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Jasmine Almoayyed (Guest):  Economic development is a policy intervention that’s really all about strategies. It’s something that changes with the economy and with the times.

Bill Klaproth (Host):  Meet Jasmine Almoayyed, Economic Development Manager for Cedar Rapids.

Jasmine:  But the overall intent is that it’s really aimed at increasing the wellbeing and the lives of our residents.

Host:  This is Inside Cedar Rapids, a monthly podcast that introduces you to the people, projects and programs of your local government. I’m Bill Klaproth. And on this episode, we talk about Cedar Rapids Economic Development with Jasmine Almoayyed, Economic Development Manager. Jasmine, thanks so much for your time. So, let’s start with this. Can you explain to us what exactly is economic development?

Jasmine:  So, economic development can encompass a lot of different things. So, it’s really any activity that works to support economic growth and to improve the economic wellbeing and the quality of live for the community. So, that can entail things like attracting new business, assisting existing industry with expansion, workforce development, marketing, providing incentives, creating strategies to connect resources to the community. Just kind of a lot of different things.

Host:  Yeah, there is a lot of stuff there. New business development, existing industries expansion, workforce development, marketing, incentives. So, what role does the city play in attracting new business to the community using all of these parts?

Jasmine:  So, the city collaborates with a number of different partner organizations as well as brokers in the community. They are the ones that typically would generate leads that then they bring to the city. So, once we have an active prospect, our internal team of experts from engineering, planning, utilities department, development services will get together and meet with those businesses to go over what requirements they might have and to do essentially a sales pitch of the community.

We also engage in various marketing efforts including a specific website to Cedar Rapids that is geared towards potential businesses who may be looking even if we don’t have an inclination that they are looking to locate in Cedar Rapids, it gives us an opportunity to market to them things like our utilities information, demographic information, available sites and buildings. We really just try to make sure that we’re ready to respond to those opportunities as they arise.

Host:  So, I’m sure you get this question a lot, I know one thing people in communities always talk about are specific stores or a restaurant they would love to see in Cedar Rapids. So, what is the process for attracting new retail and how do stores and restaurants decide on locations?

Jasmine:  Sure, so, yeah you may be referencing that cheesecake factory, remember that I feel like it comes up every time.

Host:  Bring it. Bring it on. Bring it.

Jasmine:  Yeah, so the way that it works for retailers is that their site location process will involve a number of different factors. So, the kind of first piece of it is that a particular brand has to even have expansion plans within a given region. So, there’s oftentimes where only a certain number of stores will be added, and they generally don’t kind of hop around the country. So, if you see something in Philadelphia, it doesn’t mean it’s going to be in even the Midwest region tomorrow. They will then kind of look at what communities fit their consumer profile. So, this looks at thing like yes, the size and demographics of the city and consumer wages that sort of thing. But it also gets down to like really specific customer spending habits.

The city has an analytical tool that we use, and these tools generate information about the customers within a given trade area, is what it’s called. This information is aggregated by the large analytic firms that take information from things like credit card transactions, consumer loyalty programs, and if you get really specific information in a given geographic are for who is buying what and where. So, that can get down to even like very specific product types. So, we’ll use this information so that way we can send marketing sheets to retailers that were interested in bringing that might have those expansion plans and then we work again, really closely with the brokers and agents because they have a pulse on who is actually planning to come to the community and so wherever we can be helpful then to them in their pitch to those retailers. That’s where the city really fits in.

So, we do some sort of specific recruitment but part of it again, is just partnering with those professionals who are doing that work in the community.

Host:  Yeah, there’s a lot of data and analysis and planning that really goes into making these decisions and it’s got to be right for the retailer and for the city. It would be great to have Cheesecake Factory or Top Golf or something like that. But it’s all got to work together, the city and the retailer. So, I know the city is looking to attract business beyond just retail and restaurants, what attracts other businesses and industries to set up shop in Cedar Rapids?

Jasmine:  So, the city’s primary focus is actually on primary sector jobs that bring money into the local community. The types of industries that we’re most focused on are going to be the ones where we have competitive advantage due to the local labor shed, utilities and infrastructure. If you look at the existing industry in Cedar Rapids, you start to see what types of businesses that we are best positioned to attract.

So, the target industries that we really focus on are manufacturing, food and biosciences, life sciences, logistic and distribution and then finance, insurance and real estate. Those are the types of industries that are going to be attracted to Cedar Rapids because of things like our location advantage, sometimes it’s these like symbiotic relationships that businesses have with one another. Could be because we have a very strong labor force in the area that is something that’s attractive to them. So, those are the types of things that we highlight when we’re looking to attract businesses.

