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BROOKINGS GLOBAL CITIES EXCHANGE PROGRAM PARTICIPATION AGREEMENT.
Presented by: Chris Chronis, Chief Financial Officer.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Approve the agreement and authorize the Chairman to sign.
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In December of 2013, Wichita was chosen as one of eight communities in the United States to participate in the second cohort of the Brookings Institution Global Cities Initiative ("GCI"). The Brookings Institution is a nonprofit public policy organization based in Washington, D.C. with a mission to conduct high-quality, independent research and to provide innovative, practical recommendations that advance three broad goals: strengthen American democracy; foster economic and social welfare, security and opportunity for all Americans; and secure a more open, safe, prosperous and cooperative international system.
The budget is estimated to be $165,000. The funding partners are as follows: Greater Wichita Economic Development Coalition ($30,000), Regional Economic Area Partnership ($5,000), Workforce Alliance ($5,000), grant ($20,000), in-kind contributions ($5,000). Sedgwick County and the City of Wichita are being asked to contribute $50,000 each.
The Global Cities Initiative is a project launched by the Brookings Institution ("Brookings") in partnership with JPMorgan Chase in 2012 and is aimed at helping American communities strengthen regional economies through the development of an export and foreign direct investment plan.
To date, 12 communities have participated in the GCI program. This includes the four pilot programs in Portland, Oregon; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Los Angeles, California; and Syracuse, New York. The eight cities in the first cohort were Chicago, Illinois; Columbus, Ohio; San Diego, California; Tampa, Florida; Charleston, South Carolina; Des Moines, Iowa; Louisville, Kentucky; and San Antonio, Texas.
The seven other cities/regions participating with Wichita in the second cohort include Atlanta, Georgia; upstate South Carolina (Greensburg-Spartanburg-Anderson); Indianapolis, Indiana; Jacksonville, Florida; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Phoenix, Arizona and Sacramento, California. The Wichita area selected to participate in the year-long planning effort includes the following ten counties: Butler, Cowley, Harper, Harvey, Kingman, Marion, McPherson, Reno, Sedgwick and Sumner.
Brookings has provided, and will continue to provide, market data for each community and will coordinate planning efforts for the peer communities. Each community will bring together public, private and civic leaders to develop an export and investment plan. A Core Team will coordinate with Brookings. This team will be made up of individuals from the Greater Wichita Economic Development Coalition ("GWEDC"), Kansas Global Trade Services ("KGTS") (which will manage the process), Wichita State University Center for Economic Development and Business Research, Regional Economic Area Partnership/Workforce Alliance, Kansas Department of Commerce, Sedgwick County and the City of Wichita.
Developing a regional export and investment plan is critical for the south central Kansas region to recover from the 2008 economic downturn. Research from Brookings and others have shown that export companies create more jobs, have higher wages and experience more revenue growth than non-exporting companies. Increasing exports offers the potential to create a more diversified customer base for companies, increases the potential for foreign direct investment and offers opportunity for economic diversification.
The Regional Export Plan will focus on five broad topics:
a. Supply Chain
Objective: Understand the role of supply chain members to determine direct export opportunities and needs to maintain global competitiveness.
b. Under-exporters
Objective: Define companies with potential to export and understand their needs to dramatically increase exports.
c. Physical & Service Infrastructure - resources needed to export
Objective: Understand the infrastructure (physical, e.g. customs port and highways, and services, e.g. export management company) needed by regional firms to trade, including what is currently available and what is needed for dramatic improvement. This should include public and private sector resources.
d. Labor & Workforce - Readiness & Contribution
Objective: Understand human resource needs of the globally competitive company, recognize the value of current human resources to exporting companies and determine what is needed for dramatic improvement.
e. Communications & Government Relations: Public relations, marketing & government relations
Objective: Assess the level of awareness of the regional community at large regarding exporting and trade and determine actions to increase awareness to grow our region's global fluency including policy recommendations and media strategies.
Alternatives: The BOCC could elect to not approve the agreement
Financial Considerations:The County's funding of $50,000 is available in the budget of the Economic Development program.
Legal Considerations: The authority for this action is K.S.A. 19-101, et seq. A simple majority vote is required.
Policy Considerations: N/A
Outside Attendees: Gary Schmidt, President, GWEDC
Tim Chase, CEO, GWEDC
Karyn Page, CEO, Kansas Global Trades Services
Multimedia Presentation: