Workforce & Business Development Committee - February 10, 2020

So that really changed, the economic, development, ecosystem. And Charlotte. So we lead business, recruitment retention, and, expansion, of, existing businesses, in our, city, we. Partner very closely with, Mecklenburg, County in, doing this as, well as the, Alliance University. City partners Center. City partners. UNC. Charlotte Central Piedmont and the ATP MC, are. Other educational. Institutions in town, to. Either. Address the needs of the businesses that are here today to, make sure that they're growing, and thriving or to bring companies here. The. Model has been really successful I, think, that we weren't sure how this would turn out after the, merger and when, this came into the city. But. We've brought in almost 7,000. Jobs and, 2018, we ended the year with 2700. New jobs with Honeywell Lending, Tree avid. Cognizant. And then in 2019. We added another. 4800. Plus. With. Over 2900. Of those coming at between September, and the end of the year so. It's really furthering. Our expectation, as a, hub, for both. Corporate. Investment, and job creation but. As well as where companies can start, and grow and thrive. A lot, of our success as, you can see was. In the office, and customer service room but really also really an attack so. Whether that's FinTech, core, tech retail, tech there's all types of tech, our. Community. Is very well poised for those jobs and has the educational. And talent pipeline to fill those jobs so, we've been really successful in, that market, we've, added that - I mean, prior. To frame coming into her role in this this change the. City in the county really only got involved in incentives the. Chamber would run everything, they. Kind of were the guiding force that. Worked with companies growing here relocating. Here expanding, here our. Model is different now they were obviously still have the incentive component behind it about. That we are focused in a lot of different, your priorities, about different parts of our city, but. Also keeping. In mind that, the companies it's about not. Announcements, are great but, it's about then being able to get people in place to, hire to, see that success, and so we, look at this as a job that doesn't just stop at an announcement, or just. Sort. Of break it down really what we do so. We create jobs and we keep jobs so. Under. Prospective, new business, we create jobs and grow our tax base we work with business relocations, to Charlotte, expansion. Of existing businesses, Community, Partnership. Talent. Acquisition, strategies. We've, got business investment, grants, and. Keeping. Jobs we, try and remove barriers to companies successes, we give them assistance with real estate and other infrastructure, needs we. Helped them create workforce, partnerships. And really. Connecting, them to resources and. Other either. Small businesses, or big businesses, that can really help them grow. Pause. Real quick cuts women Watlington. A quick, question for you I see you've, split this up into create. Jobs and keep jobs. Keep. I'd be interested to see because as I'm reading the items. Under the create jobs. If. We look at the ecosystem is being Charlotte, they're new jobs in Charlotte, but. They're. Not necessarily new jobs in the. Global because ecosystem. Right so where, do we talk about creating. Jobs by growing, small. Business, here, so. I, think that we didn't in two different ways so we. Work with businesses, that could be five, people, growing. To ten people we work with businesses. Adding. 2,000 jobs as well I don't know that we necessarily split. That up I think, we. Want to help in whichever way that we can we have incentive, tools that. Emily, will talk about one of these later that it's, hard for a small business to, grow it's just you sum the parameters, of the tools that we have so. We're trying to create new. But, I think a lot of like helping the small businesses, grow is. How. Do we how do we learn and help them with those opportunities so further you'll see in this presentation we talked about like lead generation, so, how do we find the companies, that, we can help accelerate their, growth a lot.

Of What you'll see and why you see a lot of big business is because, that is what we see coming into our market, right let me answer that slightly, different way because I think this is important, this. Is primarily, in the past the big business ascent of grants or we look at the state and JE dig and those things primarily. Been for, the big boys right it's been for the honeywell's it's been for the lows folks, like that. In. Some, elements, it, remains that way but I think we've made a lot of strides over the last year. Tries, of last year. Being. Creative and this pilot we're in the middle of saying for, higher growth, smaller, companies, that were either recruiting, or, trying. To retain here. Are more creative ways that you can play in that space too but, at the end of the day while we'll make incremental as to that really. It's the small business program and the enhancements, to those capabilities, that are going to help those folks this, is this is kind of a kind. Of a single, you. Know game. That is played for. A very, specific thing I think the real impact will make with them is the unifying, of the small business resources. And assets and really get proactive that's if you remember our four focus areas where, small, business entrepreneurial, business innovation, is another one of them all. Of our four areas are so completely, intertwined but a lot. Of the work that Holly and her group is doing is specifically, targeted, around that small business growth whether you look at like amp up in programs. Like that that we have to, really target on that but they're, always constantly, talking to. Business. Investment, grants just to remind everybody to is a component, the, J, Diggs which is the state incentives, have to have a local contribution. As well and that's where it's. All right, but. In a final point there especially because I see our illustrious. Colleague. Over in the county Peter Zeiler walk in Tracy's counterpart, over there. The. Fact of the matter is I hate, the fact that we have to incentivize, companies to, here I hate, that we have to do that if we have to do it at least it's in the form of these rebates where. We put strings attached for the things we want to accomplish but until the rest of the state and the rest of the country. Stands down. The. First person that drops out is going to be at a severe, disadvantage in. A lot of these cases not all of them in recruiting. So while that's the the case today when you have to play in it I think it's maximizing, the business case but, also our partners in the county and the state level, with the J Diggs and the counties own business investment grant are crucial, making the campaign happen because they collect a big chunk of the property, taxes, we collect a smaller chunk that is our only tool to do this so, I just I mentioned that out loud because I know you have a Economic. Development Committee, meeting coming up and hopefully you can relate to them that. It's. A conversation we all as a group need to have because anything, we do impacts, the other folks. Question. In the parking lot because I want to get back to that as well okay because, if, we can incentivize the. Launch businesses, to. Come and make a difference small community, we. Have to find a way also to the sin of eyes and, for most small business, as well and smaller. Guys are a lot more folks, and. So. I think, we're really missing a targeted. Population if, we're not intentional, about. Being creative around, that and maybe you are but I just, want to put, that in the parking lot that we don't forget that done and I will say that in upcoming Holly, and her team we've been doing a lot of work around a small, business strategy, because.

