFORCE SOLUTIONS ALAMO. AND, UM, THE EMAIL ADDRESS THAT YOU SEE ON THE SLIDE IS SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT FROM THE ADDRESS THAT YOU RECEIVED IN THIS PRESENTATION YESTERDAY. UM, THE ONLY DIFFERENCE IS THE, THE END OF IT, IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE.ORG, NOT.EDU. BUT WHAT YOU SEE ON THE SCREEN IS CORRECT. IT'S JOB SEEKERS@WSSALAMO.ORG. UM, SO ONCE A RESIDENT COMPLETES THE INTAKE PROCESS, THEY'LL BE ASSESSED BASED ON THEIR EDUCATION LEVEL, [00:25:01] THEIR WORK HISTORY, ALONG WITH THEIR INTERESTS. UM, IN ORDER TO PROVIDE THE MOST APPROPRIATE REFERRALS FOR TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES, PARTICIPANTS WILL THEN BE ENROLLED INTO TRAINING PROGRAMS AND BEGIN RECEIVING CASE MANAGEMENT, UH, TO SUPPORT THEIR COMPLETION OF THOSE TRAINING, TRAINING COURSES. NEXT SLIDE. AND AS A REMINDER, PARTICIPANTS CAN ENROLL IN A NUMBER OF POTENTIAL TRAINING PROGRAMS. SO ON THIS SLIDE ARE THE FOUR MAIN TRAINING CATEGORIES PARTICIPANTS CAN ACCESS. UM, ALONG WITH A FEW EXAMPLES FOR EACH OF THOSE TYPES OF TRAINING. UM, THROUGHOUT THEIR TRAINING, PARTICIPANTS WILL RECEIVE WRAPAROUND CASE MANAGEMENT ALONG WITH TRAINING STIPENDS, WHICH WILL ACTUALLY, UM, DECREASE SOME OF THE NEED FOR OUR PARTICIPANTS TO ACCESS EMERGENCY OR SAFETY NET SERVICES. NONETHELESS, UM, CASE MANAGERS WILL ALSO BE ABLE TO MAKE REFERRALS AS NECESSARY. WE'RE EXCITED TO SEE THIS PROGRAM LAUNCH AND, UM, WE'LL CLOSELY BE TRACKING OUR PARTNERS, UM, THROUGH THIS PROCESS. AND ALSO, UM, TRACKING OUR PARTICIPANT EXPERIENCES. I, AND, UM, WHILE THIS CONCLUDES MY PRESENTATION, I'D LIKE TO, UM, THANK, UM, AND MICHAEL SINDEN AND THE ENTIRE WORKFORCE TEAM WHO HAVE BEEN WORKING OVER THE PAST TWO MONTHS TO ACCOMPLISH A LOT OF WHAT I SHARED WITH YOU TODAY. UM, AND THEIR WORK IS NOT DONE. SO I JUST WANNA THANK THEM AND I'M AVAILABLE FOR QUESTIONS. THANK YOU VERY MUCH, UM, ALEX, FOR THE PRESENTATIONS AND DEANNA FOR, UH, THE PRESENTATIONS. I THINK IT'S, IT, IT IS INCREDIBLE, INCREDIBLE ALL OF THE WORK THAT HAS BEEN DONE, AND THIS UPDATE IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT. AND I WANT TO THANK OF COURSE E D D, YOUR ENTIRE TEAM IN PARTICULAR. UM, AND THIS COUNCIL COMMITTEE RIGHT HERE, UH, WHO HAS DONE SO MUCH WORK, AND I'VE ASKED A LOT OF QUESTIONS AND HAVE FINE TUNED THIS PROGRAM AND MADE IT BETTER. AND I DON'T WANT ANY MORE TIME TO PASS BEFORE YOU ALL. UM, MY COUNCIL COLLEAGUES AND THIS TEAM HERE, UM, AND OF COURSE, LIFTFUND, UM, GET THE RECOGNITION YOU DESERVE FOR ALL OF THE WORK THAT YOU HAVE BEEN DOING, UH, AND MAKING SURE THAT WE GET THIS GOING FOR ALL OF OUR COMMUNITY FOR SAN ANTONIO. 'CAUSE IT HAS BEEN A TEAM EFFORT. SO, UM, BUT WE CAN STILL MAKE MODIFICATIONS DOWN THE LINE. AND WHAT I'M EXCITED ABOUT WITH THIS WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT PLAN IS, UM, YOU SAID YOU WERE GOING TO BE TRACKING THE PARTICIPANTS. SO WHEN YOU'RE TRACKING, WHAT I WOULD LOVE TO BE ABLE TO SEE IS MAYBE FOCUS GROUPS WITH THESE PARTICIPANTS TO SEE, OKAY, WHAT IS NOT WORKING? WHAT DO WE NEED TO FINE TUNE? WHERE ARE THE AREAS THAT WE NEED TO HELP AND ENHANCE IN ANY AREA OF OUR, FROM OUR INTAKE TO OUR ASSESSMENTS TO OUR REFERRAL? WE NEED TO MAKE SURE THAT THOSE PARTICIPANTS ARE CONTINUALLY GIVING US FEEDBACK OF HOW WE CAN MAKE THIS BETTER. UM, AND, UH, SO I'M GOING TO PASS THIS ON IF MY COLLEAGUES HAVE HA THEY WANNA RAISE YOUR HAND, THEIR HAND ON THE WEBEX, WE'LL PASS IT ON. AND JUST ONE THING ABOUT THE ART NONPROFIT GRANT, I WOULD LIKE TO SEE THAT BREAKDOWN FOR THOSE 47 THAT HAVE BEEN, UM, THAT ARE ELIGIBLE. I WOULD LIKE TO SEE A BREAKDOWN OF THOSE AS WELL AS YOU CONTINUE TO FINE TUNE THAT TO SEE, UM, WHAT'S SIMILAR TO WHAT WE'VE SEEN IN THE MICRO BUSINESS BREAKDOWN. I'D LIKE TO SEE THAT. SO, OKAY, GONZALEZ, UM, WE'LL START WITH COUNCIL MEMBER SHIRLEY GONZALEZ. UH, THANK YOU CHAIR. UM, AND THANKS FOR, UM, ACKNOWLEDGING ALL OF US. IT REALLY HAS, I KNOW FOR MANY OF US BEEN, UM, UH, JUST SORT OF AT THE TOP OF OUR MINDS IS THE, THE, UM, SUPPORT FOR SMALL BUSINESSES. UM, AND I KNOW Y'ALL HAVE HEARD ME SAY MANY TIMES THAT I DON'T HAVE ANY LARGE EMPLOYERS IN MY DISTRICT, SO IT'S REALLY IN MY, MY DISTRICT SURVIVES, UM, FROM THE SUPPORT OF SMALL BUSINESSES. SO LET ME, SO I, SO I THINK IT'S FITTING THAT WE DID, YOU KNOW, IT SEEMED LIKE WE GOT A LARGER PERCENTAGE OF THE FUNDS IN DISTRICT FIVE FOR SMALL BUSINESSES, BUT NOT NECESSARILY THE DOLLAR AMOUNT. SO WHY IS THAT, ALEX, CAN YOU GO BACK TO SOME OF THOSE SLIDES? I WAS, UH, FLIPPING THROUGH TRYING TO LOOK FOR THEM, BUT COULD YOU GO BACK TO THE SLIDES THAT TALK ABOUT, UM, PERCENTAGE VERSUS AMOUNT FUNDED? WAS THAT, YOU KNOW, BASED ON JUST THE REQUEST OR, I KNOW EARLY ON SOME OF THE P P P DOLLARS, YOU KNOW, YOU HAD TO SUBMIT FORMS BASED ON WHAT YOUR, UM, YOU KNOW, SIX MONTHS PAYROLL WAS. RIGHT? SO, RIGHT. I MEAN, AND, AND SO [00:30:01] WHAT ABOUT THIS ONE? LIKE WHAT WAS THE, WAS IT JUST A REQUEST FOR A VARIETY OF THINGS OR? A LOT OF IT, YEAH. AND, AND WHAT YOU SEE IN THIS COLUMN WITH UNDER THE MAXIMUM FUNDING AMOUNT, THAT IS STRICTLY BASED ON THE SIZE OF THE BUSINESS. SO WE HAD IDENTIFIED, UM, MAXIMUM AMOUNTS OF FUNDING THAT WE WOULD PROVIDE, FOR EXAMPLE, A, UM, SOLE PROPRIETORSHIP OR, OR, UM, THAT THE MAXIMUM AMOUNT WAS $10,000 FOR BUSINESSES WITH EMPLOYEES FROM ONE TO FIVE, OR ONE TO FIVE EMPLOYEES. IT WAS 25,000. UM, AND THEY INCREASED ALL THE WAY UP TO THE 20 EMPLOYEES. SO THE LOWER THE, THE AMOUNTS ARE DIRECTLY RELATED TO THE SIZE OF THE BUSINESSES THAT APPLIED. AND WE ACTUALLY DO HAVE MORE DATA ABOUT THE DIFFERENT SIZES OF BUSINESSES THAT APPLIED, UM, WITHIN EACH OF THESE CATEGORIES, WE ARE TRYING TO JUST PROVIDE THE, THE MOST RELEVANT PIECES WE CAN PROVIDE FURTHER BREAKDOWN IF YOU'D LIKE TO SEE THAT. COUNCILWOMAN, WE CAN'T HEAR YOU. THANK YOU. I MUTED MYSELF. SO, UM, I, I DO THINK THAT WOULD BE HERE HELPFUL AND ALEX TO GET THAT GRANULAR INFORMATION. I MEAN, I, I HAVE, YOU KNOW, OVER THE YEARS REALLY HAVE SPENT A LOT OF TIME WITH THE DEMOGRAPHICS IN THE DISTRICT. SO, UM, BUT WHAT I DON'T KNOW IS WHO NECESSARILY APPLIED. I, I DO KNOW, UH, A LOT ABOUT THE TYPE OF BUSINESSES AND THE NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES, BUT NOT NECESSARILY THOSE WHO APPLIED. AND SO, UH, I DO KNOW THAT, YOU KNOW, FOR EXAMPLE, WE HAVE LOTS OF OF RESTAURANTS, UM, AND