Broward County Commission Regular Meeting
Director's Name: Sandy-Michael McDonald
Department: Economic and Small Business Development
Information
Requested Action
title
A. MOTION TO APPROVE Greater Fort Lauderdale Alliance (hereinafter referred to as the "Alliance") Proposed Business Plan for Fiscal Year 2025 pursuant to the agreement between Broward County and the Alliance.
ACTION: (T-10:40 AM) Approved.
VOTE: 9-0.
B. MOTION TO APPROVE Greater Fort Lauderdale Alliance (hereinafter referred to as the “Alliance”) Fiscal Year 2024 quarterly performance report, for the period from January 1, 2024 through March 31, 2024, pursuant to the Agreement between Broward County and the Alliance.
ACTION: (T-10:40 AM) Approved.
VOTE: 9-0.
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Why Action is Necessary
A. Pursuant to the County's agreement with the Alliance, the Alliance must submit for Board acceptance.
B. Pursuant to the County’s agreement with the Alliance, the Alliance must submit to for Board acceptance.
What Action Accomplishes
A. Pursuant to the County's agreement with the Alliance, the Alliance must submit to the County an annual business plan for Board approval.
B. Pursuant to the County’s agreement with the Alliance, the Alliance must submit to the Office of Economic and Small Business Development, quarterly performance reports for Board acceptance.
Goal Related Icon(s)
☒County Commission
☐Go Green
☐MAP Broward
Previous Action Taken
None.
Summary Explanation/Background
THE OFFICE OF ECONOMIC AND SMALL BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT RECOMMENDS APPROVAL OF THE ABOVE MOTIONS.
Motion A:
The Office of Economic and Small Business Development (OESBD) received and reviewed the Alliance proposed Fiscal Year 2025 Business Plan (Exhibit 1). Key proposed Market Measures have been summarized for Fiscal Year 2025 (Exhibit 1, page 18 of 24). The Alliance proposes the following goals in Fiscal Year 2025:
Domestic Leads: 175 (no change from Fiscal Year 24); International Leads: 50 (no change from Fiscal Year 24); Average Number of Projects in Pipeline: 20 (no change from Fiscal Year 24); Number of Announced Projects: 12 (no change from Fiscal Year 24); Number of New Value-Added Jobs: 1,400 (increase of 200 from Fiscal Year 24); Domestic Capital Investment: $100 million (increase of $25 million from Fiscal Year 24); International Capital Investment: $4 million (no change from Fiscal Year 24);
Corporate Visits: 120 (decrease of 30 from Fiscal Year 24); Number of Retained Jobs: 500 (no change from Fiscal Year 24); Number of CareerSource partnerships: 12 (decrease of 2 from Fiscal Year 24); Dollar Value of CareerSource partnerships: $1 million (no change from Fiscal Year 24).
$400,000 in Media Value Generated (increase of $100,000 from Fiscal Year 24; 10 million Advertising & Social Impressions (increase of 250,000 from Fiscal Year 24); and 165,000 Total Visits to Website (increase of 15,000 from Fiscal Year 24).
Public/Private Mix: $1.00:$1.50 (increase of $1.00: $0.17 from Fiscal Year 24); Private Sector Dollars Investing in Economic Development: $2,924,061 (increase of $129,061 from Fiscal Year 24).
The changes to the Alliance’s key goals from 2024 to 2025 are as follows: reduction in two goals, the Number of Corporate Visits and the Number of CareerSource partnerships; increases in seven goals, the Number of New Value-Added Jobs, Domestic Capital Investment, Media Value Generated, Advertising & Social Impressions, Total Visits to Website, Public/Private Mix, and Private Sector Dollars Investing in Economic Development; and seven goals remained unchanged, Number of Retained Jobs, International Capital Investment, Average Monthly Projects in the Pipeline, Number of Announced Projects, Domestic and International Leads, Private Sector Dollars Investing in Economic Development, and Dollar Value of CareerSource partnerships. The Alliance indicates that strategically focused diversification and growth of Broward County’s economy through emphasis on high-skill, 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 2025 market measure goals, the Number of Corporate Visits and the Number of CareerSource partnerships, as described by the Alliance, are due to losing an executive on loan from CareerSource Broward, who was focused on corporate visits for twenty years. We are now shifting responsibilities within the Alliance to continue to address the BRAVO visitation effort until we can hire a part time BRAVO Program Coordinator.
The Alliance has developed a 2025 Implementation Plan Addendum (Exhibit 2) which outlines the key initiatives for the year and the team members responsible for carrying out the initiatives. The Implementation Plan contains 86 initiatives under the following categories: Providing Business Intelligence and Market Research (14 initiatives), Relocation and Retention Projects (11 initiatives), Marketing and Promoting Greater Fort Lauderdale / Broward County (32 initiatives), Managing Expansion, Securing and Enhancing Private/ Public Leadership, Collaboration and Investment (17 initiatives), and the Greater Fort Lauderdale Alliance Foundation (11 initiatives). The description of individual initiatives and the Alliance Team Members responsible for carrying them out can be found on the Implementation Plan.
