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REGIONAL EXPORT PLAN IMPLEMENTATION FUNDING AGREEMENT.
Presented by: Chris Chronis, Chief Financial Officer.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Approve execution of the contract by the Chairman.
PUBLIC COMMENT
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In December 2013, the Wichita region 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 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.
Prior to Wichita's inclusion, 12 communities had participated in the GCI program. This includes the four pilot programs in Portland, Oregon; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Los Angeles, California; and Syracuse, New York; as well as the eight cities in the first cohort: 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 program 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 efforts by the peer communities. Each community brought together public, private, and civic leaders to develop an export plan, which was released in 2015.
Developing and implementing a regional export plan is critical for the south central Kansas region to recover from the 2008 economic downturn. Researc...
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