Host:  Right, so similar industries or businesses and or complimentary businesses and industries. If you’ve already kind of started, or you have a group of businesses; it’s easier to attract a similar type of business then, is that right?

Jasmine:  Correct, yes. Because they are looking for those relationships between suppliers, customers, sometimes waste streams that others can use as feed stock. There’s a lot of opportunity for businesses to do that kind of B to B piece.

Host:  Sure. I love that. So, then incentives are talked about a lot in the news when it comes to attracting businesses. So, talking about TIFs. So, can you explain what TIF is and how it works?

Jasmine:  Yeah, sure. So, TIF is tax increment financing. It’s just a property tax incentive. What that is, is where the city will capture the base level of taxes that a property may be paying and then whatever is generated from the new development is going to be then reimbursed back to the developer, business over a period of time. A real quick example would be if there is $100,000 parcel or building and a developer comes in and spends 5 million dollars on it; that new value may be worth three million dollars. It’s the increase from that $100,000 to three million that that developer is going to receive a reimbursement for, for just a defined period of time. They are still paying on the base level of taxes; they are just receiving an increment for a set duration.

Host:  So, then what is the big advantage then to a city using tax increment financing or TIF?

Jasmine:  So, there’s a couple of different advantages. On the front end, one of the things that we use it quite a bit for is money that’s being generated from these projects goes back into infrastructure improvements that benefit the entire community. So, that’s a really easy one. The other advantage really is, it’s exactly what it says, it’s an incentive. So, we’re trying to target specific types of development or businesses to come here through the use of TIFs. So, one example of that, if you look around the community, is that downtown housing that’s occurred. So, we’ve had hundreds of units every year that have been coming online.

When we first started to looked at urban housing; there was just too much of a gap for the developers to feel comfortable and confident that there was a market for that to exist. So, we created a program specific to urban housing so that way, these developers would have a little bit more comfort in putting them online. It’s been wildly successful. The buildings are all leasing up before they are even finished being built and that’s just a really obvious example in the community of where using tax increment financing has helped us target specific development that may not have otherwise occurred.

Host:  Yeah, so, that’s a really, really important factor to remember. So, the residents don’t think gosh, we’re giving away our tax money, but you are locking that business in, you’re getting the job creation, you’re getting the tax revenue and then eventually, all the tax revenue. So, it’s really a win for the community.

Jasmine:  That’s correct. Yeah, we’re able to incentivize projects that we want to see here, that we may not otherwise have the opportunity to see just through the regular market conditions but then that increased valuation of those properties, when that time period is finished, that money goes back to the schools, back to road improvements, fire, police; all of the different things that are supported by taxes.

Host:  Okay, yeah, that makes sense. So, how does the city decide which projects warrant incentives? I imagine you can’t do TIF on every business that comes in. There’s got to be a tipping point. How do you determine that?

Jasmine:  Right, so we base those off of kind of the city council’s goals and priorities. And we have that information available again, on the Cedar Rapids economic development website. So, that way if we are trying to attract new types of development or certain types of projects, that information is readily available and marketed. So, the city has very specific economic development programs. I won’t go through all of them. But a few specific examples that I will share things like all the urban housing that you see. So, we have core districts in the city like NewBo and Kingston and the Czech Village area, the downtown area, the MedQ. All of those areas are what we consider core areas as well as areas where we’ve done these various community action plans. So, those areas we want to see more housing because we know there’s employers that are looking for housing for their employees. We also know that there’s a lot of interest in this like urban setting sort of living environment.

So, that was something where a few years back we decided in order to make these projects happen; we would want to create an incentive program for it. And through that, we’ve seen hundreds and hundreds, it seems like every construction season of these units coming online and most of them have been leased prior to the completion of construction. So, that’s a really great example of where it’s worked.

We also use them for there’s a local match requirement. If a business is coming in, and they require, or they are receiving any sort of state assistance; the state of Iowa would require that we provide a local match so that’s another example. High quality jobs is another example where we would have any company that’s creating ten or more jobs that qualify at or above our local wage threshold, out average high quality job wage threshold which is about $20 an hour; that would be another one that would qualify. So, those are just a few examples of the types of economic development programs that we have.

Host:  So, earlier, you mentioned one of the things you work on is workforce development. Can you explain what workforce development is?

