Economic Opportunity Committee (EOC) meeting Transcript – 7/18/2025 Title: ATXN-1 Channel: 1 - ATXN-1 Recorded On: 7/18/2025 6:00:00 AM Original Air Date: 7/18/2025 Transcript Generated by SnapStream ================================== Please note that the following transcript is for reference purposes and does not constitute the official record of actions taken during the meeting. For the official record of actions of the meeting, please refer to the Approved Minutes. [9:59:44 AM] We are a-t-x-n the City of Austin's Government Access Channel well, good afternoon everyone, [10:01:53 AM] well, good afternoon everyone, or good morning. It's only 10:00. I don't know why. It feels like the afternoon. And this is such a cozy settings. We could, I could I could touch Jose from here. Well, welcome to the economic opportunity committee meeting. Present on the dais is council member Velasquez and council member Siegel. And participating remotely is councilmember harper-madison and unable to attend. Unfortunately is mayor pro tem Fuentes. But I will call this meeting of the economic opportunity committee to order at 10:02 A.M. On July 18th, 2025 at Austin city hall. As a quorum is present. The first item of business is public communication, but I don't believe we have any speaker signed up to testify. So we'll move on to item number one, which is approval of the minutes from the may 16th, 2025 economic opportunity committee meeting. Do we have a motion to approve item number one, a motion by councilmember Velazquez and seconded by council member [10:02:53 AM] seconded by council member Siegel? All in favor, say aye. Okay. It's passes for zero. Item number two will be the briefing on diversity and ethnic chamber alliance regional equity plan. So I believe we have a special guest to do that. And that is Tina cannon, the president and CEO of the Austin lgbt chamber of commerce. We have several questions. Yeah, yeah. Yes. Council member. >> So they tried to pack us in there yesterday like sardines like that. And nobody said that we're allowed to move those name tags. They're not permanently affixed. You guys could spread out. You don't have to. >> We like each other. Yeah. >> And also hi, Tina. >> Council member. Great. Thank you. Council. As councilor qadri said, I'm Tina cannon, presidency of the Austin lgbt chamber. I'm also here with my colleagues that you'll meet here in a moment for the remaining deck of chambers. So we're going [10:03:54 AM] deck of chambers. So we're going to lay out a little bit about how we've gotten here, a couple of words up front, and then we'll run through the deck and happy to answer any questions. Feel free to be interrupted as maximus along the way. If there's something that you have a burning question about again. So thank you for the opportunity to speak. I'm here joined here today with my colleagues who you'll meet in a moment representing dec, the diversity ethnic chamber alliance, made up of the black, hispanic, Asian and lgbt chambers of commerce. Together, we launched a very first of its kind initiative in the United States, the Reid plan, or regional equity and economic development. Each of our organizations brings a legacy of advocacy, community engagement and cultural competence, support for our underserved business community. Together, we're leverage our collective strength to ensure that small and micro businesses, particularly those that are historically excluded entrepreneurs, have access to resources, training, and opportunities that they need to thrive. Austin, of course, as we know, is an economic powerhouse, but that prosperity has not been evenly distributed. While median income for white households is [10:04:57 AM] income for white households is over 104,000 annually, black hispanic households trailed significantly by 30 and 22%, respectively. And despite population growth, minority owned businesses account disproportionately small share of the total firms employees and payroll. The Reid plan developed through years long collaboration with each of our chambers. Our distinguished dec advisory board, which you'll learn about in a moment and our community partners lays out a very clear, actionable strategy to address this. It is grounded in three pillars resilience, equity, and investment. But it is more than a mission statement. It is a blueprint. Some key components. Place based procurement initiative. Working with our major employers to set real supplier diversity goals, not just promises. We're identifying procurement opportunities, building certification frameworks and holding companies accountable for clear benchmarks. Access to capital. You'll learn more about this in a minute as well. But a little preview. We did launch a $1 million deca loan fund for businesses that don't meet traditional underwriting [10:05:57 AM] traditional underwriting standards but are ready to grow technical capacity building. Many of our minority firms are excluded not due to lack of ideas, but because they lack the bandwidth and or mentorship to scale. So we're rolling out targeted support, including professional development, mentorship and industry specific trainings. Entrepreneurial pathways. We are supporting aspiring entrepreneurs, helping individuals turn their skills and potential into success, expanding access to ownership to opportunity and economic mobility, and of course, workforce, housing and childcare. We know you cannot build a business if you don't have adequate housing and or childcare. The plan, of course, supports broader city efforts to create both affordable units near transit and expand childcare availability, both critical to labor participation and entrepreneurial stability. And finally, long term, we'll be calling for the creation of a deck of business center for our under-resourced business development to serve as a permanent home for these initiative, housed within dec and or partnership with one of our partner organizations. So [10:06:59 AM] our partner organizations. So what's exciting about this model is that we are setting a national standard. Proof in point. Seattle, Washington just launched their very own minority chamber coalition called the W, NBC, not a radio station. Our work is already shaping national best practices, and so we are just getting started. As we move to the implementation phase, we look forward to continuing our partnership with our friends at the city of Austin. Together, we have a shared commitment to building an economy that is not only dynamic and fast growing, but inclusive, equitable, and resilient for all of our austinites. So thank you for being a part of this important work. I'll turn it over to my colleagues to run through the deck and get a little bit more detailed. >> Thank you so much, Tina. I turn this on. Buenos dias. Thank you for having us, members of the council. We're so excited to be here with our dec partnership. We're grateful for your leadership and continued support as we work together to advance equitable economic opportunity across central [10:07:59 AM] opportunity across central Texas. If you could take us to the next page, as Tina mentioned, you know, the diversity ethnic chamber alliance is committed and has a vision to make sure that we strengthen minority owned businesses. We're going to talk a little bit about our goals, our regional road plan and our read plan. If you'll move us forward to the next page. As Tina mentioned, we're comprised of the greater Austin, hispanic, black, Asian and lgbtq chambers. Deca represents thousands of small businesses and entrepreneurs across our region, more specifically over 4000. We've come together to address the persistent inequities in economic growth and to ensure prosperity reaches all of our communities. We're going to make sure that we do this with a regional lens in mind, recognizing that economic opportunity doesn't stop at city boundaries. They gave me the clicker so I can do this. Let's do it. Alright, so let's dive in a little bit more specifically [10:09:01 AM] a little bit more specifically about the regional economic equity and economic development plan. As Tina likes to say, everything is better with acronyms, right? Read plan. As mentioned, it is the first of its kind. It is. It does not replace existing regional plans, but really complements them with a focused lens on diverse businesses and workforce participation. Oftentimes, our communities get brought in, you know, at the at the tail end to represent the diversity. And this plan has the intention of making sure we go much further upstream to be part of the decision making table, to be part of the data and need surfacing from our communities so that we can make the right decisions, make sure that we have commitments and follow through in our support and collaboration as we work through, you know, central Texas. We, like Tina mentioned, have the blueprint. And who better to surface that from from diversity communities, for diversity communities. And so [10:10:04 AM] diversity communities. And so our goal really is to align private sector capacity with public needs for inclusive benefit of all, to integrate excluded communities into the broader economic narrative, and really to have a community led plan of economic development under decca stewardship. Let's move to the reed advisory council. These folks are leaders across sectors, from government and education to real estate and banking. Their expertise and lived experience guides our work and ensures accountability. It also makes sure that there is little duplication. Oftentimes when people are in silos, we create and recreate the same wheel