There's, A lot of different initiatives, that are out there and how are, we communicating, what, we're doing within the city but then also it's happening citywide, in Chapter two really really give that organized to say this, is as a city what we're doing for small business and, so we want to be able to bring that back as well and the noises yeah. One of my frustrations out mr., chairman if I said well. Your chairman for the day. Again. The. City in the county we're kind of playing. In the same field but we're not. Playing. Together, and. We would play together I think we could be a hell of a lot more effective and efficient, County's, doing nothing nobody business up small business operate doing it and which, is like you, know we can be a help a lot more effective but I digress. So, I'll tally up any, requests, for comments, and let you guys turn through some. Slides and then we'll strike when you do a nice a nice stopping point to let everyone ask. Their questions all right so, again we're. Really about jobs and investment, in Charlotte and how we can increase the jobs and increase the investment, so. We are, trying to hone in on what we're good at so. We know we're good at than in tech and syntek logistics. Distribution, and manufacturing, it's, like steel they're things, companies, like that corporate headquarters and back-office support so. That could be something like a Honeywell, it's. Mark.wilson. And chime solutions. Financial. Services like better calm, and then international. Companies, again. Like in the ufg and. Trying to increase our international, presence like we just did on when we went and join the Hornets but. Really it's about diversifying. Our workforce, so, that we're poised for success. Whichever. Way the economy, goes. So. How do we do this so. It really comes down to lead generation in, Victoria, this is where I was you know thinking about your comment earlier how. Do we get engaged with companies, so. It's really working with, our. Prospect. Generator so like the site selection community. Ideas. Like the Charlotte regional Business Alliance and, our break Ridge community that gets the views looks first it's, referrals, through our partners, like Carolina, and tech cup S&S and companies, our, education, partners. Who. Have said. Talk. To companies no companies, want to expand, how we can help them and, then just community, awareness. Whether. It's through the media or just our cut our team being more community, facing. It really helps, us with.

Art With the companies that we talk to just this week we had a meeting with ups. Who. Or last week did an is expanding. Their facility, in Charlotte, we, didn't recruit, them for their expansion, they, reached out to us because they were having some challenges. With. Their infrastructure, needs and they're also hiring a significant. Amount of workers that. Get full-time, benefits for, part-time jobs and, they get a great career path at ups so it's having conversations. Like that in the community and that awareness it like helps us do our job better. So. Really working with our partner agencies, to figure out who in our marketplace is looking to expand, or looking to move here. So. From then I, call, it the trifecta we have to figure out like what is most important, to people the, three buckets that we really, focus. In on are real estate talent and incentives, between. Those three things is, what, we think really, drives that, job creation, and investment in, our market, so I'm gonna walk through each of these. So. Real estate. We. Partner, with a development, and brokerage community, to. Ensure that product, is available for companies to lease or build build right, now this is a very a challenge, for us in Charlotte, the, real estate market is great we don't have a lot of vacancy, in our market and in some places where we want to see job growth we don't have product and so, it's really looking at council priorities, it's, looking at knowing what we're good at what, sectors, that we think. That we could see job growth and where, those opportunities are and working, in our market to find them you. Know the Lowe's tower that you see here in South End with another product that our team worked on with that during, that site selection, to. Find the most, optimal, site for them in. Addition, to that we. Assist existing, companies, with retention and expansive, expansion.

Needs There, are some companies that either the rents are raising and they can't afford to be there anymore maybe. It's a mini fire shirring company, that's located, in an area of growth and they know they need to move or, maybe they, picked the place but it's really not matching, the needs of their workforce and so how do we work with those companies to make sure that they're in the best fit for success, in Charlotte, and so we look. At our existing product, whether that's an industrial, user up in the University and Valentine, all over our city. And, then. Last we assist with target and push structure needs to allow for optimal, business operations. So. An example of that again is like when we met with the PS last week and they have some concerns about the lack of a traffic signal and, a large amount of trucks leaving, and a large amount of employees coming at peak hours, and so how do we proactively. Address. Their concerns again. To make sure that their company, is thriving. And their workers, are thriving. Talent. So. This, talent, wins the war you, can have the best real estate you can throw lots, of incentive, dollars at a company but if they can't fill their jobs, then. They're not going to be successful in our market and so Emily has really, taken a new approach, to talent for us and developing. Customized. Talent, acquisition, strategies, and. Collaboration. With our education, and workforce, partners, I, put. Up here a quote from Marvin Ellison who's just CEO of Louvre and this. Was an op-ed that they put in The Observer after. The low selection, announcement. And. It continues, on after this but I think that it was really interesting to know that the top two bullets, for. Why Lowe's chose, Charlotte, was, all around our workforce and the people here, in the opportunities. To partner with either. The. Educational. Providers are, opportunity. Talent providers, and. They were very, hands-on, and engaged Emily, set up a. Panel. In Mooresville, we went to their camp council we talked about how they could be successful in Charlotte, you, know when a new company, comes here they, have who to reach out to and, so. It. Really helps, them understand. How they're gonna create this pipeline and I think it really sets us apart from our competition because. We care and we, want companies, to hire people, in Charlotte, and. UPS kill people and develop, that pipeline, for them to be successful. The. Other thing that we do is we assist existing, companies, of finding local talent, so, again.

Emily. Meets with companies quite a bit and and let's, just say they're a call center and they're not able to staff up the way that they hope to how can we create, those partnerships, in the community to. Get them the talent that they need. Put. Another image on a screen and. That is. We. Talked about lead generation and, so when companies come in and they want to consider Charlotte, the first thing that we're gonna do is a part of that step is. Fill. Out essentially, a request for information where. We're gonna break down why, they should come to Charlotte why they should look at Charlotte, and so Alyssa who's not here today on, our team. And. Emily. They, do very, detailed. Reviews. Of our labor and our workforce and, really taking, data to tell a story about why a company should choose Charlotte, so, whether it's in technology. Or for this was transportation, and, warehousing, you. Know I think wow I like transportation, warehousing, as well is like this hourly, wage, is below, I, think, what a lot of times we like to consider that $15, mark in. Charlotte, and so one of the things when we pull these kind of data this kind of data is, we, start to look at how this company can be a part of our Charlotte, priorities, in our Charlotte landscape, and so, really talking to them about this is an average wage for the MSA, but these, are what what, we're seeking in Charlotte right these are the kind of jobs that we want to bring so how can we up the game from. This benchmark. And. Those are conversations that, a lot of companies are really willing to have, because. They also recognize. That they've got to hire people so, they want that honest, feedback, and, it's a way for us to really engage with, a company. Last. But not least incentives. So. Our. Incentive. Program, is, really. Our tool, to offset, the cost of expanding, your, business. To Charlotte and creating, jobs. So. I touched, on this last month, but we embarked, on a pilot program in October, that, will, allow us some flex, additional. Flexibility. Too on, how we give incentives, but, at its core, it's. A reimbursement. Of net new property, taxes, generated. By, a company's, investment, so, again back to small businesses, one. Of the challenges, we have the small, business in this defined, program, so our business investment, grant we call them bigs is that. The capital, investment, threshold, is three million dollars. And. The written this is a program that should join the administered, with the county so. We have generally, the same guidelines we're doing the pilot right now Peter. And the county are in the standard format that we have had but. It still remains the same and that you'd have to have three, million dollars of capital investment create. 20 jobs and, either, pay the average annual, wage for the MSA, which is around 51 thousand, dollars. Or the, standard occupation, code. And. So, that is where when we start to talk about smaller, businesses. Is that, this, program. Doesn't. Necessarily. Address that off the back because three million dollars is a lot of money to be spent, but. That three million dollars, is not just. Can. Be spent on a landlord, on their behalf it. Could be in like desks, and office furniture and, things like that but it has to generate new taxes, whatever. It is so we can reimburse you. Is. Really, the crutch of the. Business, investment, Bram's. The. Wet tart was rich referencing. Earlier was, the emerging. Target. Industry, grant, and what that is if that's for companies that come in and they're, not ready to invest that three million dollars today. But. It's been a competitive, site selection process, they're. Gonna create, a large amount of jobs that pay a great wage and, then, when they're ready to invest, so, let's say they're in a co-working space Malecha, we work. When. They're ready to invest in their real estate then. We can give them that. Grant. Or we will take to City Council for their review, a, business. Investment grant, and, I think, the context, I might add to this one it goes back to Victoria with your, original question, we. Were sitting there over.

A Year ago saying, we, can only play with the big boys with with the business, investment, correct cuz even. There's even a small high-growth, company, in one of these great, target industries, when. They come to town they're not thinking about three, four five ten million dollars of capital right away they're thinking I gotta hire people as quickly as possible and I'll hire 20, people right but, they're, just not quite at that point and we had nothing no. Love to give them nothing flex sorry we just don't play in the space this, was a really elegant solution. To that which was we're. Committing, really. Not a lot if, anything, up front but we're showing them you, hire the folks today if. You get yourself into a position where. That growth then is is going well and you're, ready to invest the capital you've. Got this kind of letter of intent with us where we can count kind, of some of those things along the path some of those jobs you've hired along paths to allow you to benefit, from that later and we're gonna give that it to you upfront so you kind of put that in your mind as like Charlotte's, showing me some love and. No, one else has a tool to give us that so I think it's a really unique. Capability. That's helped us in the past but as. You think that I think that's where your transition, of these considerations like. We have other objectives, we'd, like to accomplish wouldn't, it be great with, all of these upward, mobility you. Know tech type, workforce, programs, that are popping, up around town, people are doing our own workforce focus. If, there was some way to incentivize, these businesses, to, say yeah come here here's a note here's another incentive but. We. Need you to commit to hiring out, of these upward mobility programs. So, that now it's, not just you. Know we brought a new company with jobs to town and oh there's six-figure, jobs like how's that gonna help anybody they've. Made a commitment directly. To impact uh poor mobility in, our own backyard, so again. It's easier to say that and figure out exactly how that works but, I know that would be an amazing tool if you figured it out. But. To come summer car support point, considerations. This. Investment green is not a given you. Don't just come in here and say hey I checked up boxes, and our team is gonna miss magically.

Appear To you and, ask you to vote on it, we, have to go through and we learn a lot about. The companies and we make sure that they're really good fit for Charlotte, and that, their priorities, are your, priorities, and our priorities, and, so. We go through a really heavy bedding the. Other really great thing about these grants, is it gives us a very intimate. Relationship with companies, that. We've become, just like that trusted friend or caught my advisor in a way and this sends that you, know if they are having challenges we learn about it first right. Not, Eric it's, not enough. To. Help, them right, so if there are barriers, that they were gonna call us because their successes our success and if they felt we fell and, so, we really want to be a partner with them. You. Know one of the things that I really wanted to talk about is community impact, you. Know so in. A. 20-18 albemarle. Which moved its corporate headquarters here in 2015. They, made their largest donation in corporate history and, donated ten million dollars, to economic, mobility in Charlotte just. For reference like, we, gave them a business, investment grant that was worth. $75,000. Right. They. Brought a hundred and twenty jobs to Charlotte, invested 13 million dollars and so. The companies, that we're bringing yes. We do give them a grant and give them a reimbursement, of their property, taxes, but they're also making a huge commitment in our community. This. Is just a quick, post Lowe's just, last week, opened. A new, 2d lab at Olympic high school. Honeywell. Donated. $500,000. For the new men's shelter in Charlotte, Microsoft. Came in with their smart cities initiative with, the City of Charlotte and did a three-year deal focusing. On workforce development I of, T and innovation. Then. I'll end up with Honeywell one last time because. Their. Commitment, in our community, I mean I have a list year of everything that they've done from, summer partnerships, with Druid Hills Academy, to, sponsoring, the future lab at Discovery, Place they gave $100,000. To the seat C, MPD foundation, they're. Investing, in the new veteran's home I think, that when, we pull these companies and, they. Really give back to Charlotte. And. That brings me to chime solutions, which I think a mark for being here today, chime, Solutions was a company, that we. Worked with last summer, we, partnered, with chime, -, they, brought, have, a mission to bring over a thousand, jobs and we hired, up to 400, this time last year through a career fair we, worked with them on everything to choosing, helping, them choose where you're gonna put your permanent, real estate, -. Working. With their workforce had a great lunch today to talk about new opportunities and. I, wanted to play a video for, you real quick that, speaks. To what Mark and his company you're doing and then, turn it over to mark to make some remarks. The. Idea, of, providing. Outstanding customer, service to. Your clients. Doing. Great, things for the community are. Not mutually, exclusive. This, kind of wants to change the way that we think about business. Today, I believe, there's, a fundamental. Miss. This, happening, the thicknesses if there's so much talent that's resident, in a lot of communities, around the country that historically been overlooked. They.