I WONDER IF, YOU KNOW, THE RESTAURANTS, UM, BECAUSE, YOU KNOW, THE WORK WORK CAN BE, UM, SEASONAL AND IT CAN BE ALSO, UM, UH, SO I MEAN, I'LL JUST SAY WHAT I WANNA SAY. SO I DON'T, I ALSO DON'T, I HAVE VERY FEW RESTAURANTS THAT ARE OPEN AT NIGHT. UM, MOST OF THE RESTAURANTS IN THE DISTRICT ARE ONLY OPEN FROM FOR BREAKFAST AND LUNCH. SO THEN IT, YOU KNOW, IT ALSO, UM, SHOW, YOU KNOW, IT'S GOING TO SHOW LESS BUSINESS, I GUESS IS, IS WHAT I WAS TRYING TO GET AT. BUT, UM, SO THANK YOU, UH, FOR THAT. AND ALSO, UM, SOME OF THE FEEDBACK THAT, YOU KNOW, UM, OF COURSE, I, I WAS GETTING FROM, UH, MY CONSTITUENTS, UM, WAS THAT IT WAS JUST TAKING TOO LONG. SO THAT HAS BEEN RESOLVED. I MEAN, DO THE PEOPLE HAVE, I, I FEEL LIKE I HAVE CONFIRMED FROM A COUPLE OF BUSINESSES THAT THEY ALREADY GOT THE FUNDING. SO CAN YOU JUST CONFIRM THAT, UM, I, I KNOW SELENA IS ON THE LINE, UM, AS WELL, BUT THE, THE PLAN IS TO START SENDING THOSE NOTICES AND, AND PROVIDING THOSE AWARDS THIS WEEK OR THIS WEEK. RIGHT. OKAY. 'CAUSE IT'S, UM, SEL CAN YOU CONFIRM THAT? I FEEL LIKE I, SOME OF THEM SAID THEY GOT IT ALREADY. THERE MIGHT BE SOME OVERLAP WITH THE BEXAR COUNTY AWARDS, UM, THAT YOU MAY HAVE BEEN HEARING SOME OF THE CONSTITUENTS RESPOND TO, BUT WE HAVE NOT RELEASED ANY OF THE CITY OF SAN ANTONIO AWARDS OR FUNDS YET AT THIS TIME. UM, OKAY. GREAT. WELL, THANK YOU VERY MUCH. UH, I HAD ANOTHER QUESTION, UM, ABOUT, UH, ALSO THE, UM, ARTS ORGANIZATIONS AND THE ARTS, UH, NONPROFITS. UM, SO I KNOW THAT I ALSO HAVE, YOU KNOW, A A LOT OF ARTS ORGANIZATIONS, UH, AND, AND NONPROFITS IN THE DISTRICT. BUT THEN AGAIN, WHEN YOU GO TO THE REQUESTS AND THE TYPE OF AWARDS, IT DOESN'T SEEM, UM, LIKE, COULD YOU GO TO THAT SLIDE, UH, REGARDING THE NONPROFITS? AND I THINK CARLOS, YOU ASKED FOR SOME FEEDBACK, UH, ABOUT WHAT SHOULD BE FUNDED. UM, AND MY, MY, MY INITIAL THOUGHT IS THAT THE GROUPS THAT DO, UM, YOUTH SERVICES, UM, COULD BE, UH, FUNDED. AND I MENTIONED THIS YESTERDAY WHEN I WAS, UH, WITH A, UM, SOME OF OUR HEALTH DEPARTMENT FOLKS, UM, IN THE EVENT THAT WE HAVE TO GO BACK, UH, YOU KNOW, THAT THE SCHOOLS ARE NOT ABLE TO OPEN AS SCHEDULED IN THE EVENT OF ANOTHER SPIKE. UM, YOU KNOW, SOME OF THOSE NONPROFIT ARTS ORGANIZATIONS COULD ALSO BE DOING, UM, LIKE PODS SIMILAR TO, YOU KNOW, WHAT WE'VE BEEN READING ABOUT AND HEARING ABOUT, UM, FAMILIES GETTING TOGETHER TO TRY TO, TO, UM, WORK WITH ONLINE LEARNING. AND SO I, I, I, WOULD THEY BE, UM, I MEAN THE NONPROFITS IN THE DISTRICT, I THINK SOME OF THEM WERE SORT OF DOING IT INFORMALLY ANYWAY. UM, IS THAT A WAY WE CAN CONTINUE TO HELP SOME OF THESE ORGANIZATIONS, UM, WITH THE, BECAUSE THIS IS ALL CARES FUNDING, OR WOULD THAT GO THROUGH A DIFFERENT, UM, LIKE POT OF MONEY? COULD THAT GO THROUGH PERHAPS A DIGITAL DIVIDE OR SOMETHING ELSE? SO, UH, A A LOT OF OUR, A LOT, UM, LARGE MAJORITY OF THESE 47 ELIGIBLE NONPROFITS ARE, [00:35:01] ARE DELEGATE ARTS AGENCIES. WE HAD SOME NEW AGENCIES, BUT A MAJORITY OF 'EM ARE DELEGATE ARTS AGENCIES, AND A LOT OF THEM PROVIDE, ARE PROVIDING YOUTH SERVICES DURING THIS TIME. UM, WE ACTUALLY HAVE A LIST OF, UH, THOSE AGENCIES THAT ARE DOING ONLINE PROGRAMMING. THEY'RE DOING IN-PERSON PROGRAMMING, YOU KNOW, WHICH WE CAN SHARE. AND COUNCIL MEMBER, THIS IS CARLOS CONTA? YES. UM, THE, THE, THE DIRECTION WE WERE LOOKING FOR RELATED, UH, NOT SPECIFICALLY TO THE NONPROFIT ARTS ORGANIZATIONS, BUT, BUT THE NON, THE OTHER NONPROFITS THAT ARE, ARE PART OF THE MICRO, UH, BUSINESS GRANTS PROGRAM. UH, AND, AND WE CAN CERTAINLY, IF IT'S THE, THE CONSENSUS OF THE, OF THE COMMITTEE, WE CAN CERTAINLY LOOK AT FOCUSING ON THOSE INDIVIDUALS THAT PROVIDE YOUTH SERVICES, WHICH COULD INCLUDE DANCE COMPETITIONS AND OTHER KINDS OF YOUTH SERVICES, UM, WHICH WERE SORT OF ARTISTIC, BUT THERE MIGHT BE OTHER KINDS OF, UH, YOUTH SERVICES AS WELL, UM, IN ADDITION TO THE ONES THAT WE WE'RE FOCUSING ON. UM, OKAY. I, I THINK THAT'S REALLY WHERE I WOULD LIKE TO SEE THE ATTENTION IS ON THOSE YOUTH SERVICES. AND THEN MY LAST QUESTION, UM, UH, ALEX, THE LAST PRESENTATION THAT YOU DID, UM, UH, THE FINAL ONE WHERE IT COULD, COULD YOU GO BACK TO THAT? I, I GUESS IT WAS WORKFORCE, SO I, I WAS NOT CLEAR ABOUT WHAT FUNDING THAT IS OR, OR, UM, THE ONE THAT'S TITLED WORKFORCE OKAY. WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT. WHAT, WHAT, WHAT FUNDING IS THIS FROM? THIS IS ASSOCIATED WITH THE RECOVERY AND RESILIENCY PLAN. UM, THE VAST MAJORITY OF THE FUNDING IS ACTUALLY GENERAL FUND. THERE IS A SMALL AMOUNT OF, UM, CARES ACT, UH, FUNDING IN HERE, ABOUT 2.3 MILLION. UM, BUT THE OTHER 65 ASSOCIATED WITH THE, THE TRAINING PORTION AND THE STIPENDS AND THE CASE MANAGEMENT, THAT'S GENERAL FUND. OKAY. AND SO COULD, COULD YOU GO BACK TO, COULD YOU GO TO THE SLIDE THAT TALKED ABOUT THE, AGAIN, ALSO WITH THE DELEGATE AGENCIES? SURE. SO THAT'S, THIS IS LIKE OUR, I, I GUESS THAT'S WHY I GOT A LITTLE BIT CONFUSED BECAUSE THERE'S SOME CARES FUNDING IN THERE. UH, AND THEN THIS IS JUST THE REGULAR LIKE WORK THAT WE DO. UM, NO, THIS IS, THIS IS ALL THE RECOVERY PLAN WORK. UM, WHAT WE'RE DOING IS THAT WE'RE BUILDING ON SOME OF THE RELATIONSHIPS THAT WE HAVE WITH SOME OF OUR CURRENT DELEGATE AGENCIES. UM, BUT WE ARE AUGMENTING, WE'RE ASKING THEM TO DO MORE AS PART OF THIS RECOVERY PLAN. AND WHERE IS THE FUNDING ASSOCIATED WITH THAT? IT'S ALL, IT WAS ALL WITH THE RECOVERY PLAN, WHAT WAS APPROVED IN JUNE, IN THE BEGINNING OF JUNE. UM, AND SO WE'VE EXECUTED CONTRACTS WITH ALL OF THESE ORGANIZATIONS FOR THAT, FOR THAT WORK. OKAY. COULD YOU GO TO THE NEXT SLIDE? SO IT'S FEDERAL DOLLARS AND GENERAL FUND DOLLARS AND GENERAL FUND A TOTAL OF 3.2 MILLION, IS THAT WHAT YOU SAID? UM, NO, TOTAL FOR THIS, FOR THE WORKFORCE PILLAR I BELIEVE IS 75 MILLION. 