in. Our intention is to make sure that we surface these subject matter experts to influence and guide our work so that we can build upon, so that we can look to scale and inject resources to what's already working, and perhaps amplify existing good working work [10:11:06 AM] existing good working work models in addition to identifying new ones. Our dec CEOs look at us in our headshots. Wonderful. Let's move on from here. Just to give you an idea that the dec and reed plan is informed through data, we've deployed over 12,000 surveys. We've had over 180 focus group participants. Of course, the 15 plus advisory council and growing and our collective 4000 members plus have influenced and had input into our work. Our outreach ensures that the reed plan reflects real community voices and the diverse needs of our communities at a high level. Tina mentioned our focus areas. Housing affordability, of course, is key to workforce stability, transportation, equitable access drives regional growth and small business resources and access to capital. Our business continue to get a no. 60% of them when they ask for capital. Our objective and [10:12:07 AM] for capital. Our objective and goal is to get a yes and to be able to triage and guide the opportunity, respectively, with our partners. And we're going to talk a little bit more of the deck alone fund that Tina mentioned. With over $1 million, it's already fulfilling its objective of giving access to capital and of course, childcare, creative economies and global competitiveness is also part of this strategy. Let me say that to be clear, our goals are very specific to foster collaboration between the public and private sectors, to create more inclusive workforce pipelines, and to center community voices in economic planning. We do this all with a regional approach, and I am happy to pass this on to our sister chamber with Marc Duval, the greater Austin Asian chamber of commerce, to talk about that global and regional perspective. Yes. Passing the power. [10:13:10 AM] Yes. Passing the power. >> Good morning. >> Personalities that need the power. >> Exactly. The button is the button. I don't need the power. Good morning council. Thanks for having us. We do take this regional greater Austin title very seriously. And you know, of course our focus is on city of Austin, Travis county. But we work with cities and stakeholders, partners across the entire greater Austin five county region. For jack, for example, you know, our the Asian community, Asian community, which covers many cultures, of course is pan Austin. It's all over the region but primarily concentrated in north Austin, northwest Austin, up into cedar park and Leander Round Rock, pflugerville. But we do prioritize all of our activity across the region. You know, our dec partners have concentrations in different parts of the city, but we're everywhere. And that's really exciting for us as a collaboration to be to be everywhere. And really, that's a key point I'd like you to take [10:14:10 AM] key point I'd like you to take away from this. If you think about Austin, we've got some amazing institutions like the city, we've got the workforce solutions, for example, we've got the Austin chamber, we've got opportunity, Austin and many other institutions doing great things for the city. But we like to I like to think of them as very vertical. They're very concentrated. They're executing incredible support services and engagement for the city. But we activate across the region. I almost think of us like a grassroots or a community activating force. So we do take that regional approach very seriously, and it is exciting to see how that comes to fruition. So we're everywhere in our communities are everywhere. For the next slide, I hope I got that right. Yeah. So global outreach, we do also take our global role very seriously. Again we partner with the city. We partner for example the sister cities program. We partner with them, the world affairs council and many others. Opportunity Austin again, we directly ourselves interact with the Irish consulate, the Mexican [10:15:12 AM] the Irish consulate, the Mexican consulate here, of course, but also consulates in Houston for the Asian chamber. That would be the whole range. Pakistan, India. It would be primarily, frequently Malaysia, Indonesia, Japan, Korea. So there's a lot of direct engagement with those consulates. We also engage with delegations that are coming to explore Austin for business, trade and investment purposes. But we also actively engage internationally. I was on two trips last year to Korea. I was in another trip earlier this month. This year, in fact, in March, with opportunity Austin and Taiwan. So we directly go overseas and we promote programs internationally. So if I go to the next slide here, I know that last year the lgbt chamber led a program in Ireland engaging with companies, entities and organizations that are looking to enhance the relationships between Ireland and Austin, including, again, trade and [10:16:12 AM] including, again, trade and investment. I know the work. We're working on a regional trip coming up next month, in fact, to Seattle. You mentioned Seattle earlier. So I think having these regional best practice sharing activities are important. And then finally here we're leading a delegation in partnership with Williamson county to Korea in October. This is going to be I would historic maybe a big word, but we're going to have 30 delegates from. And again, back to my original point, representing I think almost all of central Texas. We have Travis county, we have Williamson county with hays and Caldwell. We've got representatives from cedar park, Georgetown and Round Rock, Hutto, San Marcos, Maynor, Buda. And I just heard yesterday that we're also going to going to have the assistant city manager, doctor Johnson, joining us on this trip. We're also going to be visiting companies in Seoul, friends of ours like Samsung, but also new opportunities for major investment. We'll be visiting with union city, which [10:17:14 AM] visiting with union city, which is a major semiconductor cluster city in South Korea, and we're also going to be meeting with our friends at gwangmyeong city, which is Austin's sister city partner. So we'll be resuscitating or reviving or reactivating that relationship, which has been a little bit quiet since covid. So the point there is we're regional, we're global, but we're also very, very local. At the end of the day, our heartbeat is around serving and supporting those micro and small businesses right here in central Texas. >> Right. Well, thank you for letting us present, and I'm honored to be on this dais with my wonderful colleagues. And as you can tell by the great presentation and the time and effort to put this together, you know, our chambers are serious about assisting our business community and benefit the wonderful greater Austin community that we are part of. You know, I have the honor and [10:18:14 AM] You know, I have the honor and don't have any problem giving the conclusion and the ask and, and, and probably I think all of you have a copy of the presentation. And I guess the key thing there on on page 18, you know, a lot of good efforts and thoughts go in, but it takes money to make that happen. And I know we're in a budget cycle right now, and our esteemed city manager has has presented something for us to look at. And we're hopeful, whether it be the Austin budget or or being compilation with as you negotiate with major business partners and so forth, that come that $1 million is considered for an annual operating budget to make these great goals happen. And then in alignment with that, you know, there needs to be capital as as great businesses are created or either [10:19:17 AM] businesses are created or either working currently or being created, there be a start of a $5 million capital budget that could could grow to at least 50 million. And as was announced previously, you know, we already have partners like Wells Fargo who've given $1 million toward that effort. And we think that business people would be excited to be a part of something like this. And, of course, you know, we don't want to work in silos. We want to work with the great departments of the city to make this happen. I think you've got representatives from Ed and smb are here, have been great partners in training our businesses to making sure that they have the business acumen to be successful. At the end of, you know, following Paige 18, you know, we have some key questions that we ask of a new or emerging businesses. But of [10:20:18 AM] or emerging businesses. But of course, we want that to work in, in concert with the work that's being done, because there could be some, some definite information sharing, because at the end of the day, I think we all have the same goal. We want this wonderful city of Austin to continue to be the gold star of doing business for all, all Americans. And so we thank you for this time and really want you to consider putting this into your into the plan, because this is not a plan for decca. This. Coming up the small business summit. I know councilmember qadri will be there with a proclamation for that day, but this is our third annual. A couple of hundred businesses show up to this. It continues to grow year after year, but it's a great opportunity for training for our small business community. So pop in and join us on August 1st at the city's planning and permitting development office. And we've talked about the deca loan fund. [10:21:18 AM] talked about the deca loan fund. You can learn more at