Started Talking with the intention, of tapping, into that talent pool and bring, it to the forefront so that everybody, could get benefit, of it that means companies get better because, we're serving them because we're giving these folks a chance to be all that they can be you know communities, get better because the jobs are there and folks are feeling good about the work that they're doing families, get stronger this is what time is all about time, is a premier, provider of business. Process, outsourcing services. And we do that on behalf of, a number of fortune 500 company, one. Of the primary focuses. Of this model, within China is, to address the issue with economic, mobility by. Creating, opportunities, in under-resourced. Communities, we. Leverage the talents, that have traditionally been left behind. So. What we've seen as an industry lately, the barriers, are the differences, between doing, work domestically, the. Difference between dad and what happens offshore, the, gap is shrinking so. Just imagine the, thousand. Seeds of work that you have in a community office. Or even and, the. Impact, that your company could have if you put those thousand, dollars in a community, here in, the US and you, can do it from the same economic basis, of similar, economic basis, and, they outsource it across the globe our goal is to create 10,000. Jobs by, the end of 2020, and, by leveraging the multiplier, effect when, time hires one person, that. Higher results, in two and a half jobs in the community if. We're to create 10,000. Jobs two. And a half to, three times, that would be, 25,000. Thousand, jobs so. If you are company, today that. Outsources. Work at any level, outsource. That work with purpose because. It's time to change it's, time to change the future of lives it's time to change the future of communities, it's. Time to change the future of business. So. We're very lucky but. I think, that chime is in our community, but chime is a great example of. He. Took me to lunch one day and we. Were in this recruitment process, and he challenged. Me on, the fact that I could not incentive, as his company to come here that. I had an incentive program that didn't, address a company, like his and. The. Reason for that is, the. Investment, number, and the salaries, because at the time the. Way our incentive, program was structured it was around that fifty one thousand one hundred fifty, dollar figure. And. Then also with the senior. Occupation, codes and how his jobs panned out and so we. Couldn't give him anything but. He came to have anyways, thankfully. And I wanted to invite them to share some remarks, and this will really transition, into the program next, that. We kind of developed in response to, Mark, and his company so with that. Said. The table is just the microphones. Have to be able to pick it up thank you for being here thank you, for having me, and I do want to say it's. Not a fake commercial here but I do want to, acknowledge Fran. And the economic, development. Team Emily and others that have been extremely. Helpful to us. You. Know while Fran. References, the conversation, we have where they. Where. They they couldn't really necessarily, do what, we what could have been helpful to us to move here, the. Challenge still remains, here around economic, mobility in, the City of Charlotte and we as a company is to have. Full intention, and trying to address that across the country so, it didn't deter us from making the decision to come here but you. Know I was just noticed in the conversation, that you were just having about, you. Know helping smaller. Businesses, like ours and how that that. That's not necessarily, something that's easy, for the economic, development folks to do and, it's, largely because.

You, Know the focus has to do is not even necessarily the three million dollars well that that could be a barrier for some that wasn't really the barrier for us is this, that we're paying livable, wage jobs, you, know fully, $14 an hour which, would, be a decent job by most standards particularly. For folks who do not have work, it. Doesn't meet the threshold for what is the minimum threshold for, you, know for the. Economic, development folks to to. Incentivize, a company, like ours in helping. To bring those jobs here. And. So you. Know I think you, know it's hard to my. Opinion is it's hard to get. At the issue of, where. Charlotte stands around economic, mobility which, I think we all know it was challenged, right now. When. When, the incentives, aren't really placed, at a place where. The jobs actually get created to the questions and the points that were being made earlier we. You know we have. The intention of bringing a minimum, of a thousand, jobs here, 14,000. Hours a lot of folks that you. Know that's, that's a significant. Life change for them and for, it to be seen through the way that incentives, are, are. Promoted. You. Don't you don't give yourself a chance that those companies that would bring bring, those those jobs here that I think would be important, to development. Or right here. So. I you, know that's my soapbox, about it it's aside from that the, support that I've gotten since we've been here has. Been tremendous, you know Fran and her team, have been a tremendous, resource. To us as we've learned about the Charlotte community and, you. Know how we can leverage other things you, know toward. Being successful, here toward our goal they're trying to really make a difference to do, good business for our, clients, but at the same time you. Know try to have an impact on. On. People's, lives and therefore their community, I, don't. Know what else you were looking for me to say yeah I think that it's just good for especially, our newer counts on them as we start, to bring forward, what.