10 OF THAT IS 10 MILLION IS FOR CHILDCARE. UM, AND THAT'S THROUGH VARIOUS FUNDING SOURCES. UM, 2.3 MILLION IS APPROXIMATELY, YEAH, APPROXIMATELY 2.3 MILLION IS CARES ACT FUNDING. AND THEN THE REMAINDER, THE 62 POINT SOMETHING IS GENERAL FUND. AND MADAM CHAIR, IF I COULD JUST CLARIFY AND, AND ACTUALLY THE CARES FUNDING IS ACTUALLY ABOVE $5 MILLION NOW BECAUSE WE DID, UH, TRANSFER A LITTLE MORE MONEY IN THERE, UH, AND, AND, AND SWAP OUT SOME GENERAL FUND DOLLARS FOR PURPOSES OF THE, UH, EMERGENCY HOUSING AND ASSISTANCE PROGRAM. BUT THE VAST MAJORITY, AS ALEX SAID, IS GENERAL FUND DOLLARS. THAT'S ATTRIBUTED TO THE WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT PILLAR OF THE RECOVERY PLAN. OKAY. OKAY. THANK YOU. UH, THANK YOU VERY MUCH. I, I'LL CHIME IN LATER IF I HAVE ANY OTHER QUESTIONS. THANK YOU, CHAIR. THANK YOU. COUNCIL MEMBER. COUNCIL MEMBER KAVE. HDA. THANK YOU, MADAM CHAIR. UM, COUNCILWOMAN DERAN MENTIONED TRACKING, WHICH I COMPLETELY AGREE WITH. I'D LIKE TO KNOW HOW WE CAN MAKE THIS BETTER AND HOW THE BUSINESSES ARE REALLY BENEFITING. IN THAT SAME NOTE, UM, DO WE HAVE, OR CAN WE CREATE A SUMMARY CHART FOR ALL THE BUSINESSES THAT HAVE USED ANY OF THE INCENTIVES? UM, A LITTLE BIT OF A SHIFT, BUT THE INCENTIVES AND PROGRAMS SO WE CAN ASSESS IF THEY'VE MEET, THEY'RE MEETING THEIR AGREEMENT, HOW THEY'RE DOING. UM, YOU KNOW, ARE THEY STILL IN SAN ANTONIO? HOW DID THEIR WORKFORCE GROW? THINGS LIKE THAT. IS THAT POSSIBLE OR DO WE HAVE SOMETHING LIKE THAT? UM, IN RELATION TO THE SMALL BUSINESS GRANTS OR IN RELATION TO OUR OVERALL ECONOMIC INCENTIVES PROGRAM? WELL, OVERALL ECONOMIC INCENTIVES FIRST, BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT WE HAVE, YEAH. . AND THEN, YOU KNOW, EVENTUALLY IN THE LINE, OF COURSE, I'D LIKE TO SEE THAT WITH THE GRANTS AS WELL. YES, MA'AM. WE ACTUALLY DO TRACK ALL OF THAT. UM, BECAUSE THERE'S [00:40:01] CONTRACTS ASSOCIATED WITH IT. UM, WITH THE, THE, THE SUPPORT THAT WE PROVIDE COMPANIES AND THESE PROJECTS, UM, THERE'S A LOT OF MONITORING AND, AND REPORTING THAT THEY DO TO SHOW US HOW THINGS ARE GOING AND HOW JOBS ARE BEING CREATED, AND THAT THOSE JOBS ARE STILL FILLED. SO, UM, YES, THERE IS EXTENSIVE MONITORING THAT WE DO, UM, WITH, WITH ALL OF THOSE PROGRAMS. WE'RE ALSO GONNA BE DOING TRACKING WITH THESE GRANTS. UM, ONE OF THE THINGS THAT WE'RE GONNA BE ASKING, EVERY SMALL BUSINESS, EVERY MICRO BUSINESS THAT GETS A GRANT IS TO DEVELOP BASICALLY THEIR, THEIR INDIVIDUAL RECOVERY PLAN. AND THEN THE, THE OUTREACH ORGANIZATIONS THAT WE'RE ALSO GONNA BE PARTNERING WITH, UM, WILL BE AVAILABLE TO HELP THOSE BUSINESSES IMPLEMENT THOSE RECOVERY PLANS. SO WE THOUGHT THAT WAS AN IMPORTANT COMPONENT TO THIS STRATEGY AS WELL. I AGREE. I'D LIKE TO SEE THAT, UH, AT LEAST, UH, THE ONES WE HAVE NOW FOR THE INCENTIVES. UH, AND IF YOU COULD BREAK IT DOWN BY DISTRICT, THAT WOULD BE HELPFUL AS WELL. SURE. MY, UH, COLLEAGUES WOULD LIKE TO SEE THAT AS WELL. UM, MADAM CHAIR, MADAM CHAIR, OUR HOPE WAS TO, TO, TO BRING THAT REPORT, UH, AT A FUTURE, UH, COMMITTEE MEETING, PERHAPS EVEN THE NEXT ONE, BECAUSE WE HAVE THAT, WE HAVE THE COMPLIANCE AND WE HAVE IT BROKEN DOWN BY DISTRICT. WE'RE HAPPY TO DO THAT. OKAY, THANK YOU, CARLOS. AND THEN ALSO, BECAUSE WE'RE BEGINNING TO DISTRIBUTE THE FUNDS THIS WEEK, I UNDERSTAND WHAT I'D LIKE TO KNOW A LITTLE BIT ABOUT, UH, MORE ABOUT THE BUSINESSES, BUSINESSES THAT ARE RECEIVING THE DISBURSEMENTS. I'VE ASKED THIS QUESTION BEFORE. 'CAUSE I'D LIKE US TO MATCH OUR FINANCIAL CONTRIBUTION TO THESE BUSINESSES, AND THERE ARE EDUCATIONAL EFFORTS AND TEACH BUSINESSES HOW TO BETTER SUSTAIN LONG-TERM ECONOMIC DOWN PERIODS. UM, I'LL I'LL LET YOU ANSWER THE QUESTION, BUT I HAVE MORE TO THAT, TO THAT, TO ADD TO THAT POINT. YEAH. I THINK THAT WE, WE AGREE THAT THAT'S REALLY IMPORTANT THAT, UM, THEY, THEY DEVELOP THE, THAT RECOVERY PLAN. UM, SO AS, AS THEY'RE GETTING NOTIFIED BY LIST FUND OF, UH, THEIR SELECTION TO RECEIVE THIS GRANT FUNDING, IT'S A VERY SIMPLE, BASICALLY ONE PAGE LETTER AGREEMENT. UM, ONE OF THE, ONE OF THE REQUESTS THAT WE'RE MAKING IN THAT LETTER IS THAT THEY DEVELOP THIS PLAN. UM, AND SO WE KNOW THAT THEY'RE KIND OF TAKING THESE TYPES OF STEPS TO, TO KNOW HOW THEIR, THEIR, THEIR BUSINESS IS GONNA NEED TO PIVOT, UM, IN, IN THIS NEW ECONOMIC CONDITION. SO THAT IS PART OF IT. I THINK AS WE START, UM, ACTUALLY FUNDING THE, THE GRANTS, WE'RE GONNA HAVE A LOT MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE BUSINESSES BECAUSE WE'RE GONNA KNOW RIGHT NOW THERE'S, YOU KNOW, THERE'S 2,700 APPLICATIONS, BUT AS WE START ACTIVATING THE MONEY, WE'RE DEFINITELY GONNA HAVE A LOT MORE DETAILS ABOUT THE BUSINESSES. AND, UM, THERE'S ALSO A COMMITMENT TO TRACK THEM MORE LONG TERM, TRACK THEM IN A FEW MONTHS. AND THEN WE'RE ALSO GONNA BE, UM, FOLLOWING UP WITH THEM NEXT YEAR TO SEE HOW THEY'RE DOING AND, AND IF THEY WERE ABLE TO, TO STAY IN BUSINESS AND HOPEFULLY RECOVER. I'M, I'M GLAD YOU WE AGREE ON THAT. IT'S VERY IMPORTANT. UM, AND I LIKE, UH, LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING THAT. UM, SO JUST A QUICK COMMENT. I, I, I RECEIVED, UM, Y'ALL GAVE ME THAT REALLY INCREDIBLE MAP WITH THE DOTS SHOWING IN MY DISTRICT WHERE THE, THE WHO APPLIED AND WHO RECEIVED THEM. AND, UM, YOU KNOW, A LOT OF THEM WERE, UH, OUTSIDE FOUR 10. MY DISTRICT IS CUT IN HALF BY FOUR 10, AND IT'S INSIDE AND OUTSIDE FOUR 10. I HAVE A CONCERN ABOUT OUTREACH. I KNOW THE CITY IS DOING THE BEST WE CAN GIVEN THE TIMEFRAME WE HAVE TO WORK WITH, WITH THE CARES ACT. BUT, UM, I DON'T, I DON'T SEE THAT THE BUSINESSES IS, BUSINESSES IN MY DISTRICT, WHICH LIE INSIDE FOUR 10 PRIMARILY HAVE PARTICIPATED AS MUCH AS I'D LIKE TO SEE. IN MANY CASES, THESE ARE SMALL MOM AND POP ESTABLISHMENTS, AND THEY LIKELY RECEIVED A FLYER OR A POSTCARD. UH, YOU KNOW, THEY'RE NOT DIGITALLY, DIGITALLY CONNECTED, BUT THEY STILL DIDN'T APPLY. I'D LIKE TO SEE THE CITY DOING MORE OUTREACH WHEN WE AREN'T UNDER TIME CONSTRAINTS OF A PROGRAM. IF, IF IT MAKES SENSE. THERE'S, I WORRY THAT MANY OF THESE BUSINESSES, AND IN FACT THE PEOPLE IN THE NEIGHBORHOODS ARE OF THESE, ARE, ARE DISTRUSTFUL OF PROGRAMS LIKE THESE, OR, I MEAN, HONESTLY, THE CITY IN GENERAL. AND WHAT WE NEED TO DO TO, TO, IN ORDER TO ESTABLISH A BETTER RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE CITY AND THESE COMMUNITIES, I WANNA DO MY PART TO CONTINUE, CONTINUE TO EDUCATE MY CONSTITUENTS ABOUT THE NUMEROUS PROGRAMS THE CITY HAS TO HELP OUR COMMUNITIES. BUT I'D LIKE TO SEE MORE INNOVATION IN OUR OUTREACH. I DON'T NECESSARILY MEAN HIGH TECH INNOVATION, UH, YOU KNOW, AS A MATTER OF FACT, WE NEED TO FIGURE OUT MORE LOW TECH SOLUTIONS SO WE CAN REACH OUT TO A LOT OF THESE MOM AND POP BUSINESSES, MAYBE SEMINARS, I DON'T KNOW. BUT I'D LIKE TO WORK WITH YOU, GOD AND ALEX, TO FIGURE OUT HOW, WHAT WE CAN DO WHEN WE'RE NOT UNDER THE TIME AND FUNDING CONSTRAINTS OF A PROGRAM TO FIGURE OUT HOW TO REALLY REACH THESE COMMUNITIES AND THESE SMALLER BUSINESSES THAT MAY NOT