dec txdot. If you are watching online and then leveraging your small business week. We did this last earlier this year with the city and happy to continue that partnership ongoing. And then our dec leadership, whether it be the CEOs or others on our staff, participate throughout the community in a variety of different boards and commissions. This is just a small sampling of the places that we're engaged and involved in and lending our voice to those conversations. So we are here. We are everywhere. We're very thankful for your support, but we're hoping to make sure that we grow, prosper together. Thank you all. >> Great. Thank you all. And thank you guys and your respective roles as chamber heads, but also your you as individuals and everything they all bring to and do for the community. We'll open it up for some questions from myself and my colleagues and I will I will hand it off to councilmember harper-madison. She can kick us off for some questions. >> Fantastic. I never get to go [10:22:19 AM] >> Fantastic. I never get to go first. Thank you, chair qadri. So I have a couple. Well, you know, I'll start by saying I really enjoyed the presentation and there were some specific things that I was hoping to hear that I heard most especially around targets, around mentorship, and really providing that guidance. You know, the step between having the drive and the desire and the ambition and making it to, you know, the to the beginning stages of your entrepreneurial adventures, really oftentimes is just that knowledge gap. And, you know, the learning curve is, is what kills a lot of people's entrepreneurial dreams. So I really appreciate hearing that. Something I wanted to add there is in my conversation with some folks lately around workforce development and career training, we were talking about how, I think oftentimes some of the positions that get slept on when we do training around workforce and entrepreneurship is like sort of the nontraditional job. So, for example, a house manager or a household manager, that's a [10:23:22 AM] or a household manager, that's a private residential job, but they often pay six figures, but they're jobs that people don't know exist and aren't looking for. You know, the folks that I know that work in five star dining, that's a six figure job. But not everybody's prepared to be a five star dining. >> Counselor. Are you back? >> Sure. I think she's leaning into the hospitality trades. It sounds like pretty significant. One of the boards that we all serve on is visit Austin, and we partner with them on their training and their scholarship programs to make sure that we're raising the next generation of the workforce. But also within that, we hope we find a budding entrepreneur in the mix as well. >> Also, to add to that, you know, in some of our workforce and economic development committees, we're working with workforce solutions and ACC for [10:24:22 AM] workforce solutions and ACC for in pushing forward an infrastructure academy, because our people, you know, there's many ways to get successful. You know, one, you know, definitely is business starting your own business. But you know, going to trades through college, through the military, there's many avenues and that's one to address the issue that she's talking about. And we have we have events, you know, like on October 4th of this year, it's an 830 to 330, you know, financial fitness seminar where we can people can come to for free and learning about these potential options because, you know, all of us can sing and dunk a basketball, but there's many other ways that we can make money. And she definitely mentioned that. And that is on [10:25:23 AM] mentioned that. And that is on our radar to make sure our people are aware and have a great career for themselves and their family. >> Great. Thank you. And just for clarity, Jose can both sing and dunk. A basketball was actually going to make that comment. >> I can't sing and basketball. >> I think we might have councilman harper-madison back. Is he to Natasha harper-madison? So maybe one of them is working. Are you there, councilmember? >> I think so. >> There you are. >> We had your. This is why they don't let me go first. So the point I was getting at was, you know, in in considerations around sort of that entrepreneurial guidance. You know, one of the things that I always think about is how in my early entrepreneurial ventures, hearing that statistic about how, you know, 80% of small businesses fail within the first five years. And had I listened a little bit more, there were a [10:26:24 AM] little bit more, there were a couple that I just would have scrapped a lot earlier. So I just wanted to ask, you know, I'm not sure if it's a question so much as just it's noteworthy that that mentorship and that guidance should really come with some real talk, you know, save yourself a lot of heartache and money and other people's money. Guidance was what I was getting at that and having people really think outside of the box. I know oftentimes people come to entrepreneurship thinking they know what it is that they want to do, but haven't really thought about the long game. And you know how it's going to play out, what services are going to be perpetually needed, what you know, what are what problem, what challenge are you solving that people will always need? So that was more of a comment than a question. And then the question though was, I'm really excited to hear about how much partnership you guys are thinking about regionally and beyond. And you probably noticed on your way into city hall, we have those directional signs that speak to our sister cities and our relationships there. And I just wondered one, do you guys [10:27:24 AM] I just wondered one, do you guys have a relationship with sister cities international? And if not, you know, I wonder what that partnership would look like. And then two, one of the things that sister cities international has a goal of doing is getting 500 African cities, cities from the mother continent as a part of their collection of cities that they work with. And you probably noticed or will notice now on that sign, there aren't any African cities or places in Africa to point to on that sign, and I'd like to get that fixed. And so, you know, as you're thinking about your international ventures, it's noteworthy that, you know, I, I hear folks talk a lot about work with, with various delegations and international travel, but I really don't hear much about the diaspora. And given our. I'm sorry, I can't hear you. >> Sorry to interrupt. I was chewing, queuing up Marc to answer that question for you, okay? [10:28:24 AM] okay? >> And I lost my train of thought. Oh, I just I just wanted to make sure that that's on everybody's radar, that, you know, given our population of folks in the city of Austin that identify as people who are originally from the diaspora, it would be a great idea to make sure that inclusivity includes includes Africa. >> I can jump in right there. I was just in Africa, by the way. I was in Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Africa for my summer vacation recently, and I was thinking that exact same point where I was in cape, I was in the cape of good hope, and they have a, a signpost similar to the one that we have outside city hall, which points in multiple directions around the world and the distances from that point to those places. And I was thinking, where is Austin on that signpost? And vice versa, you know, where is Africa? On our signpost. So I'm excited to hear you say that. And I'm happy to, to weigh in on that personally as well. >> Well, I appreciate that. So we've already been working with [10:29:25 AM] we've already been working with the sister cities international folks. I'll have Sharon mays from the district one office come down and say hey to you, but we've already been working with them on getting a relationship in Dar es salaam, but we got a lot of cities to go to catch up, so thank you, I appreciate that and thank you all for the presentation. It was great. >> And just to add to that, thank you. Look forward to that. Contact information from miss Hayes. You know, greater Austin black chamber has our fourth Wednesday luncheons where we can highlight businesses and other opportunities for businesses on on this coming Wednesday, July 23rd. We're actually having the business development people. They'll be coming in from the Central America town of Belize. And it's a black, black town. And they're wanting they're wanting businesses to expand their business and build in in [10:30:27 AM] their business and build in in the town of Belize. So we're definitely thinking about helping our businesses not only think Austin, we want them to grow in Austin, but green can be gotten from everywhere. So we definitely want them to think internationally and globally in Africa. And whether it's Africa, Central America or wherever. So anyone would be welcome to come. It's from 1130 to 1:00 at our at our black chamber offices. >> I really appreciate hearing that. And I was going to be quiet until you said that. So now I have one more thing to say. So there are some very intentional efforts with the sids is what they call them. The small island developing states. To think Barbados, bermuda, Bahamas, Jamaica and the effort to make a connection in the states. And there's some really interesting political stuff going on in Trinidad and Tobago. And I know they're very interested in making some [10:31:27 AM] interested in making some connections in the states. And so that's another thought, right? You know, for the black