Jasmine:  The way that the city is currently engaged in workforce development is through what we kind of consider our opportunity population. That’s kind of our area of focus at the moment. So, we have engaged in a number of different programs like the Gateways for Growth Initiative that the New American Economy and Welcoming America had put together to come up with a plan that is kind of centered around working with refugees and immigrants. We had partnered with an area employer and the Community College to put together this Learn and Earn Model where people were able to come to that company and in an eight hour shift, spend two hours working on their English language learning for the first couple of hours to help boost their ability and their skills to be employed at that local facility.

That is one very specific example of something that we’ve done. We’re looking for more opportunities again, with that specific immigrant refugee population for those types of things. We also are focused with kind of making sure that we have a good pulse on where local employers are struggling to fill roles. So, right now it seems like the feedback is that in the kind of like low to middle skill types of jobs, so like warehousing, field trades being the middle skills area, there continues to be persistent issues with finding qualified candidates. So, we’re not necessarily going to go out and work directly with residents but there are a number of resource providers who work with various constituents groups and then a number of educational institutions that have training and education programs. So, we’re trying to help identify where those links between the population that could use additional skills or training where they exist, connecting them to the resources that exist within the community and then making sure that those connections are being made back to the employers.

So, there are kind of specific targeted efforts that we’re doing and then there’s sort of more like the larger strategy piece of this. I’d say our overall number one goal is really just to make sure that we’re helping to identify opportunities for residents of the community, especially those who may be underemployed or unemployed still. And making sure that they’re aware of the available jobs in the community that may pay three or four dollars more an hour and have better benefits than where they are currently at. We are just really trying to make sure that we’re making connections between employers and the community to make sure that the businesses have long term stability with their employment base and our residents are able to enjoy a better quality of life through higher and more meaningful work.

Host:  So, what workforce initiatives have you implemented or are you working on now?

Jasmine:  So, we talked a little bit about, or I explained a little about the Welcoming America program that we started with Gateways for Growth. We just rolled that plan out and again, that’s for the immigrant refugee population. And we’ll be working on implementation this year. So, that will be very much targeted at working with employers and figuring out ways where we can better access the population that exists within Cedar Rapids again, particularly from the refugee and immigrant community that may right now be traveling an hour away to employers in sort of the surrounding cities where they could still be finding employment, gainful opportunities here in Cedar Rapids. So, that’s kind of one initiative that we’re working on.

We are hiring a new workforce development person that should be starting in the next month or so that will be again, working with employers in the community to identify those needs and then working with the community college and the K-12 system to help identify some opportunities for pipelines. We are planning on a survey just to make sure that we have the most accurate and up to date data in terms of what the Cedar Rapids business community is maybe struggling with a little bit as far as their employment needs.

So, there’s a number of different things that we are working on kind of in the early stages of what this workforce development position will look like. But again, very targeted more at the sort of low to middle skills jobs and the opportunity population not so much on the I guess typical workforce development side where you would see trying to target college graduates or like the higher income positions. We are not seeing as much of a struggle with employers giving us feedback that they’ve had as many challenges with those types of jobs. So, sort of switching gears in terms of the population that we’re looking to serve.

Host:  So, it’s very clear there’s a lot wrapped up in the work of economic development and I appreciate you giving us this general overview of the work you and the city team is doing to help grow and support business in Cedar Rapids Jasmine. Thank you. Let me ask you this, if a resident is interested in learning more, where should they go?

Jasmine:  So, they could go to the city’s economic development website which is www.economicdevelopmentcr.com. There’s also a great issue of the RCR Magazine that goes out to most of the residents of the community and kind of surrounding area for March of 2018 where we talk in depth about economic development and some of the different types of projects and programs we worked on. There’s an electronic version of that, that’s posted to the city’s website. And then just keeping up with the city council meetings or reading the paper. We have a lot of projects that are out there. So, city staff is always happy to engage with the public on any questions that they have as far as business development in the city. So, those are the kind of two major areas for more information but we’re always here and happy to talk to residents.

Host:  Wow, this really has been fascinating and illuminating. Jasmine, thank you so much for your time today.

Jasmine:  Thank you so much for having me.

Host:  That’s Jasmine Almoayyed Economic Development Manager and for more information please visit www.economicdevelopmentcr.com, that’s www.economicdevelopmentcr.com for more information about Cedar Rapids Economic Development. And if you like what you’ve heard please share it on your social channels and be sure to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. You can also check out the full library at www.cityofcr.com/podcasts. This is Inside Cedar Rapids. I’m Bill Klaproth. Thanks for listening.