WANNA PARTICIPATE FOR WHATEVER REASON. THAT'S ALL. MADAM CHAIR. THANK YOU. THANK YOU, COUNCIL MEMBER. GREAT IDEA. UM, LET'S GO TO, UH, WELL, COUNCIL MEMBER ROCHA GARCIA. THANK YOU CHAIR. AND THANK YOU ALEX AND TEAM. AND, UM, I [00:45:01] KNOW YOU, YOU ALL BREAK ME AND ANSWERED A LOT OF MY QUESTIONS, BUT I DO WANT TO, UM, PIGGYBACK OFF OF WHAT COUNCILMAN HDA JUST SAID. AND SO PERHAPS I KNOW THAT THERE WAS A STUDY THAT WAS DONE LITERALLY A DOOR-TO-DOOR STUDY ABOUT RESIDENTS, UM, THROUGH THE HEALTH DEPARTMENT LAST WEEK OR A COUPLE OF WEEKS AGO. UM, AND THEY FOCUSED IN ON, ON CERTAIN AREAS. AND SO I DON'T KNOW IF IT MIGHT BE POSSIBLE TO EVEN LOOK AT THEIR DATA, SEE WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING AND HOW THEY'RE GETTING INFORMATION. I KNOW IT'S A DIFFERENT AUDIENCE. THEY WERE LITERALLY GOING DOOR TO DOOR TO RESIDENCE, BUT MAYBE WE CAN KIND OF, UM, SEE WHAT THEY'RE LOOKING FOR OR, OR WHERE THEY'RE, UM, LISTENING TO THE RADIO OR, UM, TO TV, ET CETERA. 'CAUSE ONE OF THE THINGS THAT I SAW MISSING IN THE MARKETING PLAN WAS, UH, BROADCAST. SO I NOTICED THAT THERE WAS NO TV, BUT EVEN IF WE DON'T BUY THE SPACE, BECAUSE IT MIGHT BE EXPENSIVE, UM, I'M HOPING THAT WE CAN WORK ON PSAS, PERHAPS WITH SOME OF THE STATIONS AND ASK FOR THAT. AND SO THAT, THAT WAS THE ONLY ELEMENT OF THE PLAN THAT I SAW, UM, THAT WAS MISSING. BUT THEN ALSO, ARE WE GOING TO RECEIVE QUARTERLY REPER REPORTS ON OUR BURN RATE? AND SO WHERE WE ARE WITH OUR FUNDS AND, UM, I BELIEVE THAT WE, WE HAD ASKED SOMETHING SIMILAR TO THAT. UM, AND THE REASON WAS, UH, TO SEE IF WE NEEDED TO MAYBE SHIFT SOME FUNDING AROUND WILL WE BE RECEIVING THAT BEFORE ANY OF THE MONEY IS MOVED TO OTHER AREAS COUNCIL MEMBER WE'RE GONNA BE PROVIDING MONTHLY IF IT'S NOT MORE FREQUENTLY, UH, UPDATES ON WHERE WE ARE. AND, AND JUST TO BE CLEAR, THERE, THERE HAS BEEN NO MOVEMENT OF ANY FUNDS OUTSIDE OF THIS PILLAR. ALL WE DID WAS WITH RESPECT TO WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT, TOOK SOME GENERAL FUNDS AND PUT IT, YOU KNOW, REMOVED IT AND PUT IN CARES BECAUSE WE WERE ABLE TO DO THAT. BUT NO, NO MOVEMENT OUTSIDE OF ANY OF THE PILLARS. SURE, THAT WOULD TAKE A COUNCIL DECISION TO DO. UH, AND, AND CERTAINLY WE WOULD PREACH THIS COMMITTEE AND, AND THE ENTIRE COUNCIL ON ANY OF THOSE RECOMMENDATIONS, BUT WE WILL PROVIDE MONTHLY UPDATES TO YOU ON WHERE WE ARE. OKAY, GOOD. AND I, THAT'S WHAT I WAS REFERENCING. SO, UM, I, I DIDN'T NECESSARILY MEAN IT MOVING OUTSIDE OF, OF THIS AREA, BUT JUST EVEN, EVEN BETWEEN, UM, 'CAUSE I KNOW THAT ONE OF THE THINGS THAT WE SAID WAS THE FLEXIBILITY WOULD BE AN IMPORTANT COMPONENT. AND THE WAY THAT I SEE IT, THE FUNDS THAT WE'RE WORKING WITH RIGHT NOW, UM, ARE, ARE ALMOST A PILOT OF WHAT'S TO COME IF, UH, THE FOLKS APPROVE THE ONE 8 CENTS, UH, SALES TAX, UH, TO BE SHIFTED TO WORKFORCE. SO WE'VE GOTTA GET IT RIGHT OR SHOW THEM THAT WE ARE FLEXIBLE AND WE CAN ADJUST AND BE ACCOUNTABLE REALLY HERE, SO THAT THEY BELIEVE THAT WE COULD DO IT WITH A BIGGER POT OF MONEY. RIGHT. AND SO, UM, OR WHERE THE LONGER TERM PROGRAM, UM, ALSO YESTERDAY I WAS ON A CALL WITH SOME FOLKS AND THEY MENTIONED A REALLY GOOD IDEA, AND IT WAS ABOUT, THEY WERE, UH, REFERENCING ON THE JOB TRAINING SPECIFICALLY. UM, AND IT WAS A GROUP FROM THE NORTH CHAMBER OF COMMERCE. AND SO, UM, ONE OF THEIR FOLKS MENTIONED LIKE A TRAIN THE TRAINER PROGRAM WHERE, UH, COMPANIES WHO ALREADY HAVE NEEDS MIGHT BE ABLE TO TRAIN EMPLOYEES. AND SO, UM, UH, WE ALSO MENTIONED THAT OUR OWN CITY IS DOING IT, SO THE C D L TRAINING THAT SOLID WASTE IS DOING AND TRAINING THEIR OWN, THEIR ART CITY EMPLOYEES TO MAYBE RECEIVE A C D L, I THOUGHT THAT WAS A REALLY COOL AND INNOVATIVE CONCEPT. SO I DON'T KNOW IF THAT'S ALREADY SOMETHING THAT YOU ALL, UM, WERE THINKING ABOUT OR WAS IN THE WORKS, BUT I JUST THOUGHT THAT I'D BRING IT UP HERE BECAUSE IT IT LITERALLY BACK TO BACK LIKE IT WAS IN THE MORNING AND THEN IN THE AFTERNOON THAT I HEARD THIS, AND I JUST THOUGHT, THIS IS A REALLY GOOD IDEA, RIGHT? BECAUSE THEY ALREADY KNOW, THEY ALREADY HAVE THE, UM, TRAINING NECESSARY TO TRAIN OTHERS. SO IT WAS LIKE A REALLY NICE TRAIN THE TRAINER CONCEPT. AND SO, UM, I DIDN'T KNOW IF YOU ALL WERE ALREADY THINKING OF THAT IN SOME OF THESE ON THE JOB TRAINING. I COULDN'T REMEMBER SPECIFICALLY, BUT CAN YOU REMIND ME, ALEX, IF THAT'S A, THAT'S A PART OF WHAT YOU ALL ARE PROPOSING? IT IS ACTUALLY ON SLIDE 25, WE HAVE THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF TRAINING THAT A PARTICIPANT COULD POTENTIALLY ACCESS. AND IT RANGES FROM, YOU KNOW, THOSE RESIDENTS THAT MAY NEED TO COMPLETE A HIGH SCHOOL EQUIVALENCY, UM, SHORT-TERM TRAINING, LONG-TERM TRAINING, BUT THEN ALSO ON THE JOB TRAINING. OKAY. UM, SO THIS, THIS IS FOCUSED ON SMALL BUSINESSES THAT HAVE THOSE TYPES OF OPPORTUNITIES, UM, TO, TO TRAIN PEOPLE WHILE THEY'RE WORKING AND WHILE THEY'RE LEARNING THEIR, THEIR TRADES OR THEIR, THEIR WORK. OKAY, GREAT. SO THEN THAT'LL BE LIKE BUSINESSES TRAINING, UM, POTENTIAL EMPLOYEES FOR THEIR OWN BUSINESS, CORRECT. EXACTLY, MA'AM. OKAY, MA'AM. SO, AWESOME. GREAT. UM, AND THEN ALSO, UH, I KNOW THAT I HAD ASKED, AND THIS IS SIMILAR TO COUNCILWOMAN AVIO VARDOS QUESTION ABOUT A LIST OF BUSINESSES PERHAPS IN OUR AREAS, UM, THAT YET WE CAN SEE SO THAT WE MIGHT BE ABLE TO JUST, YOU KNOW, BE FAMILIAR WITH WHO APPLIED AND, AND MAYBE WHO DIDN'T AND HELP YOU ALL SEE MAYBE IN OUR EVERYDAY TRAVELS IN OUR DISTRICTS, I'M SURE WE SHOULD, WE SEE WHO DIDN'T APPLY AND MAYBE WE CAN STOP BY AND SAY, HEY, WHEN DID YOU APPLY? DID YOU LEARN, DID YOU LEARN, LEARN ABOUT THIS OPPORTUNITY, ET CETERA. SO, UM, IF WE COULD GET THAT, THAT LIST OF BUSINESS SCENARIO, I [00:50:01] THINK WE WOULD, WE WOULD BE HELPFUL TO YOU. UM, AND ALSO SIMILAR TO MY COUNCIL CALLING COUNCILMAN, UH, GONZALEZ, SHE MENTIONED THAT SHE WOULD, UM, LIKE THE FOCUS ON YOUTH, UH, OR, OR NONPROFITS THAT PROVIDE SERVICES TO YOUTH. I WOULD AGREE. UM, I, I WOULD, I DON'T KNOW HOW YOU DO PREFERENCE POINTS THERE, BUT I WOULD MAYBE, UH, LOOK AT FOLKS THAT SERVE SPECIAL NEEDS KIDS, UH, OR, UH, OR, OR, OR KIDS WITH DISABILITIES. UM, I REALLY DO THINK THAT THEY'RE MISSING OUT EVEN MORE, UM, ON, ON A LOT OF THINGS. AND SO, UM, SO I DON'T KNOW IF THERE'S SOME PREFERENTIAL POINTS AGAIN FOR, FOR UH, UH, ENTITIES THAT SERVE CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL NEEDS