chambers, most especially black folks come in all varieties afro Latino, afro, caribbean afro. I didn't realize that this was a term until recently, but of course it is afro European. And so we come in, we come in all varieties, and I don't know that there's an opportunity that we're taking the opportunity to recognize black folks of all, of all origins. And so I really appreciate hearing that about the work you guys are doing with the folks from Belize. And we'll be in touch with y'all as well, because I think, I think that's the economy is global. So our culture and our efforts should reflect that. Not really. Sorry chair. >> Great. Thank you. Council member I'm going to pass it off to councilmember Siegel for some questions. >> Thank you, chair, and thanks to all for this great presentation. I kind of wanted to open up a conversation about manufacturing, which is an issue that's near and dear to my heart. And just to give you some [10:32:29 AM] heart. And just to give you some context, you know, one of the issues I care most about is climate action. And as a community, you know, we've as our electric utility has set forward. We have this very ambitious generation plan by 2035, Wright to add a couple hundred megawatts of solar power generation, which represents thousands of acres of solar panels. And that by itself could be a major catalyst for economic development locally. And one of the things I'm thinking about is with these federal cuts to, for example, climate funding, it's more important than ever that we figure out how to generate this economic opportunity locally using every tool we have in the toolbox, whether that's our economic development agency, whether that's using city land. And it does connect to, you know, the infrastructure academy. Right. So how can we make it so an Austin high school student can graduate, maybe get their pre-apprenticeship program at Austin community college, get an apprenticeship with a trade, and then get a well-paid working class job, you know, building solar panels or developing [10:33:29 AM] solar panels or developing battery technology and all these areas of kind of green or renewable energy economic development. So I just wanted to signal that I would love to work with you all on this, you know, how do we attract manufacturing to this community? And, you know, how do we, you know, connect the diverse chambers to that work? And so if y'all have anything you can share on how manufacturing fits into your portfolio, I would love to hear that. And also would love to talk to you more in the days ahead. >> Sure, I'll touch on the climate piece real quick. I know myself and my colleague from the hispanic chamber, Brittany Rodriguez. We served on the 2020 2035 stakeholder group with Austin energy. As part of that multi-month process to kind of lean in on on the work that Austin energy will be doing, as well as the stakeholder requirements of Austin energy, balancing both price as well as climate. And so we were proud to do that work. And I know, as Marc had mentioned before, we're very active in the five county region and within that five county region is really more especially outside of Travis or [10:34:29 AM] especially outside of Travis or more of the advanced manufacturing hubs. With our friends at arma, we're very in touch with what's going on in those spaces. And majority of the companies I know that we visit with tend to be leaning in more into the advanced manufacturing space just because the workforce now, along with Austin community college, being able to train those folks to come out into those jobs is pretty spectacular. So we're that's why I being just Austin focus will never work for us as a region. We are a five county region. And now even extending a little bit further down I-35 as well within that San Marcos corridor. >> I'll just say I'd love to see us figure out how to build solar panels, how to recycle solar panels, how to build batteries, recycle batteries. I think there's some major opportunities where we could be a leader, because we have this environmental consciousness as a community, because we have this tech hub and there's an intersection, you know, with tech and renewable energy technology. So to me, that's a big opportunity in the years ahead. >> Agreed. >> Great. And with no other questions, you all are free to go. But really do appreciate having you all here today. Thank [10:35:31 AM] having you all here today. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Next up is item number three, which is a briefing on immigrant business resources. And for that we have a presentation by Aaron Gonzalez. The economic from the economic prosperity committee, also a appointee from district nine. Welcome. >> Okay. >> And I believe also we have vice chair Raquel Valdez Sanchez from district three that we're trying to enable her to speak. >> So great. Thank you. >> Okay. All right. So as you described, thank you all for taking time to hear about what we're going to talk about, which is enabling entrepreneurs who have limited English proficiency to participate in the economy and to have successful businesses. So going to the next slide, the agenda for today, [10:36:31 AM] slide, the agenda for today, we're going to go through some of the data around what the economic impact is that these business owners contribute to the Austin economy. We're going to understand the scale of these business owners in this population, within the economy, dive into some of the challenges that they face when starting a business, understand what the current policies that are in place to assist these business owners and where those fall short, and make some recommendations by looking at some peer cities of what they're doing currently today. So as you may know, Wright is small business. It's no small portion of the economy. When looking at the contributions nationally, small businesses contribute towards to 44% of overall gdp. So here we go. It's important to [10:37:36 AM] So here we go. It's important to emphasize the definition of what limited English proficiency means. All it means it's individuals who do not speak English as their primary language, and who have a limited ability to either read, speak, write, or understand English. That can obviously vary, but when it's specific to business owners, when you think about taking out a loan or navigating complex regulations, it's really important for people to participate in language that they feel most comfortable as it relates to Austin, 15% of all business owners in Austin are not from the us. You know, when we look at when we're describing people who are foreign born, right, we mean naturalized citizens, lawful permanent residents and undocumented residents. This entire [10:38:37 AM] residents. This entire population comprises 19% of Austin's population. And there is limited data locally. But by piecing together statewide data as well as national data, we were able to determine this is that 24% of all the new businesses in Austin are founded by foreign born entrepreneurs. This is common with national trends is that immigrant entrepreneurs, they are they start businesses and they are often turning to self-employment and starting their own businesses much more than the native born population. In terms of in the metro area. This from what we were able to tell, there are over 31,000 immigrant entrepreneurs in the metro area. And to put that into context, within Austin alone, there's in [10:39:39 AM] within Austin alone, there's in total, there's 41,653 businesses in total. So that's not exclusive to immigrant businesses. That is in total. So we do see that in the metro area. There is a high amount of these businesses already employing people and serving constituents across the entire city. So other data that we know is that the Latino population, specifically immigrants, comprise over 52% of all Latino owned firms nationally. Again, we don't have what that data is locally, but this is from the Stanford state of Latino entrepreneurship from 2023. And again, from other stats, we know that there are 24% more likely to be entrepreneurs than us born residents. So also putting this into context nationally, we know that Texas ranks among the [10:40:41 AM] that Texas ranks among the states that have the highest amount of immigrant entrepreneurs who have limited English proficiency within Austin. In particular. Here's a breakdown by council district that shows the percentage that has limited English proficiency and the percentage that has an immigrant population. One common thought that comes up is, okay, well, the limited English proficiency population, it may be overindexed in certain districts for districts that are not in those areas, why should it matter to them? And what we see consistently is that just because someone lives in that district does not mean that they do not have a business that does not operate in another part of the city and does not serve people from other parts of the [10:41:42 AM] people from other parts of the city. So another thought that comes up is, well, Spanish speaking is a large percentage, surely, of the population that has limited English proficiency. And while that is the case, we do see that it is widespread across many different. There are many different languages and needs across the community, you know, consisting of Asian and pacific island languages, indo-european languages, etc. So in again, the data is difficult at a local level, but at a national level, we do know that out of all entrepreneurs, roughly 24% of entrepreneurs who are immigrants have limited English proficiency. So