Emily And I have been working on around the opportunity, hire ingredient how. We, haven't you know one of the things that mark has. And, wants to do is, partner, with, JC, su, final. Location, particular, like somewhere in that area. Location. For. Your company and things, like that I think it's just important, for everyone to know and, experience, you some of the challenges, that we're trying to overcome you. Know an accurate economic, development. Team. Yes it's all about you know lots, of big logos, but. There's also other things that, you, know we're working on and I think just to you to be here, and segue. Into the next grant. That, we're gonna talk about I think is really important, and. We. Had lunch today even, then mark was talking about a new opportunity right. For 200 different types of jobs that would require. Or. I guess give us an opportunity to, up scope yeah, existing. Talent into, those new roles that are a little bit more advanced. In. Making, more wages so again creating, that career path potentially. With a news company and, so, this, is an opportunity that we could have lost very. Easily yeah. The final thing is that you know when you when, you incentivize, are you're looking about it and I did hear the comment, about. Not. Really. Liking. The fact that you have to be competitive with incentives, I understand, that you know you would just want people to come here but. That is you, know the landscape that's out there right now in. That these other, cities, I was able to in the conversation I have with friend, to. Reference we just opened. In, Dallas, and well as, well as at the same time we were looking, to expand here and you. Know their approach to it was. Fresh and in, you, know recent. When, I was having a conversation with training team about it and how their approach to it is you. Know really focused on that segment, of the community jobs. That are being created in, that second segment of the community that, his historic had been left out and you know and so. I would, argue that if you are going to provide. Incentives. They. May should be targeted, at the ones at the segment, of the population that. Has the most need and, where. You can actually make a difference in the. Framework of your city by. Investing. In those folks you know so. That make it make it mean something other. Than a few, hundred, or two hundred three, hundred higher. Paying jobs not arguing, against that I think that's good but more. Targeted, further where, the Masters can be impacted. I think is. You. Know maybe a smarter way to look at it and some other and and that can make you more competitive compared, to some other cities I think. That's well said I mean and I think that's hopefully that transition, and I'll pause, for, anyone else who has questions for mark particularly, but from, my perspective I think that's exactly right we whether, it's what I said before and that these. Folks are bringing jobs and we know they can hire folks that. Can, have the skills developed, that will catapult, them out of the bottom quintile poverty, there's. Also an angle to be said when. Some of these jobs. In our own backyard, are going away whether. They're you know teller. Jobs, or call, center jobs or whatever, you. Know and the BPO is different right so how would they have to if our companies, decide to go away and outsource, to someone like you in our own backyard that means people are being rehired centrally. So, I think that's very interesting did, anyone else have questions I couldn't, say it any better. I. Just. Know obviously. Don't expect you to go into the very specific details of your conversation over lunch but I am very interested to hear a little bit more about how you're thinking about mobility. And investing. In partnering, wits like you said Johnson C Smith or other cuts I'm. Really happy for that too free to ask that question because it's, the. The second part of what we're trying to do is not only create the job but create, us some. Rapper what we're calling wraparound, services. That have to do with the. Full life. Of a person that works for us so that has the. Challenges, that most folks have a stable housing. Transportation. Childcare. Or the main main, ones and so we're, trying to do, what we can to impact, that you know so I'm, careful, to not have us be like, just a social like, we're you, know not proper we're a for-profit business, and but, it just makes so much sense for us to get it right with our people it translates into good service for our clients so we're, partnering in the, other cities and trying to do that here in Charlotte now, partnering.

With Businesses. We're, partnering in Atlanta, with a day, care provider so we can have on-site daycare and because, we're creating so many jobs and, therefore so many kids we're actually that in a position to have this, company have you. Know a thriving, business just on our own I was segment of kids we can give them you, know 300 kids to go into this one daycare, and. Then we have we. Have something called China University which is centered. Around. Facilitating. Folks, buying. Their own home, and. So we've. Had a lot of success with that we had one young lady who. Was a single parent three kids and she's, trying to buy a house and, she. Didn't understand, the whole credit process and about real estate and the bank and all so I helped. It I personally, helped her with with that she brought a credit report and we looked at it and I gave her some points she wanted to buying a house and that sort of spread throughout our whole company until everybody was like okay can you help me. We. Put in in our time University, which is this development. You. Know, structure, that we have where folks can come in on the weekend and learn, and we set a goal for the company to create 50, homeowners you know but we just did this last year we're in, the middle of it, now we have a thick like 23, 24 homeowners. That mostly, single women with, children that have been able to you, know, put. Themselves in the position to buy their own home by virtue of us just providing, the framework for learn about how to do that. It's, time University, so it's our company, universe that we're just calling it University. But. You know I didn't finish this we, are partnering with HBCUs. And Johnson. C Smith here where we're trying to, get. The students, and. At the, college to be able to be. Dedicated, to certain of our clients, and create, a pipeline for them to you. Know to go. Forth and and. Work for them after working for us know I was asking about the homeowner, the 50 homeowners. Know. I started in Atlanta, and we just you know so we just opened here we haven't migrated in here but for sure that whole program is, kind. Of center to us as a company and that, we will be doing the same thing you know we just got to find the right partners because. The reason I ask is and hopefully, this will lead to the next section obsession, but. The company's like his or companies like ups that are paying 13 or 14 dollars an hour if, there were some type of grant to to supplement, that income because, even. As great at your company is. And those incentives, the. Average, home, price. Here is like what two six two hundred sixty four thousand, now so, at $15 now. So. If, there was a shame, yeah so. If there was something, I don't, know some type of grant that we could supplement companies, like his to to pay their employees a, higher, wage to be able to afford to, work and live in Charlotte, but, so, your. Points taken I think my, opinion on that just haven't been in this space for a couple years now is. That. There's. No kind of grant, from the government that's gonna solve that but, however. If. The 14 or 50 it did it's the difference between giving, someone a job and an, entrance, into their new career, if. Their new career starts, for a year, of training at a livable. Wage of, fourteen fifteen sixteen dollars, an hour while. The training they're getting is to, take them to the next level and, home ownership becomes, a realistic.