OR DISABILITIES, BUT THAT WOULD BE MY RECOMMENDATION. MY CLOSE SECOND OBVIOUSLY WOULD BE ANYBODY SERVING THE ELDERLY COMMUNITY. AND SO THAT'S ANOTHER ONE OF OUR VULNERABLE POPULATIONS. BUT THO THAT'S MY INPUT FOR NOW. THANK YOU ALL FOR ALL YOUR WORK AND THANK YOU CHAIR. THANK YOU. COUNCIL MEMBER, UM, COUNCIL MEMBER PERLA. YES. THANK YOU VERY MUCH. CHAIR. UM, CARLOS OR ALEX, CAN YOU TALK TO ME ABOUT, UH, WHETHER AND HOW WE'RE TARGETING INDIVIDUALS WHO ARE RECEIVING THE EMERGENCY HOUSING ASSISTANCE FOR WORKFORCE TRAINING? YEAH, THANK YOU, COUNCILMAN. UH, THAT'S A GOOD QUESTION. WE DIDN'T MAKE THAT CLEAR. UH, WE ARE WORKING WITH THE NEIGHBORHOOD AND HOW, UH, NEIGHBORHOOD AND HOUSING DEPARTMENT TO, TO PARTNER WITH THEM SO WE CAN GET THE LIST OF PEOPLE WHO'VE APPLIED FOR EMERGENCY HOUSING ASSISTANCE, UH, AND, AND TARGET THOSE INDIVIDUALS FOR THE WORKFORCE TRAINING. UH, KEEP IN MIND THAT A BIG COMPONENT OF THIS PROGRAM IS THE STIPENDS, UH, THAT HAS RECEIVED $450 UP TO FOUR $50 A WEEK WHILE YOU'RE IN TRAINING, UH, SO THAT YOU CAN GET RETRAINING. SO WE WILL BE TARGETING THOSE, THOSE INDIVIDUALS WHO HAVE ALREADY APPLIED, UH, FOR EMERGENCY HOUSING ASSISTANCE AND THOSE WHO ARE CONTINUING TO APPLY TO TRY TO ENCOURAGE THEM TO CONSIDER THE WORKFORCE TRAINING AND, AND UPSKILLING THAT THEY CAN HAVE. GREAT QUESTION. THANK YOU. THANKS CARLOS. UM, OKAY. THANKS. AND, UH, CHAIR, THAT, THAT WAS MY ONLY QUESTION. THANK YOU, COUNCIL MEMBER. UM, LET ME JUST CIRCLE BACK AND REITERATE, UM, YES, FOR THE NONPROFITS I WOULD AGREE WITH, UM, FOCUS OR ALLOWING FOCUS ON, UH, YOUTH AND WITH THE ELDERLY OR OUR SENIORS THAT WORK WITH IN THAT CAPACITY. SEPTEMBER IS, UH, CELEBRATE SENIORS MONTH, SO WE WANT TO BE SURE TO ACKNOWLEDGE THAT AS WE CONTINUE TO WORK. I WOULD LIKE TO, UM, ALSO WHEN YOU'RE LOOKING AT THE GRANTS AND THE BREAKDOWN, COUNCIL MEMBER GONZALEZ ASKED THIS, UM, YOU KNOW, THE, THE MORE GRANULAR DETAIL I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW, EVEN IN OUR, IN OUR RESPECTIVE DISTRICTS, THE, UM, MAJORITY OR THE AMOUNT OF WHAT CATEGORY IS IT? IS IT SERVICE INDUSTRY? IS IT SOLE PROPRIETORSHIP? IF YOU COULD HAVE A BREAKDOWN OF THAT, UM, FOR EACH OF OUR MICRO, UH, BUSINESSES AND GRANTS, I THINK THAT WOULD BE VERY HELPFUL. UM, I MENTIONED HOW I DID WANT TO SEE, UM, THE, UM, THE ARTS FUNDING AND SO CHURCHES, UH, FOR THE FIRST ROUND OF THE NONPROFIT GRANTS, YOU SAID CHURCHES, BUT IS THAT LIKE, UM, ST. VINCENT DEPAUL OR OTHER RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATIONS SUCH AS THAT? IT IS, UM, WE'RE SEEING A LOT OF THESE ORGANIZATIONS APPLYING, UM, AND WE KNOW THAT THEY ARE THE ONES THAT PROVIDE FOOD PANTRIES AND, AND DIFFERENT TYPES OF SOCIAL SAFETY NET SERVICES TO THEIR PARISHIONERS AS WELL. GREAT. THANK YOU. UM, AND I WOULD, AND I DO WANNA THANK THE, UM, THE, THE, OF COURSE THE CREATIVITY FROM THE ARTS DEPARTMENT AND THE FLEXIBILITY WHEN LOOKING AT THE DOLLAR AMOUNTS AND MOVING AND SHIFTING THOSE DOLLARS. I THINK THAT'S EXTREMELY IMPORTANT. AND YOU ALL DID A GREAT JOB THERE, UM, FOR OUR WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT. I THINK IT IS OPEN NOW, CORRECT? IT IS STARTED, WE MADE THE, THE ANNOUNCEMENT WAS MADE ON MONDAY. UM, I THINK IF YOU COULD ALSO SHARE WITH US KIND OF THE TRAINING, BECAUSE WE'RE ASKING OUR 3 1 1, UH, CALLERS TO DO A LOT. THEY HAVE A LOT OF DIRECTION THEY HAVE TO DO WITH THOSE, THOSE CALLS THAT ARE COMING IN. AND I JUST WANTED TO KNOW, SO WHEN WE TELL OUR RESIDENTS TO, UH, TO, YOU KNOW, FOR ANY CITY SERVICES, IT ALSO INCLUDES THIS FOR THE WORKFORCE RECOVERY AND RESILIENCY. WHAT DO THEY TELL THE CALLER AND WHAT DOES THE CALLER HAVE TO BE READY TO HEAR? CAN YOU SHARE THAT? SO I KNOW YES, AND I KNOW MICHAEL IS ON THE LINE AS WELL, OR, OR JOINING US HERE, AND HE'S BEEN WORKING DIRECTLY [00:55:01] WITH PAULA AND THE 3 1 1 TEAM AS WELL AS WE'RE DESIGNING BOTH THE INTAKE PROCESS AND WHAT ARE ALL THE QUESTIONS THAT EVERYBODY NEEDS TO, NEEDS TO, NEEDS TO TAKE, BUT THEN ALSO HOW DO WE CONNECT PEOPLE, UM, EFFECTIVELY AND, AND THAT KIND OF GET THEM BOUNCED AROUND TOO MUCH. SO MICHAEL, DO, CAN YOU SHARE A LITTLE BIT MORE OF THE DETAIL? ABSOLUTELY. SO ANYONE WHO CALLS IN THROUGH THE 3 1 1 SYSTEM REQUESTING THIS ASSISTANCE OR EVEN GOES THROUGH OUR F H R C, UH, AND REQUESTS, THEY NEED WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE. THE PRIMARY GOAL IS TO, UH, FACILITATE A HANDOFF TO WORKFORCE SOLUTIONS. ALAMO, THEY'RE OUR PRIMARY INTAKE PARTNER. WE HAVE A MECHANISM TO TRACK TO MAKE SURE THOSE REFERRALS ACTUALLY HAPPEN. AND IF THEY AREN'T AND THE RESIDENT DROPPED OFF, WE HAVE FOLLOW UPS WITH THEM TO MAKE SURE WE FACILITATE THAT TRANSITION. AT THAT POINT, W S A WILL STEP IN, AS ALEX MENTIONED EARLIER, AND FACILITATE THE INTAKE PROCESS AND DO THE VARIOUS ASSESSMENTS TO GET THEM WHERE THEY NEED TO GO, WHETHER THAT'S HIGH SCHOOL EQUIVALENCY, SHORT-TERM, LONG-TERM, OR ON THE JOB TRAINING. THANK YOU, MICHAEL. YOU, YOU RAN THROUGH THAT VERY WELL. IT'S, YOU KNOW, THAT, THAT'S FOR SURE. UM, SO THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR WORK ON THAT. AND I DO, I MEAN, YOU ALL HAVE BEEN INCREDIBLE AND I KNOW YOU'VE BEEN, UM, EATING, SLEEPING, BREATHING, THIS, THIS SINCE, UH, MARCH, APRIL, ET CETERA. UH, AND I ALSO HAVE TO, TO AGREE WITH THE GRASSROOTS OUTREACH, AND I KNOW WE'RE GONNA TALK ABOUT OUTREACH IN OUR SECOND, UM, ITEM ON THE AGENDA TODAY. BUT WHEN WE'RE TALKING ABOUT GRASSROOTS, I THINK THAT'S EXTREMELY IMPORTANT. UM, AND WHATEVER KIND OF CREATIVITY, WHATEVER KIND OF, UM, PARTNERSHIPS THAT WE CAN LEVERAGE IN ORDER TO GET OUT THERE, I THINK IT'S EXTREMELY IMPORTANT THAT WE ARE CREATIVE AND REALLY TURNING OVER EVERY STONE TO GET TO THOSE COMMUNITY MEMBERS THAT WE NEED TO, TO LET THEM KNOW THAT THIS IS AVAILABLE AND IT'S HELPFUL FOR THEM. AND I ALSO WOULD BE REMISS IF I DIDN'T THINK, UH, I KNOW SELENA'S ON THE CALL AND LIFT FUND BECAUSE YOU ALL HAVE BEEN RUNNING AND GUNNING WITH SO MANY OF THESE, THESE APPLICATIONS, NOT JUST FROM THE CITY, BUT ALSO FROM THE COUNTY. SO, UM, THANK YOU SELENA. THANK YOU JANIE AND THE ENTIRE TEAM THERE FOR WORKING SO DILIGENTLY AND, UH, WORKING WITH ALL THE MODIFICATIONS AND THE FLEXIBILITY THAT THE CITY ALSO PUTS FORWARD IN ALL OF OUR CONTRACTS. SO THANK YOU TO MY, UH, COLLEAGUE. UM, WITH THAT, THAT IS THE LAST I, UH, THAT IS NO MORE QUESTIONS. WE'RE GOING TO MOVE ON AND GO FORWARD. AND TO REMIND MY COLLEAGUES, WE ARE GOING TO BE GETTING UPDATES ON A MONTHLY BASIS ON THIS RECOVERY PLAN. SO THIS IS NOT THE LAST TIME WE'RE GONNA CONTINUE TO SEE IT. AND OF COURSE, THAT BREAKDOWN FOR THE ARTS GRANT. SO LET'S MOVE ON TO ITEM NUMBER TWO. [ 2. 