we're starting to kind of understand the scale of what when we think about Austin, how many of those businesses might need these [10:42:43 AM] businesses might need these services. And I'd like to turn to the policies that are in place today. So in 2013, the city manager directed the city to develop a plan for universal translation and interpretation services to serve these individuals. In 2022, a language access policy was passed that covered data collection, signage, translation, interpretation, training, contractors. This direct language access policy. It was not specific to small business owners. It was meant for the city population as a whole. And so as we will see, there are specific needs that these business owners have that are not being met. And for example, one of the things that we will turn to is greater data collection. And when we look at the actual city policy excerpt that I provided off to the [10:43:44 AM] that I provided off to the right, it talks about how the data collection that is occurring is to track city of Austin department office or programs. Frequency of contact with these lep individuals to do to record the clients preferred language of communication in their case files. So again, the specific needs of business owners. Still, we still have some way to go. These immigrant business owners, as has been discussed previously, they are twice as likely to be self-employed. But often we see that they have higher business failure rates, suggesting that they do have unmet needs. And when we look at the complex nature of starting a business, often these people have started businesses before in the countries that they were born into, and they have language, cultural barriers, lack of information, limited personal and professional networks that [10:44:45 AM] and professional networks that exacerbate these challenges and lead to higher business failure rates. Another misconception is that these business owners are only in construction or hospitality, and that's simply not the case, is that we see that across major industries that there is a share of immigrant entrepreneurs who have these needs. Did you have any things that you wanted to? >> Yeah, I did want to comment about immigrants starting businesses. So they do know their communities better. So they're able to meet needs in their communities. I know I've been to a pinata shop on the east side. There's also a mariachi bands, quinceanera dresses, and these businesses have the opportunity to grow beyond just that community. I mean, having I've been to a pinata shop, certainly parties. And certainly if you're making senior dresses to start, you can [10:45:45 AM] senior dresses to start, you can obviously expand beyond that. These members of this community have a harder time getting hired outside by, you know, native English speakers are going to get a an advantage. And so and there's other factors of being undocumented here that like make it harder for them to get hired by other businesses. So just providing the threat of starting a business, these people do not have to start a business to benefit from this program. The people just having that outside option of being able to start a business provides a benefit to them, because it gives them a place to negotiate. >> So I would say in cities like Houston, we see that the immigrants comprise 24% of the population, but they own 42% of the businesses. So contrasting to what we're seeing in Austin, to where I believe it was 15% of the population and roughly around 20% of businesses, we do see a opportunity, an overlooked [10:46:48 AM] see a opportunity, an overlooked area of economic potential across Texas, right? These immigrant businesses, they employ over 635,000 workers and over $104 billion in annual sales. So. Moving to the so in drafting a the recommendation and in putting together a presentation, we spoke with the CEO of the greater Austin hispanic chamber, Monica Munoz, and we spoke with Dorian Marentes from vice chair of immigrant affairs commission. And we also spoke with Catherine Sobel from the economic development department, small business division. And ultimately, they confirmed all of these findings. They helped us understand what was going on and where those unmet needs are. And in looking at the current actions for business owners, we've talked about language [10:47:48 AM] we've talked about language accessibility and marketing is where those current efforts are. Within economic development, there has been a focus on increased Spanish outreach within the economic development department through press releases, communications, paid advertising campaigns. Why this is relevant is ultimately it speaks to a issue that economic development has highlighted is that ultimately, within the past 12 months, a program like aid has not been offered to assist these individuals. And when looking at one of the reasons that might be awareness has come up. And so I think that there's a greater when looking at cities like Louisville, looking at cities that we're going to be highlighting here in a little bit, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Chicago. They are partnering with local groups to better [10:48:48 AM] with local groups to better create awareness and meet meet these people where they're at. So the recommendations, what we're recommending is so as of December 2024, the community navigator program has no longer been offered. We suggest bringing that back to help these small business owners navigate multilingual business resources and partner with trusted community organizations to deliver this program, increase the available data is, as we've highlighted several times, there's limited data on this population, and by understanding more about what resources that this community needs, how the resources could be better tailored to assist these individuals. We do believe that there will be greater uptake in the programs that are being offered, and ultimately it will lead to more businesses being founded, more jobs being [10:49:49 AM] founded, more jobs being created, and more resistance to economic downturns. Part of that will be conducting an audit, as well as on what resources are being highly used by other business groups or business owners, but are not necessarily being translated to these various languages. To meet the needs of this community. And we've also suggested, based on other cities, is developed to develop multilingual business guides for key sectors. We think that there's an opportunity to partner with the mayor's infrastructure academy to potentially, you know, work with groups that are already doing this type of work. So, as I mentioned, there are cities like Louisville, which is providing those mentors and coaches for hands on guidance. Philadelphia is employing technical experts to assist entrepreneurs with licensing, inspections, zoning and regulatory processes. [10:50:50 AM] and regulatory processes. Baltimore, Cincinnati, Detroit and Saint Louis all are partnering with those local chambers of commerce to connect immigrant entrepreneurs with the ecosystem, and Chicago has created a one stop shop, neighborhood center and industry specific startup guides to help these individuals. So that's all we have. I know we have vice chair Valdez Sanchez on the call as well. If you have anything that you'd like to add, I'll open it. >> Yeah. Things I was going to. Can you hear me? Okay. >> Yes. >> Okay. Great. Thank you. I was going to say the things that I was going to add is that really this entire initiative came from the fact that we were visiting with our economic development department. We were visiting with our city council members that were representing within the economic prosperity [10:51:50 AM] the economic prosperity commission. And the number one thing that bubbled up to the top was all of the constituents, all the residents in the communities, understanding what small business resources were available. And as we dug deeper into that, it's where we found that there was this big disconnect within language. And so when it comes to the initiative and the work, it's where this is a first step of one truly following a model that was already been designed by the city of Austin utilizing community navigators, community navigators within economic development, to be able to help navigate all of the resources from access to capital to development resources, to even startup and technical assistance support, as well as navigating other divisions within the community within the city of Austin, so that our small businesses can be able to have access. And so we're really one just focused on championing this and bringing this something that could be a model that is replicated within the city and be able to be utilized. >> Are there any questions? [10:52:50 AM] >> Are there any questions? >> Great. Thank you all for presenting. I will hopefully it doesn't cause a mess like last time, but I will pass it off to councilmember harper-madison Natasha harper-madison again. Hopefully it doesn't freeze or whatever happened last time. Do you have any questions? >> Councilmember I don't I don't have any questions and I do believe it's going to do something weird again. So no, no, no, it's fine. I don't have any questions per se. I did want to say that I really do appreciate the effort, and I'm curious to see some data as to what languages are in the highest demand in terms of people looking for additional services, but in other languages. >> Great. Thank you. Well, we don't have any other questions from the folks here. So we really do appreciate y'all coming, presenting and