Goal That. Can be achieved at some point but, if and I think this goes back to when we incentivize, people if we, find a model to incentivize, folks to hire out of our programs, that, model has to be not, I'm gonna hire $14. An hour career, people to be in this job this, is the entry point and here's how those, programs are going to help them evolve and I think that's the, most efficient. To. Be clear that that is our goal our full, intention, is not to have our folks come in and that be the job that they. That, they aspire to ultimately, give what we were talking about at lunch today is I have an opportunity, today where. The. Client actually needs, licensed. You, know folks, for property, casualty and, for life and health insurance but that's a higher wage job, in the next level of job you know so but, it does require there's. An education component to that where you have to to study to, get the license, to, be able to do the work that is a great great for us to consider, there helping, them with the training, for the existing folks they've hired through a sport. And like, the community college even better there's no established. Grant. Programs, that Tom, could participate in and Sarah helping him understand doesn't have to go to the private market for that we have nonprofit, partners who can also help them. Mark, needs to catch a flight I say oh. I. Think you, know I think. The. Challenge, is in between. Council. Member Johnson, councilman, Cory are. Saying. Because. He and we have to get to that livable wage right, and we know, that. Some. People are disincentivize. From. Getting into that middle ground of those 1400 our jobs. Because. They actually end up losing, because. Of that benefits, cliff and. And and. No amount of training is, is, going to or. Access. To school is going. To. Replace. Those. Benefits, that, get lost. Can. Eat. People, can't pay their rent because, they're trying to move up and that's the reality of too many workers in those situations, so how. Do we bridge that gap from. Those $12, our jobs, to. Those $17. Our jobs so people actually can. Buy. Those houses or. Just stayin. Well. I know for us and, you, know we're, trying to just, stay, right where. First. Of all we can afford to pay it and and we really are on the top end of that cuz our goal is to try to make sure that we're making a difference but, 14 $15, an hour I think that's what everybody's kind of saying around the country is that number but, it does different, it does differ from community, to community like, if it's two hundred and sixty thousand dollars that you can buy a house you. Know I don't, know how you get at that you know you can't just say now we're gonna pick $20, an hour. Yeah. Anyway. Well. Good good conversation, clearly the kind of stuff you guys need to hear as you're infusing, whatever, you're about to throw at us. I. Really, appreciate, you being here today. We. Are gonna continue to work with, sahn solutions. To. Make sure they're successful here, creating, the career path inside their company as well as finding the my real estate home so we, have a lot of partnerships, still ahead of us and. Look forward to that. Know. You guys have great great, leadership and economic development, I'm saying that sincerely they've been you, know even with their hands tied they've. Been very helpful. I consider friend and her team really friends of our company. Personally. So you guys, are fortunate to have their leadership, excellent. I. Think. That too you see those you heard me say it it's, every. Company is not the same we spend a lot of time getting. To know the companies, that are. Right for right. For community, and when, we're convinced, that we're all in to, make sure that that, you're gonna see the success, so. It's. Again, different, model mom, I think then how it's been done in the past but one that wanted, you all to be able to see kind of first, firsthand or not. Um. With, the pilot, yep transition, into the color so again. The pilot is the, idea came to our team following, lunch with, mark in July what. He didn't tell you is the city of Dallas gave them two million dollars of incentives to, come they're in a training grant and. The mentality, of Dallas, is that they, train and they invest in the people of Dallas so. Marc besides, you don't like Dallas he's too good comedian which means Atlanta, and Dallas and he says I'm outta Dallas the. Skills that are, learned and. There and the resume built by the people of Dallas stay in Dallas and that is the mentality behind their training grant at least that's, my understanding of, it and so. Came, back and, circled up with our team and, we, really started digging into how. Do we, come up with some kind of incentive that's, not tied to property taxes.

Because People don't that. Doesn't link those don't connect. That. Gives us some flexibility. Some nimbleness, to. Work with companies, who. Are going to invest in our people and. So, that is where this, idea came to be and again just like the. Pilot for the business investment, grant and. We, haven't ironed it all out but it's something that we want to try and, pilot, it and see where it goes well that's what I wanted to say you guys are gonna see especially about it out of our team we like to experiment so, you're gonna see pilots, instead of a lot of time turning on policy, thinking that we've got to have it right let's, try this when we have momentum, right now let's. See what works what doesn't work and we may have to you know we have to continue to tinker with some of these as we go through so rather not waste the time and just, work. To experiment, to come up with a right, tool bar toolbox, for our community you know I might just add as we get anxious, to see the details, obviously, but, I, think, it's really important, in Mari I'll say this while you're still here because this. May not sound great to hear but at, the, end of the day they. Mentioned something about competitive. And the nature of it before we need the tools where. Maybe. Sometimes, when you're already gonna come to Charlotte you know what I mean like we don't necessarily need grants, to make that happen versus, the, scenario, where you're legitimately, gonna go somewhere else and that would be the only tool we had to, do that so I think the balance is important because we. Want, you're, a you're, a unique, example that. Came here anyway without it and I think that's a part, of this that the community, needs. To definitely, understand, which is not everyone, is going to require these these need to be competitive. Deal savers, well but it is to be, to, be clear. On this last example yeah, I have to make a choice as to where I'm going to place work of the OP of the occupations, than AB so sure agree but. But I guess it's a it's just a broader point where sometimes. People already choose Charlotte, and, they're, just trying, to pretend to play hardball to get a better deal and that's, I think that's the hard part of this team has, to sit down and deduce that. And you know it's. It's not a perfect approach, but it's important we're gonna have a proposal tomorrow. And, making that. An. Opportunity. In. Our community, for sure we're here but for sure it's real that we have gotta figure out where's the best place to place. We. Know that workforce, is one of the most, expensive. Aspects. I have a company so are, we ready to transition. Yep. So. What we're gonna present to you today is our. Approach. To, developing, a tool to. Help companies. Like chime. Commit. To economic, opportunity. And. Just. A couple things to keep in mind this is still under, the. Business recruitment program, so. We it would be offered to companies as an incentive and, it. Is a hiring grant and. That's different from a training grant and we'll explain, to you kind of what that looks like as we get into it so today, we'll talk to you about the, innovative, approach we've come up with what. The objectives, of the program its components, and how it works within our current talent, development, landscape. So. It is our hope that these. Opportunity, hiring grants will increase, equity and opportunity in. Our economic, development and business recruitment, process by. Incenting, companies, to partner with our community. Training providers. Who. May. Be considering, alternative, alternative, pathways, to filling their jobs and creating a pipeline in our community, for, our Charlotte residents, Sam, in turn increases, the, number. Of Charlotte. Residents, who are able to take advantage of these job opportunities. We're, making investments stay with the employee as Fran had mentioned. And we're also filling a gap in our incentive, portfolio. So. What we're proposing is.

