Broward County Commission Regular Meeting
Director's Name: Maribel Feliciano
Department: Office of Economic and Small Business Development
Information
Requested Action
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MOTION TO APPROVE Greater Fort Lauderdale Alliance (herein referred to as the Alliance) Proposed Business Plan for Fiscal Year 2027 pursuant to the agreement between Broward County and the Alliance.
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Why Action is Necessary
Pursuant to the County’s agreement with the Alliance, the Alliance must submit to the County a business plan for Board approval.
What Action Accomplishes
The Alliance submission and the Board of County Commissioners approval of the annual Business Plan will satisfy compliance with the terms of the agreement between the parties.
Goal Related Icon(s)
YES County Commission
N/A Go Green
N/A MAP Broward
Previous Action Taken
None.
Summary Explanation/Background
THE OFFICE OF ECONOMIC AND SMALL BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT RECOMMENDS APPROVAL OF THE ABOVE MOTION.
This item supports the Board of County Commissioners' Vision of “From sawgrass to seagrass, an inclusive and resilient community with a thriving quality of life”, and Goal of “Ensuring economic opportunities and a sustainable economy, with an emphasis on Broward's lower and middle class."
The Office of Economic and Small Business Development (OESBD) received and reviewed the Alliance proposed Fiscal Year 2027 Business Plan (Exhibit 1). Key proposed Market Measures have been summarized for Fiscal Year 2027 (Exhibit 1, page 19 of 24). The Alliance proposes the following goals in Fiscal Year 2027:
Business Attraction
Domestic Leads: 150; International Leads: 50; Average Monthly Projects in the Pipeline: 20; Number of Announced Projects: 15; Number of New Value Added Jobs: 900; Domestic Capital Investment: $100 million; and International Capital Investment: $4 million.
Business Retention
Corporate Visits: 120; Number of Retained Jobs: 100; Number of CareerSource Partnerships: 12; and Dollar Value of CareerSource Partnerships: $1,000,000.
Marketing & Communications
Media Value Generated: $450,000; Advertising & Social Impressions: 10,000,000; and Total Visits to Website: 150,000.
Financial Support
Public/Private Mix: $1.00:$1.27 and Private Sector Dollars Investing in Economic Development: $2,842,500.
Per the key proposed Market Measures on Exhibit 1, page 19 of 24, the changes to the Alliance’s key goals from 2026 to 2027 are as follows: Increase in two goals, Number of Announced Projects and Media Value Generated. Seven goals remained unchanged: International Leads, Average Monthly Projects in the Pipeline, Direct Capital Investments for both Domestic and International, Number of Corporate Visits, Number of CareerSource Partnerships, Dollar Value of CareerSource Partnerships, and Advertising & Social Impressions. Six goals were reduced, Domestic Leads, Number of New Value-Added Jobs, Number of Retained Jobs, Total Visits to Website, Public/Private Mix and Private Sector Dollars Investing in Economic Development; and The Alliance indicates focus on creating, attracting, expanding and retaining high-wage jobs and capital investment in high value targeted industries, developing more vibrant communities, and improving the quality of life for our area’s citizens.
The reasons for the reduction in 2027 market measure goals are due to the following reasons:
Domestic Leads - Domestic leads are predicted to be lower due to a consistent lower number of leads from Florida Commerce at the state level.
Number of New Value-Added Jobs -The value added job number was lowered due to the recent trend of manufacturing and white collar jobs being replaced by higher tech machinery and Artificial Intelligence (AI).
Number of Retained Jobs - This reflects the fact that Florida and Broward County are being perceived as being more welcoming to businesses than many states, resulting in most companies continuing to remain in Florida/Broward County and not choosing to look at locations outside the area.
Total Visits to Website - Website visits are decreasing with the significant increase in AI searches. While AI platforms use Alliance website information to respond to AI queries, the platforms do not direct people to our website like previous search engines did, such as Google.
Public/Private Mix - The decrease in private sector dollars is due to the conclusion of a four-year grant for $1.3 million to our Foundation to support the Florida Blue Project Opioid initiative. This reduction in private sector funding impacts the public / private mix.
The Office of Economic and Small Business Development (OESBD) received and reviewed the Alliance proposed Alliance Business Plan Key Initiatives for 2027 (Exhibit 2) which outlines the key initiatives for the year and the team members responsible for carrying out the initiative. The Implementation Plan contains 98 initiatives under the following categories: Managing Expansion, Relocation and Retention Projects, Marketing and Promoting Greater Fort Lauderdale / Broward County, Securing and Enhancing Private / Public Leadership, Collaboration and Investment, Providing Business Intelligence and Market Research, and Greater Fort Lauderdale Alliance Foundation. The description of individual initiatives and the Alliance Team Members responsible for carrying them out can be found in Exhibit 2.
Source of Additional Information
Maribel Feliciano, Director Office of Economic and Small Business Development, (954) 357-6400
Fiscal Impact
Fiscal Impact/Cost Summary
None.