all the work they all do. Thank you. With that we will be going to item number four, which is a briefing on phase one of the creative reset, which is [10:53:51 AM] creative reset, which is focusing on enhancing our funding programs. And for that we have a presentation by Angela means, the director of arts, culture, music and entertainment, better known as acme. Thank you for being here. >> Thank you again. My name is Angela means and it truly is a pleasure to be back in front of you all today. I'm here with my assistant director, miss Morgan messec, as well as our interim chief administrative officer, Candace cooper. Again, it truly is an honor to be here. Acme was born a little over four and a half months ago, and so the last time we were here, we. I think we were one month old. So here I would love to share with you all what we've been up to over the last four and a half months, as well as our creative reset phase one, specifically the funding program that we've enhanced. [10:54:53 AM] program that we've enhanced. With that, I'm going to start with something I love to say arts and culture is not optional. It is an essential service here in the city of Austin, Texas, which I know you all know. We believe it is the heartbeat of our city, the rhythm that moves us, the stories that shape us, and the soul that makes Austin unmistakably Austin. >> A little clicker. >> This slide I really enjoy sharing, because I'd like to take an opportunity to really talk about the impact that the arts and culture has within the state of Texas, that $7.3 billion truly is a significant number. We know that for Texas, the annual economic impact of the arts and culture is significant. Nationally. Austin is doing really well. We are recognized as a cultural powerhouse where the top ten most creative cities in the [10:55:54 AM] most creative cities in the United States for cultural vibrancy and creative output per capita. It really does tell a story when you look at these numbers, but it's just not all about the economic impact. We really are more than that. It boosts mental health. The arts and culture does that. It increases the graduation rates, it improves wellness. It also fosters inclusion. And I'd like to take a moment to say, after covid, what we saw within our community is individuals needing to come back into our spaces so that they can connect with everyone. Our spaces and our arts provides that for our community. We really do believe when you support the arts, you're supporting the well-being of the entire city. Here, I'd like to share. As I said earlier, we are the result of decades of advocacy. Our community came out in strong [10:56:55 AM] community came out in strong support for a new department. We were born at the end of February 2025, and it was right in the middle of tough funding climates. And I will say what we've heard over the last four and a half months, our creatives really are relying on the city of Austin's funding because other funding is becoming very tough to attain. That is what the climate currently is. That includes banking, donations, sponsors, all of that. Our mission has been very clear, and that's to protect, invest in and elevate the soul of Austin. We really believe that. That's our charge. So as I said earlier, it's only been for four and a half months. Our goal has been to listen first, act second, build trust throughout the process. We know that our community has has had a tough couple of years here in the city of Austin, and it was imperative [10:57:55 AM] of Austin, and it was imperative that this new office build the foundation on trust, collaboration and listening. What we've done over the last four and a half months, community centered approach. Acme is very serious when we say we bring in our community to our conversations over the last four and a half months, that's exactly what we've done. And when we say our community, that means all of Austin. Austin community represents every council district, every demographic, every heritage and cultural aspect, all educational levels. And that truly is our wonderful city of Austin. We also stood up for artists. We know that our advocacy is key here. It is important that we advocate for the arts as well as the cultural legacy here in our city of Austin. We dug into our research, looked at analyzing our data, which was important because a lot of work had [10:58:57 AM] because a lot of work had already been done. This city has has been very committed to arts and culture. And so over the last 3 to 5 years, there has been a lot of feedback that the city of Austin has received. We looked at that data, compiled that information, and analyzed that. We looked at what other cities are doing across the country. We know that Austin is one of the top cities that people look to, but we know that we can always do better. There are other cities across the country that we're looking at to model after, as we're establishing and starting this office and of course, national standards. That is there also to guide every decision that we make. And of course, we've launched our creative reset reset, which really is a year long strategic planning effort and that's built to really rebuild our ecosystem with intention and impact. That creative reset starts with phase one, and we started with phase one because after speaking with our community, we recognized the critical state of where everyone [10:59:58 AM] critical state of where everyone is when it comes to funding, specifically the city of Austin funding. And so we made that phase one. So for the last four and a half months, we have worked with many individuals to get an understanding on what their true needs are. Here in Austin, Texas. This is one of the slides that I'm most proud of. We really did take time to listen to all voices in Austin, Texas. We launched a survey that within the first three weeks had over 1200 responses, to which we were excited about, but really didn't anticipate that level of engagement. In a short period of time, we conducted nearly ten focus groups throughout the city where we spoke with individuals. That gave us additional feedback. We conducted two citywide listening sessions where we had nearly 100 guests [11:00:59 AM] where we had nearly 100 guests at each one of those sessions. We also conducted one on one meetings, where some organizations just really felt more comfortable coming in and having direct conversations or or the artists may felt, may have had the time to do that. Our staff put in a lot of work, and I'm going to take this opportunity to thank our acmi staff because they have been very engaged with looking for opportunities to enhance these programs. We also worked with our arts commission and our music commission. Even before acmi was started. Those both both of those commissions created working groups to begin to provide feedback back to the city of Austin on ways to enhance the funding programs. And we really do thank them for their tireless work in those efforts. We took that feedback as well. So what did we hear? Our community is very clear and honest with us. They told us [11:02:01 AM] honest with us. They told us what their priorities were. They told us what was working, what was not, and they really wanted us to tackle affordability in ways to remove the barriers that they face. As creatives here in the city of Austin, that includes parking challenges with parking. That includes just logistics to when you're setting up a set and trying to get out of the area of town. It included all types of needing access to space. You know, there is a desire to provide creative art and music throughout the entire city of Austin, not just in certain segments of the community. And that's what we heard. We also heard about the need to be transparent and ways to be more sustainable, how the city could provide additional resources and tools to help them, as they are not only applying for the funding, but throughout their journey for success. We heard a lot about our processes and transparency [11:03:03 AM] our processes and transparency here, and ways in which we could improve their whole customer experience. Moving forward. What we wanted to focus on and we let them know we will honor the cultural legacy here in Austin. We're going to simplify our applications. We will ensure fairness, and we will support all of the voices in Austin. And we will have a process that is very transparent. Even throughout this process. All of our draft guidelines along the way have been posted for our community to see and provide us with additional feedback as they see fit. Some of the program enhancements that we have, and here on this slide is for thrive, elevate and nexus. This is the main funding programs from the cultural areas that you'll hear of. We took a look at a holistic approach on all of these programs to enhance across the board. We looked at our nexus. If you recall the nexus [11:04:04 AM] nexus. If you recall the nexus grant for the pilot, that was a $5,000 grant award. We expanded that from $2,500 all the way to $20,000 to allow more opportunities for our creatives. With elevate, we included tiered systems to make it more particular for those individuals applying for those funding sources and for thrive, which is our largest category. We made sure that we created a cohort to provide additional tools for those individuals as they receive those funds and throughout their journey. Here, I just briefly highlight, we also took this opportunity to take a look at the heritage preservation, the Austin live music fund, and the creative space assistance program, looking for ways to