20-5124 This item provides an update on public engagement processes, including the plan to collect feedback for the SBEDA Significant Business Presence policy , the Workforce Ballot Initiative , the COVID- 19 Workforce Recovery Plan, and updates to the Tax Abatement Guidelines. [Carlos J. Contreras, III; Assistant City Manager; Alejandra Lopez, Director, Economic Development]] AND THAT IS THE ITEM TO PROVIDE AN UPDATE ON PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT PROCESSES, INCLUDING THE PLAN TO CON COLLECT FEEDBACK FOR THE S BETA SIGNIFICANT BUSINESS PRESENCE POLICY. UM, I'M GOING TO LET CARLOS LEAD US, UH, TAKE US ON THIS ONE FIRST. YEAH, COUNCILLOR, JUST LITTLE TURN IT OVER TO ALEX IMMEDIATELY. SO IN THE INTEREST OF TIME, OF COURSE, PLEASE. THANK YOU. THANK YOU MADAM CHAIR AND COMMITTEE MEMBERS. UM, THIS IS JUST GONNA BE A VERY BRIEF, HIGH LEVEL SUMMARY OF A FEW OF THE PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT ACTIVITIES THAT WE'RE GONNA BE CONDUCTING, UM, THAT E D D'S GONNA BE CONDUCTING OVER IN IN THE FALL. UH, NEXT SLIDE. UH, JUST FOR SOME BACKGROUND, OUR DEPARTMENT IS ENGAGED WITH, UM, WITH THE PUBLIC AND SEEKING INPUT FROM THE PUBLIC IN A VERY, UH, BOTH ROUTINE, UM, SITUATIONS AND AD HOC. UM, ON THE LEFT YOU SEE A FLYER THAT WE USE TO PROMOTE A SMALL BUSINESS CAMPAIGN THAT WE CONDUCTED, UM, WHAT SEEMS LIKE A VERY, VERY LONG TIME AGO, BUT IT WAS IN JANUARY AND FEBRUARY. UM, WE WERE WANTING TO LEARN MORE ABOUT SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS, UM, AND THOSE SMALL BUSINESSES THAT DON'T TRADITIONALLY DO BUSINESS WITH THE CITY BECAUSE WE'RE VERY FAMILIAR WITH BUSINESSES THAT PARTICIPATE AS A BETA PROGRAM, BUT WE WERE TRYING TO LEARN MORE ABOUT OTHER SMALL BUSINESSES. SO THAT WAS A CAMPAIGN THAT WE CONDUCTED IN JANUARY AND FEBRUARY. AND THEN ON THE RIGHT, YOU SEE, UM, SOME OF THE, THE OUTREACH THAT WE DID TWO YEARS AGO AS PART OF THE TAX ABATEMENT POLICY, UM, AND WHEN WE WERE UPDATING, UM, UH, THE CURRENT POLICY THAT COUNCIL HAS ADOPTED. SO WE DO THINGS ON A ROUTINE BASIS AND THEN, AND THEN AS NEEDED, WE ALSO DO, UM, PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT ACTIVITIES. NEXT SLIDE. SO THIS FALL WE'RE PLANNING THREE DIFFERENT, UH, PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT CAMPAIGNS, UH, FOR THREE DIFFERENT PROGRAMS WITHIN OUR DEPARTMENT. UM, THEY INCLUDE CETA, UM, ALONG WITH THE WORKFORCE RECOVERY PLAN THAT YOU JUST HEARD ABOUT, AND OUR TAX ABATEMENT, UH, POLICY AND OUR TAX ABATEMENT GUIDELINES. NEXT SLIDE. SO STARTING WITH CETA AND JUST A QUICK REMINDER, THE PURPOSE OF THE PROGRAM IS TO ADDRESS [01:00:01] THE RACIAL DISPARITIES IN OUR CONTRACTING. AND WE DO THIS BY PROMOTING THE USE OF LOCAL, SMALL MINORITY AND WOMEN-OWNED BUSINESSES ON CITY CONTRACTING OPPORTUNITIES. NEXT SLIDE. SO THE SPECIFIC PURPOSE OF THE PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT IS TO SOLICIT FEEDBACK REGARDING THE ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA WITHIN THE C BETA ORDINANCE. SO CURRENTLY, UM, THE, THE ORDINANCE ALLOWS FOR SMALL MINORITY AND WOMEN OWNED BUSINESSES THAT ARE NOT HEADQUARTERED, UM, WITHIN OUR METROPOLITAN STATISTICAL AREA TO STILL RECEIVE PREFERENCE THROUGH THE PROGRAM. UM, IF THEY CAN, IF THEY CAN DEMONSTRATE THAT THEY HAVE A SIGNIFICANT BUSINESS PRESENCE HERE, UM, IN OUR METRO AREA. SO THAT IS SPECIFICALLY THE, THE ENGAGEMENT AND THE FEEDBACK THAT WE'RE GONNA BE SEEKING, UM, WITH, UH, THROUGH OUR PROCESS. NEXT SLIDE. THE STAKEHOLDERS THAT WE'VE IDENTIFIED FOR THIS ENGAGEMENT INCLUDE BUSINESS OWNERS AND, UH, PRIMARILY THOSE THAT ARE INTERESTED IN CITY CONTRACT WORK. UM, BUT WE'RE ALSO COORDINATING WITH CHAMBERS OF COMMERCE AND BUSINESS ORGANIZATIONS AND TRADE AND LABOR ORGANIZATIONS AS WELL TO HELP US GET FEEDBACK. UM, AS FAR AS ACTIVITIES THAT WE HAVE PLANNED, WE ARE CONDUCTING THREE VIRTUAL FOCUS GROUPS ALONG WITH AN EL AN ELECTRONIC SURVEY, UM, TO GATHER FEEDBACK. NEXT SLIDE. THE ENGAGEMENT CAMPAIGN IS CURRENTLY UNDERWAY. UM, THE SURVEY WAS DISTRIBUTED LAST WEEK TO A NUMBER OF BUSINESSES. WE, WE, WE DISTRIBUTED IT TO EVERY VENDOR THAT'S REGISTERED TO DO BUSINESS WITH THE CITY, ALONG WITH A, UM, BUSINESS DATA SET THAT WE PURCHASED EARLIER IN THE YEAR THAT INCLUDED OVER 18,000 EMAILS, UM, OF DIFFERENT BUSINESSES THROUGHOUT OUR COMMUNITY. AND THEN WE ALSO ASKED THE VARIOUS ORGANIZATIONS TO HELP US WITH DISTRIBUTING THE, THE SURVEY TO THEIR MEMBERS. UM, OUR FOCUS GROUPS WITH STAKEHOLDERS ACTUALLY START ON FRIDAY. UM, THAT'S THE FIRST ONE THAT WE'RE GONNA HAVE, THE ONE WITH STAKEHOLDERS, BUT THEN WE'RE GONNA HAVE, UH, TWO MORE NEXT WEEK WITH ACTUAL BUSINESS OWNERS. UM, WE'RE GONNA, THE NEXT STEP WOULD BE TO SHARE THE FEEDBACK THAT WE RECEIVE WITH THE SMALL BUSINESS ADVOCACY COMMITTEE IN LATE SEPTEMBER, AND THEN WITH THIS COMMITTEE NEXT MONTH. SO ULTIMATELY, IF THERE'S ANY RECOMMENDED CHANGES TO THIS, THE BETA ORDINANCE, CITY COUNCIL WOULD ULTIMATELY NEED TO APPROVE THAT AS WE, AS WE GO DOWN THIS PATH. NEXT SLIDE. THE SECOND ENGAGEMENT CAMPAIGN WE'LL BE CONDUCTING IS ASSOCIATED WITH A WORKFORCE RECOVERY PLAN THAT YOU JUST HEARD ABOUT. UH, NEXT SLIDE. THE PURPOSE OF THE ENGAGEMENT IS TO GET FEEDBACK FROM OUR VARIOUS STAKEHOLDERS ON HOW THE PROGRAM IS WORKING AND HOW IT CAN BE IMPROVED. AND, AND JUST FOR REFERENCE, AGAIN, THIS PROGRAM ACTUALLY EXTENDS THROUGH SEPTEMBER OF 2021. SO THERE IS TIME FOR US TO PIVOT AND SHIFT TO BETTER ADDRESS THE NEEDS OF OUR STAKEHOLDERS ALONG THE WAY. NEXT SLIDE. AND BY STAKEHOLDERS, WE'RE THINKING AND WE'RE STARTING WITH PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS, UM, ALONG WITH EMPLOYERS AND CHAMBERS OF COMMERCE AND TRADE ORGANIZATIONS, LABOR GROUPS, UM, AND ALSO THE, UM, THE ORGANIZATIONS, THE SOCIAL SERVICE ORGANIZATIONS AND THE WORKFORCE PARTNERS, UM, THAT ARE BOTH IMPLEMENTING AND THAT DO THIS TYPE OF WORK IN OUR COMMUNITY AND THE TRAINING PROVIDERS, WHICH ARE PLAYING A CRITICAL ROLE IN, IN THIS PROGRAM. UM, OUR ACTIVITIES WILL ONCE AGAIN INCLUDE FOCUS GROUPS. UM, THAT'S A, THAT'S A GOOD WAY FOR US TO BE