Up To, $2,500. Cash grant, to, a perspective or expanding, company for each new full-time, employee, hired from, one of our certified talent, development partners, we're. Saying up to. 2,500. Because we do want this to be flexible, we want to understand, should we. Should. We tie the incentive. Amount to salaries, should you know would, every company be eligible, for the same amount we really want to kind of look at the companies that come to. The table for this opportunity and be able to incent. Them with what we think is the best tool to, bring their commitment, to providing. These opportunities for our Charlotte residents, so. Right now we're saying not to exceed 50 positions and, again this is a this is a pilot so we're going to see kind of how these numbers play out but with within, kind of our funding. Constraints we feel like this is a fair place to. Start for, this pilot, and. In. Order to be eligible for the grant the company must demonstrate that, they have made the hire and they must provide us position benefit. And wage data so again these are full-time jobs that, we would be in sensing their new hire to see the company and. Again the company is competitive. In our market through either looking to relocate, here, or expand here. And. With each grant right we're going to set deliverables, tied around these these, objectives. We're. Looking for companies who are going to be responsive, to our workforce challenges these. Are also results, driven right so we want to see number of placements, salaries. That these individuals, have obtained, looking. To see have we actually increased opportunities. For individuals, in Charlotte. To get these jobs. How. Are we bolstering, utilization. Of our existing, talent development partners, and the, thing that's really the most important, to me through, this tool is to, increase. Connections. And relationships. With, our companies, and, our. Talent, development providers, right the the, organizations. In our community who, are working, on, creating. Career, and job readiness. For. Our Charlotte residents, and working, to get them to a place where they can take advantage of a livable wage job, and potentially. Start down a career path or even transition. Their career paths a lot of individuals, served by our talent development partners. Are. Trying to upskill themselves, in a way that they get into a market that is more competitive so.

Driving Those connections, between our, industry. And our talent development partners. Develops. The relationships. That we. That. We pride. Our team in creating, to, really hold up awareness, for companies and lead. Them to opportunities, our community for our residents. Again. This is targeted towards prospective, companies who, are considering relocation, or expansion, in our market. So. In order for a company to be eligible, right, now what we're considering is they still need, to meet the wage parameters, of our business investment, policy, so, within the pilot, we require that the wages come at either the average, for. The, MSA which is fifty one thousand one fifty or a, hundred to, one hundred and twenty five percent of the standard occupational classification, code. Which. Is lower for certain industries, in our market than the 50 150 right if this was an e-commerce facility. Those, wages are going to look more like 36, thousand. In, our market, in order to be eligible for this incentive. It. Needs to be aligned with our targeted industries, for the business recruitment program, the. Company must essentially, offer be, offering full-time jobs that, are competitive, in our market and do offer transferable. Skills to their employees. And. Again. Their incentive, to. Hire from our certified, talent development partners in our community so they have to make the hire from. From one of our partners in order to be eligible for the rain. As. Mark. Mentioned in this our team already knows one. Of the reasons that we're adding this tool to our portfolio, is to help keep us competitive with, our other peer cities and states who have added grant programs, that are tied to economic. Opportunity. And upward mobility for their residents. Getting. More into the finances, again what we're proposing right now is a. $2,500. Cash grant. Not. To exceed 50 employees for, each new employee hired. The. Company will have a defined period of time to make these hires understanding. That if you're hiring a hundred people all of them come within the first week, sometimes. That happens over over a couple of years, we're. Hoping that the grant money can be used to offset the, tangible, and intangible costs, of hiring we. Know for instance hiring. In our market right now the average, cost, of hire, is. About $4,000. Per person that's. When you add up the employee, hours spent the. The. Fees associated, with, background. Checks right. Even. Referral. Fees employee, referral, fees right, now in our market companies, are spending at least on average about $4,000, for hire and that is that goes up as you look at professional service jobs and technology jobs so. We're hoping to offset some of those costs of. Hire in order to incent, these companies to consider. Talent. That is available through our talent development partners. And. Then ideally if this grant money can be used to leverage additional funds, in, our community, that are available through our state community college system or our Workforce, Development Board that in turn puts together a package, that's focused on employees, in. A company and their and their growth in training. Feedback. Will obviously be an important, tool for the success, of this program what. We're asking for. From. Companies, would just be a quarterly, update, showing us of. The, of the jobs. Come created, through this grant program how, many eligible candidates. Presented, through our talent development partners, how. Many were hired and then. Feedback. On whether or not that person is still employed, and how much they're making, ideally.

Into The first, year of that individuals, employment, with the company. Our. Talent development partners, we're. Working on a process right now that, would sort. Of be an. Application, into, the program, we're. Looking to, include, things like continuing, education, programs, at our four-year, and two-year educational. Institutions. Technology. Training programs, skilled. Trades programs, such as goodwill, skilled trade center, professional. Service training programs, and, what. We would require right now is that the training provider is a not-for-profit and, located, within the city limits they. Have to offer an industry, certified, curriculum, and some type of credentials, to demonstrate, that they are in, fact providing. An industry, standard for the position that they're trying to place the individual, in and then. What's, really important, I think Marc alluded to this as well is that. In. Partnering. With our talent, development organizations, in the community. These. Individuals, have access to, supportive. Services, right so they're, working with case managers. Oftentimes. When, they come in to, something like a goodwill Opportunity, Center there's. Kind of a full-on assessment. Right there's interest. And aptitude assessment. But there's also an assessment, of do you have housing do you have childcare do you have transportation, and, it's a holistic approach to removing, an individual's. Barriers, for success, and employment, and we think it's really important. That that relationship, continue, and hopefully, someday all of the companies in Charlotte will be as committed as, chyme to, to caring about those needs of their. Employees but. Right now we need to work in close Han with our talent development partners who are also providing, their services for, these individuals, who are being placed in jobs, and. We're also wanting, to work with the company, and the talent development partner, and helping the company better. Understand. How. To onboard. Employees. Who are referred from some of these talent, development, partners, that there are barriers and hurdles that individuals, are going to, encounter. If they've been out of the workplace for a while or if they are a single parent or if if. Their housing, may be in transition and and how, do you as an organization, understand. The, needs of these, employees, and, create, a plan. Hand-in-hand. With the employee in, order for that person, to have, continued, success, in your organization. And not hit that first hurdle and say I, don't. Know if I can make it here right this might not be for me so. So, that onboarding, education, that relationship. With the companies is really important, in working with our team, and the talent development private provider and the company to ensure. Success, for these candidates. So. What does success look like I mean I think this help this could be a tool that helps us achieve. Our mission of continuing, to be a top market for business recruitment but. One that's also built around the framework of opportunity. We. Talk a lot about the difference of talent attraction in to our market in building, our pipeline, from within this, is a program that is specifically, focused, on building, our Charlotte pipeline, for, the jobs that are available in, Charlotte today. It. Again, better utilizes. Our talent development partners and increases, placements, and industry, based. Employment opportunities. And. Again. Offers an incentive, for companies you may not mean our capital investment, threshold, but. We can still incent, them and in, a way to come to to Charlotte and to work with our team so. I'll stop there I think what were we asking, for today would just be your, feedback. And. If the yep. And if the committee was comfortable, a recommendation to, proceed, with this pilot. Cosman. I. Have. There's three questions. The. Lawyer back there in this manner are, we able to acquire. With, the program like this. That. Those hires, be. From Charlotte. If. So are, we able to. Incentivize. Specific. Zip codes for. Where those hires come from. If. Not. In. Terms of directly, requiring, individual. Hires are we. Able to. Choose. Those. Charlotte. Recruiters, or trainers. That.