enhance these programs as well. I will say some of the feedback that we did receive is there are some members of our in our area where they're just not aware of all of [11:05:06 AM] they're just not aware of all of the opportunities that the city of Austin provides. And so we use this this as a way to help educate everyone on all of the available, wonderful grants that are available to our public. So what's new? We definitely looked at our processes and we created a more user friendly process. We have one simple application now tiered funding new micro grants. As I spoke of earlier mentorship programs for our first time applicants, more operational support, transparent scoring and feedback. A universal appeals process will be rolled out. Internal process improvements. As I said earlier, and just simpler processes overall. So who can apply for this funding? Really everyone. What we do here at acmi is really believe in [11:06:07 AM] at acmi is really believe in access for all, and that includes all of our artists community. That's our individual artists, our collectives, musicians, promoters, nonprofit and creative businesses, both legacy and emerging or new organizations all have a now a pathway to receive funding from the city of Austin. Here. I just wanted to share briefly the funding sources just so that you have, you know, you remember where the funding is, comes from. It comes from our hotel occupancy taxes primarily. We also have a small amount from the general fund. And then we do receive funding from the capital projects for our aip program. And I wanted to share this with you, although we've done a lot of work within the last four and a half months, we have much to do still for all of us this year. We're very excited to start off our strategy over the next four phases, starting with [11:07:07 AM] next four phases, starting with strategic planning, program evaluation. As I said a couple of months ago, we brought together five different teams from five different departments, and there is a desire to make sure that we're looking at all of our programs for opportunities and ways to enhance. We have all of our cultural facilities, our museums, our art center, and we're looking for opportunities to enhance those programs. One of the phase three is one of my favorite is something that I, I think we really just need to say is, as much as the city is providing to our community, there's just not enough funding. The need is greater than what we have available. And so what our commitment is, is to look for other resources to help support our community. That's just not with hotel occupancy taxes in the general fund, but other, other ways. When we look at other cities across the country, we've identified other ways that [11:08:08 AM] we've identified other ways that they fund arts and culture. And so we would like to explore what that looks like. And we're really excited about that work and of course implementation. So timing on this, we're looking at over the next 12 to 18 months to have all of this completed. So for acme, our vision has been very clear. We really believe that every person in every neighborhood, every council office, has access to creative opportunities and cultural expression. We've heard our community loud and clear. We've acted already, but the work isn't done and we're looking forward to continuing the work with all of our partners, most to build the most vibrant, equitable and sustainable creative capital in the world. And I again want to take this opportunity to thank everyone who participated in the surveys, the focus groups, the one on ones, the phone calls, the emails, the texts, just the [11:09:08 AM] emails, the texts, just the smiles, the staff, the staff, the staff, the arts commission, the music commission, the city manager's office, the finance department for over the last four and a half months. Being very supportive of our space. So again, thank you all and for the communications team as well. Thank you. And we are available for questions. >> Great. >> Thank you. I have I had two questions. I only have one now because you had answered one during the presentation. But I'll pass it off to councilmember harper-madison if she has any questions. >> I don't know to what I owe the. >> Honor today, but I will take it every time. Chair. Thank you. Hi there everybody. Thanks for the presentation. Really appreciate it. I for one was so excited to see this new department developed. It's one of those areas in a council office. You know when you're divvying up the tiers and figuring out what the verticals are, who's going to cover what, you know, arts and culture ends up getting thrown in with, you know, as opposed to specific emphasis on. And so I recognize [11:10:10 AM] emphasis on. And so I recognize that, you know, to your point about capacity, there's often not enough resources, but there's also not enough in the way of capacity. So seeing this specific dedicated office to, you know, arts and culture, which you said it's not an option, it's essential. This is just it's exciting to see it happening. And I really do appreciate the level of intention that's going in on the front end. It will pay in dividends in the latter end of, you know, having gotten established and having developed that trust. You know, I talked to folks all the time, especially some of our younger staffers, about building relationships. It takes time. You can't force it. And if it's genuine, then you know it will always be reciprocal and it will always be honest, you know? So in a conversation where there's limited resources, sometimes those conversations are really hard. And to have an artist have a really hard conversation with the government, you know, it's considerably more productive [11:11:11 AM] considerably more productive when they have a relationship with you. And so I appreciate that as well. And so the practical part of me, though, I have to wonder, you know, I, I think that relationship building, given that it does take time, some of the things that my office specifically is working on on my way out, you know, whoever is taking over the D one seat will be coming in in January of 2027, and that's not that long from now. And so just thinking a lot of our projects, you know, block 16 and 18, the millennium youth entertainment complex, the list goes on and on and on. And some of those are assets in district one that have languished with disinvestment for so long. The level of dilapidation, the lack of capital improvement, the lack of effort, you know, and really figuring out how some of these facilities could sustain themselves even despite the best effort. You know, I love when people I think the general [11:12:11 AM] people I think the general public might be over it when they hear us, thank, thank, thank staff and people who contributed to the process because it really is time consuming work, even if you're not getting paid, you know, but the work is essential. And so even with really dedicated board members that have put in the work over the years at some of these facilities or with some of these, you know, initiatives, it's just not enough in terms of capacity. And so I just wonder, in the interim, while you guys are really ramping up and getting ready, you know, especially because like you said, you pulled five departments together, that's no, that's that's a feat herculean. And so but that also means I know you I know you got all the best. And so in the interim, what is the plan look like for projects that are already in the queue and projects that need to get queued up for. And I'll just keep referring to myself anecdotally for like me, for example, I can't run again and would not petition to do so [11:13:11 AM] would not petition to do so again. And so I, I, I'm out of here in January 27th. What what should my long range plan look like? If you know foreseeably the next six months or eight months, however long is y'all still really getting planted? >> Yes. And I will tell you our phase two it stated program evaluation, but that includes our cultural facilities. That work starts in September. So our all of our cultural facilities, the ones that you've mentioned as well as the others across the city, are eager to work with acme so that we could take a look at what we do with those spaces. Many of them are going to have to have. We're going to have some good conversations. I call them community conversations to look at where we move forward, move forward, and how we envision the future, especially in your district. There are a lot of opportunities when you talk about the [11:14:12 AM] when you talk about the millennium youth entertainment complex, block 1618 or even the African American cultural heritage facility that's there as well, that entire area, we want to start to look at it differently. So when we talk about our cultural facilities, maybe in the past it may they were more siloed. We're going to look at ways to look at it more as a citywide approach, and how we ensure we are looking at the cultural aspect of Austin and preserving that and celebrating that in more of a citywide way. We do plan on. Yes, we're starting that work in September. >> Excellent, I appreciate that. And if for no other reason, I think having the process be unilateral makes it so that nobody's playing catch up, you know? But for what it's worth, we have to recognize that due to the history of Austin east, Austin is playing 30 years of catch up. So, you know, I while I would be remiss to not acknowledge that the entire city [11:15:14 AM] acknowledge that the entire city should be considered in our efforts, we have some