ABLE TO GET FEEDBACK, UM, AND, AND GET THAT KIND OF CONVERSATION. BUT WE'RE ALSO STILL GONNA BE DOING SURVEYS AND ALSO THE ONGOING MEETINGS AND PRESENTATIONS. AND AS WE'RE RAISING AWARENESS OF THIS PROGRAM, WE'RE ALSO RECEIVING A LOT OF VERY VALUABLE FEEDBACK THAT WE'RE INCORPORATING. NEXT SLIDE. . SOME OF THE MILESTONES ASSOCIATED WITH THIS PARTICULAR CAMPAIGN WILL INCLUDE THE CON, THE CONTINUOUS UPDATES THAT WE DO TO THIS COMMITTEE, UM, ALONG WITH IMPLEMENTATION OF THE MARKETING PLAN THAT WE DESCRIBED AND, AND THAT'S TAKING PLACE THIS MONTH. UM, WE'LL ALSO LAUNCH VARIOUS SURVEYS AND FOCUS GROUPS STARTING IN OCTOBER, AND THEN AGAIN, INCORPORATE THAT FEEDBACK INTO THE CONTRACT EXTENSIONS THAT WE'RE GONNA HAVE, UH, WITH OUR PARTNERS AND, AND GONNA BE REVIEWING WITH THIS COMMITTEE IN NOVEMBER. NEXT SLIDE. AND SO THE LAST CAMPAIGN WE'LL BE CONDUCT, WE'LL BE CONDUCTING THIS FALL IS ASSOCIATED WITH OUR TAX ABATEMENT POLICY, UM, WHICH WE USE TO ATTRACT COMPANIES AND TO HELP LOCAL COMPANIES GROW. UM, THE, THE, THE OVERALL PURPOSE HERE IS TO CREATE JOBS AND TO HELP INCREASE INVESTMENT, PRIVATE INVESTMENT IN OUR COMMUNITY. NEXT SLIDE. THE TAX ABATEMENT REMAINS AN IMPORTANT TOOL TO HELP US CREATE JOBS IN OUR COMMUNITY WHEN WE'RE COMPETING WITH OTHER CITIES. UM, AND SO OUR ENGAGEMENT ACTIVITIES WILL SEEK FEEDBACK FROM STAKEHOLDERS TO FURTHER PROMOTE, UM, HOW WE CAN INCORPORATE AND HOW WE CAN PROMOTE AN EQUITABLE [01:05:01] ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT APPROACH. THROUGH THIS POLICY AND THROUGH THESE GUIDELINES, WE'VE ALREADY INCORPORATED OUR INCLUSIVE GROWTH POLICY INTO THE CURRENT TAX ABATEMENT, UM, GUIDELINES. SO WE'D LIKE TO SEE WHAT ADDITIONAL FEEDBACK, UH, WE CAN INCORPORATE TO HELP US ORIENT AND SO, AND, UM, SUPPORT THESE TYPES OF PROGRAMS AND, AND PROJECTS. NEXT SLIDE. OUR STAKEHOLDERS FOR THIS ENGAGEMENT, ONCE AGAIN INCLUDE RESIDENTS, EMPLOYERS, BUSINESS OWNERS, CHAMBERS, THESE, THESE, THESE ORGANIZATIONS THAT, UM, ARE THE TRADITIONAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT STAKEHOLDERS. UM, WE'RE GONNA BE CONDUCTING SURVEYS. UH, WE'VE RELIED, WE'VE TRADITIONALLY RELIED ON A LOT OF MEETINGS AND PRESENTATIONS, SO WE'RE GONNA HAVE TO GO VIRTUAL WITH A LOT OF THESE, UM, THIS FALL. BUT WE THINK IT'S IMPORTANT TO MEET WITH THESE DIFFERENT STAKEHOLDER GROUPS AND EXPLAIN TO THEM, UM, ANY TYPES OF CHANGES AND, AND GET THEIR FEEDBACK AS WELL. NEXT SLIDE. AND THE TIMELINE WILL ALSO LOOK SIMILAR, UM, BECAUSE IT'S ALSO HAPPENING THIS FALL. UM, WE'RE GONNA BE DOING OUR OUTREACH WORK OVER THE NEXT TWO MONTHS AND COMING BACK TO E W D C IN NOVEMBER. UM, AND THEN ULTIMATELY CITY COUNCIL CONSIDERATION OF OUR UPDATED, UH, TAX ABATEMENT GUIDELINES IN DECEMBER. NEXT SLIDE. SO JUST IN CLOSING, WE PLAN TO ENGAGE WITH THE PUBLIC, UH, FOR FEEDBACK ON THREE DIFFERENT PROGRAMS. UH, THEY, UM, THEY SHARE THESE THREE DIFFERENT PROGRAMS AND THESE THREE DIFFERENT CAMPAIGNS, THEY SHARE STAKEHOLDERS. UM, BUT SOME ARE A BIT UNIQUE IN THE TAR IN TARGETED POPULATIONS. SO IN SOME SITUATIONS, AN ESSAY SPEAKUP MAY BE INCORPORATED, AN ESSAY SPEAKUP CAMPAIGN MAY BE INCORPORATED. AND WE'RE GONNA CONTINUE TO WORK WITH GOVERNMENT AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS WHEN A COMMUNITY WIDE APPROACH IS APPROPRIATE. WE'VE ALREADY INCORPORATED THE, UM, PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT, UH, POLICY AS FAR AS, UM, DATA COLLECTION. I MENTIONED A LOT OF OUR CAMPAIGNS ARE GONNA INCLUDE SURVEYS, AND SO WE'VE ALREADY INCLUDED THAT, UM, THAT, UH, SUPPORT WITHIN OUR SURVEYS TO MAKE SURE WE'RE COLLECTING THE TYPE OF INFORMATION. UM, THAT WILL BE HELPFUL FOR US. UM, AND YOU'RE GONNA BE HEARING MORE FROM US IN, IN OCTOBER AND NOVEMBER AS FAR AS THE OUTCOME OF THESE DIFFERENT CAMPAIGNS. BUT FOR NOW, THAT CONCLUDES MY PRESENTATION AND WE ARE AVAILABLE TO ANSWER ANY QUESTIONS. THANK YOU, ALEX. I THINK THIS SHOWS THAT, UM, THERE IS NO REST FOR THE WEARY, AND THANK YOU BECAUSE, UH, IN THE SLIDES, NUMBER THREE, YOU KNOW, THE VEDA SIGNIFICANT BUSINESS PRESENCE POLICY, WORKFORCE RECOVERY PLAN IN TAX ABATEMENT GUIDELINES, TO MY COLLEAGUES, THAT IS WHY WE ARE HAVING TWO E W D C COMMITTEE MEETINGS IN THE MONTH OF OCTOBER, BECAUSE WE HAVE A LOT OF WORK THAT NEEDS TO BE DONE, JUST REGULAR ONGOING WORK. AND THEN ALL OF THESE TWO SIGNIFICANT OF ALL OF THESE SIGNIFICANT POLICY, UM, ISSUES. I DO JUST WANNA ASK THE ONE THING, OR REMIND YOU, THE ONE THING WHEN IT COMES TO THE TAX ABATEMENT GUIDELINES IS, UM, YES, WE'RE HAVING THE INPUT FROM THE STAKEHOLDERS AND ACTIVITY PLANS. I WOULD REQUEST THAT WE ALSO LOOK AT PRACTICES IN OTHER CITIES AND OTHER LOCATIONS, ESPECIALLY TO SEE IF THEY'RE DOING ANYTHING DIFFERENTLY. POST COVID. UH, I KNOW SAN ANTONIO IS EXTREMELY, UH, IS EXTREMELY SPECIAL, BUT IT'S ALSO SPECIAL BECAUSE OF ALL OF THE WORK THAT WE'VE DONE WITH OUR INCLUSIVE GROWTH STRATEGY, ALL OF OUR REPORTS AND OUR, OUR, UM, TARGETS THAT WE'RE LOOKING AT. BUT I ALSO WANNA MAKE SURE THAT WHEN WE HAVE THIS PRESENTED, OR EVEN IF WE GET AN UPDATE IN OCTOBER, THAT YOU ARE ALSO GOING TO PROVIDE ALL OF THE MEMBERS OF THIS COMMITTEE FEEDBACK FROM MY COUNCIL COLLEAGUES, NOT JUST IN THIS COMMITTEE, BUT IN OTHER, UM, OTHER CONVERSATIONS THAT WE HAD ABOUT, UM, CHANGES THAT MY OTHER COLLEAGUES WOULD LIKE TO HAVE SEEN. I KNOW, ALEX, YOU'RE ALREADY KEEPING A RUNNING LIST OF TAX ABATEMENT GUIDELINES THAT WE'VE HAD DISCUSSED, OR THINGS THAT WE WANNA SEE LOOKED AT. SO IF YOU CAN PLEASE PROVIDE THAT TO US AS WELL. UM, WITH THAT, I'M GOING TO START COUNCIL CONVERSATIONS WITH, UH, COUNCIL MEMBER GARCIA CHAIR, AND THANK YOU, ALEX. UM, I, I WOULD SAY THAT I, I LOVE THE PRESENTATION, BY THE WAY, THE WAY THAT YOU HAD, UM, IT COLOR CODED, RIGHT? AND SO I JUST HAVE TO SAY I'M A GEEK ABOUT THAT, SO I LIKE IT. UM, I WANTED TO ASK REALLY FAST ON ONE OF THESE, UM, PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT ACTIVITIES. HAVE WE CONSIDERED, I I BROUGHT FORWARD AS C C R I THINK LAST OCTOBER SOMETHING, AND IT WAS ABOUT CREATING A SMALL BUSINESS, UM, ADVISORY COUNCIL. I KNOW IT WOULD BE CONFUSING BECAUSE THE SBEC HAS THE SAME LETTERS. I DON'T KNOW WHAT THE NAME WOULD BE, BUT DID YOU ALL CONSIDER BUILDING THAT? AND I KNOW COVID HIT, [01:10:01] AND THEN WE MIGHT HAVE KIND OF VEERED AWAY FROM IT, BUT, UM, IS THERE ANY MOVEMENT ON IT? SO, COUNCIL MEMBER, THE, THE