Will. Only work with. People from Charlotte, I. Believe. On. The program. Front you're gonna have a group. Of. Ordained. Or certified. Nonprofit. Partners, of which who. You choose they're right. Allows. You to do that. Look. At the landscape of our partners. And our communities, who good, will Charlotte. Works each of them serves a slightly different. Population. In terms of where they come from in our community, so, Charlotte, works right is the workforce development provider, from Mecklenburg County, so. Most if not all of the individuals, that go through Charlotte works reside, we just know that equity. Gaps as we're trying to lessen equity, gaps they are specific, to area codes and, and weird if we're not helping, specific, people coming. From specific, area codes we're. Not actually, going, to achieve the, things after, that we want we don't have the, ability in other, procurement. Situations. To require for instance that, we are are. Using. Charlotte, based businesses, so. That's, why my question what I would like to know are we able to target, through. A program, like this is different this is this is different are we able to target, area, codes that, we have identified. For. Those hires I would, I would think about this in two buckets. Because I think the are the possible is very a wide blank canvas right now on, one side is the, grant, itself and, the, the the strings that are attached, to the grant and when I have questions on where the money's coming from when, you measure when it gets delivered all that putting that aside then. There's the programs I I imagine. Long term the. Primary, program that drives this this, project, piece 2.0, when, we redesign, all that that, to me seems like the no-brainer project. Because. Then you can go out and is. A program, execution, element. Point, out different, specific, zip codes you want to target target. Different pipelines. In and that, becomes a preferred, model. For. Then, doing it so you don't have to put that on the company, you put it on the program, so. There's. A lot of things to still figure out there but, we know we walked out of the retreat, saying we, are going to make a top priority of overhauling, project piece for this new world I think, that's probably the mechanism, again we want the, folks we, want to deal with less. Than in the equity gaps of people in Charlotte, we, know for instance in. Our own organization. Plenty. Of the good paying jobs that people have they, go home the Union County look at our police look at our fire we're. Not helping, lessen. The equity gaps here. In Charlotte by employing those people, they're taking those wages and go on living in unique County we're, not doing anything when. We deal with it for, the folks that we are are trying. To. Target, so I think it'll be important, if. We, want the results, you, know to, find. Ways to target the people that, actually that that we know that need it most within on our city, and not just folks that are gonna be coming in taking, advantage of the resources and going, out I know I'm out of order but. We got, in Dallas, was, just. Like what's, being mentioned here specific. We were it. Had to affect. Folks. In South Dallas and or, they didn't qualify for. The, monies that we get they. Were very intentional about trying to to make a difference so we'll see South Charlotte here that God. Would. Like us if we are able to do that I think we should be, looking.

To Do that. Yes. Agreed any other you said your other other points to well, there was four three are we able to target in Charlotte, if so, are we able to target. Specific. Zip. Codes if we're unable to do that are we able to identify, those providers, that, specifically. Hire from. Within shot so those are three those are three different questions and with two different perfectly. Strategy. Council woman, Watlington was, next. As. We. Look at the national trends, and it sounds like obviously, Dallas has been a leader in this and a couple other places based on this slide I. Challenge. Us to anticipate from what they, would be doing next based on their learnings, so, has been looking to this pilot have we been able to understand, not just what they're doing but what their outcomes have been and what the potential gaps may have been because if we can roll that into our pilot on the front end I think that'd be great. Just. A little clarity on this piece when, you say intangible. Costs if. We're providing cash. To. Offset intangible, when you say intent or do you just mean like, top-line. Cost or what, do you mean. They're right so intangible, cost would also be perception. Of talent in the market right so when. We work with companies out the gate they want the the. Four-year degree the, five to seven years of experience right. When. A company, needs to get to speed to market quickly. And, when they feel like they have a. Talent. Model that worked in their community, it's, often hard for them to shift, perceptions. On, talent, that may be available. But needs a little extra, training, or assistance. To, get to that point and part, of our job in developing talent acquisition, strategies for companies is, to really hold up alternative. Options, rather. Than what, is honestly, the most expensive, talent, in our market, today, and. So the intangible, is kind of the cost of perception, right it's I know that. Taking. A chance on an individual, that may not have the degree may not have the years of experience, that I'm looking for is. Going to cost me as a company, in some way right. And so helping, to fill that gap monetarily. By, offsetting that cost of hire, is. It's, an incentive in, and of itself for the company to consider alternative. Opportunities, for talent image so to that end I would challenge us to think about is $2,500. Really, going to offset. Their losses to speed if we're talking about yes. And that's a fair question I think we're working right now with kind of some, existing. Resources, that we know we have we. Have had Peter, conveniently. Just left when. We've. Had conversations with, the county about what it might look like for, them to participate. And, for. Us to be able to, even. Double, that double, that amount okay. And then. If. I understand this correctly this is a cost upfront or, not cause it from a cash upfront all, right so. When we

2020-02-11 19:20

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