catching up to do in certain parts of the city. So I just want to always make certain that, you know, that's at the top of the list. Everybody's got to start at the same playing, on the same playing field before we move forward together. Otherwise there's somebody still catching up. But the there was something you said that made me think of, oh goodness. It'll come. Oh, you said you guys, it's starting in September. And so what that made me think was that's obviously after this year's budget discussion, in which case, you know, actually, you know, maybe that's an offline question. Yeah. We'll reach out to you about budget questions and our cultural facilities. Thank you for the presentation. And thank you guys for your hard work. >> Thank you. >> Great. >> Thank you. Council member I had two questions. I had two questions. I had one question. I [11:16:14 AM] questions. I had one question. I have one question. I have a clarifying question. So I guess two questions. You had mentioned the timeline for the for the key changes, those 12 to 18 months. That includes for the arts grants as well. Is that correct? >> The grants are actually rolling out within the next 3 to 4 months, I believe. Yes. >> 3 to 4 months. >> 3 to 4 months. Yes. >> Okay, great. >> Well, thank you for that clarifying question. And my other question on slide eight, there was a slide talked about a plan on honoring our cultural legacy. What does that look like? What's the process that really stood out to me but just wanted kind of more context for that? >> That is a very good question. And we see our charge. We are, you know, within our department, we're arts, culture, music and entertainment. So all four of those, we will take pride in and making sure that we focus on all of those four areas for Austin, Texas, when it comes to honoring our cultural legacy here in Austin, I will say a lot of individuals that come here and enjoy Austin if they're moving [11:17:15 AM] enjoy Austin if they're moving here, moving their businesses here, or if they're just coming here to visit. What makes Austin so fun and fabulous is it's culture. It's music, it's art, it's the entertainment. All of it really is an inspiration. And it's just not an inspiration to the United States or individuals traveling from other areas. But we're a global city when it comes to these spaces. And so when we say we're going to honor our cultural legacy, we will start with those conversations that begin in September with all of our cultural facilities. But we know that there are gaps, the current cultural facilities that we have are only a few that represent all of the all of us here in Austin, Texas. And so we will be visioning and imagining what this looks like for us over the next 3 to 5 years. >> Great. >> Thank you. Well, that was it. I appreciate y'all. Thank you all for your hard work. And thanks for being here. [11:18:16 AM] thanks for being here. >> Thank you. Yep. >> Well next we have items five and six which are briefings by memorandum. If there are any questions for staff on item number five, which is a place based incentives program under the city's chapter three economic development program to assist, as described in the memo dated July 3rd, 2025. We can open the floor for discussion if there's no and if no one has any. No. Looks like. And councilman harper-madison, do you have any questions for staff and item number five? >> No questions, just some thank yous. I received a couple of emails over the course of the last couple of weeks with some thank yous for some place based markers, and I took an accidental walk at seventh and from the seventh and pleasant valley HEB to home. I may or may not have left my phone in the Uber, so I had to walk home. And council member Velazquez, you got some pretty cool markers on your side of seventh street. So yeah, just a shout out to the work that you guys are doing on those place based markers. >> Great. [11:19:18 AM] >> Great. >> Thank you councilmember. And we do have a few questions from councilmember Siegel. And on item number five. >> Thank you chair. Yeah, I don't know if staff is available. My team had just a couple quick questions I guess mainly related to number six on the agenda. >> For item number six. Yes. >> Okay. We will then go on to item number six. So no questions for item number five. Item number six is revisions to the city's chapter three economic development program at describing the memo dated July 3rd, 2025. And we do have questions from that from councilmember Siegel. >> Frankly, I'm. >> Not. >> Actually sure my. >> Well, thanks y'all for coming. Didn't want you to come down and not get to talk, you know, so really appreciate these memos and the work y'all are doing. Just three quick questions I guess the first one was in terms of getting the word [11:20:19 AM] was in terms of getting the word out about these opportunities, you know what, if you could describe, you know, what community, community organizations you're working with, how you're getting the word out about these opportunities. >> Yes. So in regards to the business expansion program as well as place based enhancement program, we have been working with a variety of stakeholders. We held several workshops in April. We have been working with preservation Austin to get the word out as well as through Donald's district work that he does as well with our programs. Excuse me, we have been speaking with our deca chambers as well to help get the word out. Meeting with the small business through our small business division. They have office hours every other month we've been attending as well. We'll be attending the small business conference in August. So really just trying as many different [11:21:20 AM] just trying as many different avenues as we can, but always open to any additional areas of outreach. >> Great. Thank you. And then the second question was, I guess in addition to music venues and creative spaces. Child care facilities and grocery stores are also eligible for some of these programs. And so I was curious if any childcare or grocery stores have expressed interest so far. >> Yeah. Good morning, Donald Jackson, work with Haley. We child care centers and grocery stores are definitely eligible. And I can say for the place based program, we have received several interviews with potential applicants who have requested applications. We're in process with processing their applications now to see if they're going to work with the programs. But several childcare centers, no grocery stores so far, but they are eligible. >> Okay, great. And then the last question from my team was in the fall update. Of course, if there's any applications [11:22:22 AM] if there's any applications approved for businesses in district seven, we'd love to learn about that. And yeah, if there are any ways we can support your work, we'd love to do that. Thank you very much. >> Council member. I'll just add that when entities are looking to come to Austin, we talk about the incentives, opportunities for them to see how we can accommodate relocation opportunities if they're interested in the future for the city of Austin. So those are one of the things that entities that are interested will ask about incentives. And so it is based upon the criteria. Can we look at expanding one of these incentives if they can offer, for example, child care services. And so it is an ongoing discussion with interested entities that are coming, are wanting to come to Austin to see how we can accommodate them and provide incentives that will meet the needs of that entity in general. >> Great. Thank you so much, director. >> Great. Councilmember harper-madison, do you have any questions on item number six? >> I do not thank you. >> Great. And with that, appreciate y'all. And last up before we adjourn our future [11:23:24 AM] before we adjourn our future items for discussion, I have two items that I've I have on my docket, but I will let my colleagues go first if they have any future items for discussion. And I'll once again, it's been a trend. Councilmember harper-madison, if you if you want to if you have any future items for discussion, now's the time. >> We are working on something, but I will send it to you via email. >> Thank you. Great council members. Okay, great. Well, I just want to thank staff for their work on the arts arts grants program and for incorporating community feedback. It's a deeply important issue for our office, for our for our community and for my colleagues as well. So we just want to make sure that we stay up to date on the work that staff is doing and be active participants. So my task is that I'd like to ensure that any updates come back to me and my colleagues through a memo to the mayor and council, and then that and that when the work is done, they return to council for final approval. And then I also want to kind of daylight, you know, a film incentive piece where, you [11:24:26 AM] film incentive piece where, you know, we've seen a lot of huge wins at the state. And I want to keep that momentum going here at the city of Austin. So I'm aware staff is working on revising our city film incentives process. So I'd like to get a request for any updates to be shared through memos to mayor and council. And then I'd love to have a briefing either at the next economic opportunity committee meeting in September. But if that's too, too soon, just at a later date would be great. And that's it on my end. So if we have no further questions, comments, complaints, it is now 11:25 A.M. And with that I call I adjourn the economic opportunity committee meeting. Thank you all.