CAMPAIGN THAT I REFERENCED IN THE BEGINNING OF THE PRESENTATION THAT WE DID, WHAT SEEMS LIKE SO LONG AGO IN JANUARY AND FEBRUARY, IT WAS ACTUALLY ASSOCIATED WITH THAT C C R. UM, WE WERE TRYING TO SEE, UH, WHETHER SMALL BUSINESSES WERE INTERESTED IN CREATING AN ADDITIONAL COMMITTEE OR COMMISSION OR, OR WHETHER THE CURRENT BOARDS AND COMMISSIONS EFFECTIVELY ADDRESS THEIR NEEDS. UH, WE WERE SUPPOSED TO COME BACK AND PRESENT THOSE RESULTS, I BELIEVE IN APRIL AND, AND THEN COVID HAPPENED. SO WE CAN DEFINITELY FOLLOW UP WITH, WITH A LOT OF THE FEEDBACK THAT WE RECEIVED FROM THAT CAMPAIGN. AWESOME. OKAY. WELL THEN I'M LOOKING FORWARD TO IT. THAT'S ACTUALLY MY ONLY QUESTION. THANK YOU FOR EVERYTHING ELSE THAT YOU'RE DOING. I APPRECIATE YOUR TIMELINES AS WELL. THANKS. UH, THANK YOU, CHAIR. THANK YOU. COUNCIL MEMBER GONZALEZ. UH, SO THANK YOU. I, YOU KNOW, REALLY MY QUESTIONS SORT OF BUILD ON, UM, ON WHAT COUNCIL MEMBER GARCIA WAS TALKING ABOUT WITH THE SMALL BUSINESS, UM, COUNCIL. SO, YOU KNOW, ONE OF THE THINGS THAT OF COURSE COMES UP OVER AND OVER AGAIN, AND I, I'VE BEEN THINKING ABOUT IT AS, AS WE'VE DONE THESE PRESENTATIONS AND, YOU KNOW, TRYING TO CONNECT THE BUSINESSES TO SERVICES AND ALL THOSE THINGS, IS THAT, UH, THERE, THERE, IT, IT'S JUST DIFFICULT TO COMMUNICATE WITH, UM, YOUR, YOUR CONSTITUENTS. IT DIFFICULT TO COMMUNICATE WITH THE SMALL BUSINESSES BECAUSE THERE'S JUST NOW IT ALMOST SEEMS LIKE THAT THERE'S NOW SO MANY WAYS TO COMMUNICATE. UM, IT'S VERY HARD TO DELIVER A MESSAGE, UH, SORT OF IRONICALLY. AND, YOU KNOW, I REMEMBER, UH, AS A GIRL, UM, MY FATHER, UM, HE WOULD, YOU, YOU WOULD DO ALL OF YOUR BUSINESS IN PERSON, SO YOU WENT PLACE TO PLACE. UH, AND, AND HE ALWAYS TOOK ME WITH HIM, AND I ALWAYS THOUGHT THAT HE TOOK ME WITH HIM 'CAUSE I WAS THE FAVORITE CHILD. BUT NOW THAT I HAVE CHILDREN OF MY OWN, I REALIZE THAT YOU ACTUALLY TAKE THE CHILD THAT'S THE MOST TROUBLE WITH YOU SO THAT YOU CAN RELIEVE THE REST OF THE FAMILY. UM, I, I'VE, I'VE LEARNED THAT NOW. UH, UM, BUT, BUT WHAT, WHAT, UH, MY, MY POINT IS, IS THAT, UM, ONE OF THE THINGS THAT WE HAD TRIED TO DO EARLY ON, UH, YOU KNOW, PRE COVID WAS CREATE THESE ASSOCIATIONS, RIGHT? LIKE IN THE DISTRICT, AND WE CALL THEM BUSINESS ASSOCIATIONS, OR, UH, SIMILAR TO THE WAY THAT WE HAVE NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATIONS. AND I KNOW THAT ALMOST EVERY INDUSTRY HAS ITS OWN ASSOCIATION. UM, YOU KNOW, THE PAWN INDUSTRY HAS ITS OWN INDEPENDENT PAWN ASSOCIATION. AND, AND I'M SURE THAT, YOU KNOW, THE LAWYERS HAVE THEIR OWN, PERHAPS THERE'S EVEN A WOMEN'S LATINA LAWYER ORGANIZATION, YOU KNOW, SOMETHING VERY SPECIFIC. BUT I, I, I REALLY WISH THAT, UM, THE, THE, WE COULD EXPAND ON THAT, UM, IN, IN SOME CREATIVE WAY. UM, YOU KNOW, PERHAPS IT DOES END UP BEING A VERY TARGETED EFFORT, UH, TO COMMUNICATE THIS BECAUSE, UM, YOU KNOW, WE'RE JUST, I, I JUST FEEL LIKE WE, WE SEE THE SAME THINGS OVER AND OVER AGAIN. IT'S THE SAME RESULTS OVER AND OVER AGAIN. UM, YOU KNOW, MY FIRST ENTREE INTO GOVERNMENT WAS TO SIT ON THE SMALL BUSINESS ADVISORY COMMITTEE. UH, PATREO PUT ME ON THAT COMMITTEE 12 YEARS AGO, AND IT'S THE SAME. UH, AND SO I, I REALLY WISH THAT WE COULD, I MEAN, UM, I KNOW THAT WE'RE ALL STRUGGLING, UM, TO COMMUNICATE. AND EVEN AS A SMALL BUSINESS OWNER OR AS AN INDEPENDENT, UM, UH, POLITICIAN, WE REALLY STRUGGLE TO COMMUNICATE WITH OUR CONSTITUENTS. BUT, UM, I JUST FEEL LIKE, UH, AND WE KNOW FACE-TO-FACE IS THE BEST WAY. WE CAN'T DO THAT RIGHT NOW. UM, BUT, UH, YOU KNOW, I, I, I FEEL LIKE WE NEED TO FIND A BETTER WAY. AND I THOUGHT THAT THAT ADVISORY COMMITTEE THAT, UM, THE COUNCILWOMAN WAS TRYING TO ESTABLISH, UH, WAS A GOOD IDEA. WE KNOW THAT WE ALSO HAVE, YOU KNOW, PLACES LIKE THE AL CENTER AND, UM, OUR WDC IS IN SOUTHSIDE FIRST AND ALL THOSE REALLY TRYING, BUT IT SEEMS LIKE WE, WE RUN INTO THE SAME ISSUE OVER AND OVER AGAIN. SO, NOT REALLY A QUESTION IN THERE, BUT, UM, MORE OF A COMMENT. BUT I HOPE, I DO HOPE THAT WE CAN FIND A WAY TO, YOU KNOW, REVIVE THAT, UH, COMMITTEE THAT THE COUNCILWOMAN, UM, TRIED TO PUT TOGETHER. SO. SO THAT'S ALL I HAVE. THANK YOU, CHAIR. THANK YOU. COUNCIL MEMBER, UM, COUNCIL MEMBER BELI OR CAB BERDA. ANY QUESTIONS? NO. OKAY. THANK YOU VERY MUCH. I'M SORRY. MAYBE I JUST MAKE A QUICK COMMENT TO COUNCILWOMAN GONZALEZ, THAT TROUBLE, JUST REMEMBER TO MAKE IT, UH, YOU KNOW, NECESSARY TROUBLE. RIGHT? GOOD TROUBLE. , THAT'S ALL. THANK YOU. YES. GOOD, GOOD TROUBLE. UM, AND ALEX, IF I CAN, UM, ASK YOU, WHEN IT COMES TO SPECIFICALLY THE, WELL, ALL OF THESE ACTUALLY, AND THE SMALL BUSINESS IN PARTICULAR, UM, I KNOW THAT IF YOU CAN CIRCLE BACK [01:15:01] WITH, UM, THE OTHER, MY, SOME OF MY OTHER COLLEAGUES AND I WILL AS WELL SPECIFICALLY TO THAT GRASSROOTS OUT OUTREACH AND HIGHLIGHTING, YOU KNOW, COUNCIL MEMBER VEDA SAID THAT AREA WITHIN FOUR 10 IN HER DISTRICT. MAYBE WE CIRCLE BACK WITH EVERY COUNCIL DISTRICT AND SAY, OKAY, WE, WE SEE THAT WE'RE MISSING SOMETHING. WHERE IS IT THAT WE ARE MISSING FOR COUNCIL MEMBER CAB HDA? IT'S THAT PART OF HER DISTRICT WITHIN FOUR 10, UM, FOR COUNCIL MEMBER, UH, ANDREW SULLIVAN. SHE SAID IT WAS ONE PARTICULAR AREA THAT SHE WAS LOOKING AT FOR, UM, INCREASED ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT. AND THEN MAYBE WE CAN TALK TO, UM, ALL OF OUR OTHER COUNCIL MEMBERS TO SAY ARE, WHICH IS THE AREA IN PARTICULAR THAT WE NEED TO HAVE A SPECIFIC FOCUS, AND LET'S GET THAT NUANCE SO WE CAN START, UM, REALLY SHAKING THE TREES AND BUILDING THOSE, THOSE RELATIONSHIPS THAT WE NEED TO. ALL RIGHT. UM, THANK YOU VERY MUCH. AND IF THERE ARE NO OTHER QUESTIONS, UM, AND I WOULD LIKE TO SEE THAT UPDATE OF THE RESULTS WHEN IT COMES TO THE, THE SMALL BUSINESS SURVEY AND CONTINUE TO WORK ON COUNCIL MEMBER R GARCIA'S, C C R, AND EVEN HAVE THE CONVERSATION BECAUSE WE KNOW IT WAS BORN OUT OF, UM, WHEN WE WERE TALKING ABOUT, UH, PAID LEAVE AND WE KNOW THAT THERE WERE SOME VOICES THAT WEREN'T A PART OF THE CONVERSATION. SO WE WANNA CONTINUE TO BUILD AND, AND NOT FORGET ABOUT THAT. AGAIN, THANK YOU ALL VERY, VERY MUCH. I THINK THAT IS IT, AND, UM, HOPE YOU ALL HAVE, UH, WE'LL SEE YOU LATER TODAY. THANK YOU. WE'RE STAND ADJOURNED. * This transcript was created by voice-to-text technology. The transcript has not been edited for errors or omissions, it is for reference only and is not the official minutes of the meeting.