Motion B:
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 (hereinafter referred to as “OESBD”) reviewed the Fiscal Year 2024 Alliance Second Quarter Performance Report (Exhibit 3). The quarterly report has been summarized to highlight the Alliance’s achievements for the second quarter of Fiscal Year 2024. The quarterly report demonstrates the achievement of the Alliance’s overall quarterly goals. In the second quarter, notable achievements were accomplished in international leads, domestic direct capital investment, number of announced projects, total number of website visits, total clicks to the Alliance website, total followers on social media, and media value generated. For the goals that were missed regarding new domestic leads, number of projects in the pipeline, new value-added jobs, retained jobs, corporate visits, and international direct capital investment, a detailed explanation is provided below.
Performance Measures
Business Development
The Alliance annual goal for new domestic and international leads is to develop 225 leads (175 domestic and 50 international), or 56 leads (43 domestic and 12.5 international) per quarter for Fiscal Year 2024. The Alliance developed 69 domestic and 28 international leads during the second quarter for a total of 97 leads. This represents 79% goal attainment for domestic leads and 112% goal attainment for international leads. The Alliance has additional in-person meetings and advertising outreach scheduled for the third and fourth quarters and anticipates meeting this objective for the year.
The Alliance goal for the number of projects in the pipeline is 20. There are currently 19 projects in the pipeline which is 95% goal attainment. This was missed primarily due to companies not making relocation or expansion decisions due to the continued high cost of money, the elimination of statewide incentives including the Qualified Target Industry funds and state closing funds, and the overall higher cost of living in South Florida being a concern to companies considering a relocation.
The Alliance annual goal for the number of announced projects is 12, or 3 completed projects per quarter for Fiscal Year 2024. There were 4 completed projects in the second quarter, resulting in 133% goal attainment.
The Alliance annual goal for new value-added jobs is 1,200, or 300 new jobs per quarter for Fiscal Year 2024. The Alliance helped companies create a total of 298 new value-added jobs during the second quarter, resulting in 99% goal attainment. This was missed primarily due to companies not making relocation or expansion decisions due to the continued high cost of money, the elimination of statewide incentives including the Qualified Target Industry funds and state closing funds, and the overall higher cost of living in South Florida being a concern to companies considering a relocation.
The Alliance annual goal for the number of retained jobs is 500, or 125 retained jobs per quarter for Fiscal Year 2024. There were no retained jobs, resulting in 0% goal attainment for the second quarter. This was a reflection of the fact that Florida/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.
The Alliance annual goal for business retention and expansion is to conduct 150 corporate visits in Fiscal Year 2024 or 37 per quarter. The Alliance conducted a total of 21 visits during the second quarter, which represents 57% goal attainment. This goal is below objective in part due to losing an executive on loan from CareerSource Broward, who was focused on corporate visits for twenty years. We are now shifting responsibilities within the Alliance to continue to address the BRAVO visitation effort until we can hire a part time BRAVO Program Coordinator.
The Alliance annual goal for direct capital investment is $79 million ($75 million domestic and $4 million international), or $19.75 million per quarter for Fiscal Year 2024. There was $57.3 million in domestic direct capital investment and no international direct capital investment for the second quarter, resulting in 239% goal attainment and 0% goal attainment, respectively. International direct capital investment was missed primarily due to companies not making relocation or expansion decisions due to the continued high cost of money, the elimination of statewide incentives including the Qualified Target Industry funds and state closing funds, and the overall higher cost of living in South Florida being a concern to companies considering a relocation. Additionally, the elimination of Enterprise Florida also affected the international number negatively.
Marketing and Communications
The Alliance annual goal for the total number of website visits is 150,000 or 37,500 per quarter. In the second quarter, the total number of visits were 73,261, which represents 195% goal attainment for the quarter.
In effort to continue to grow its social media presence and following, the Alliance outlines goals for number of followers on four social media platforms: Twitter (6,000), Facebook (6,000), and increase followers on Instagram and Linkedin. For the second quarter, all four platforms increased followers. Total followers between the four platforms is 15,905, up from 15,418 in the previous quarter and up from 10,686 at the beginning of the initial reporting period in 2022. From October to March Fiscal Year 2024, Alliance advertising campaigns generated 6.8 million impressions resulting in 2.6 million video views/audio completions and more than 65,000 clicks to the Alliance website.
The Alliance annual goal for media value generated is $300,000 or $75,000 per quarter for Fiscal Year 2024. In the first two quarters, the media value generated was $217,285, which represents 145% goal attainment for the first two quarters.
Investor Relations
The Alliance annual goal for private sector dollars investing in economic development is $2,795,000 or $698,750 per quarter. Financial numbers for the second quarter were not available at the time of printing, and will be updated at a later time.
The Alliance annual goal for CareerSource Broward partnerships was 14 company partnerships for Fiscal Year 2024, or 3.5 companies per quarter, and $1,000,000 in dollar value for Fiscal Year 2024, or $250,000 per quarter. During the quarter, there were 4 company partnerships completed, which represents 114% goal attainment for the second quarter. Total CareerSource Broward Partnerships were valued at $0 for the second quarter. The Alliance has a good pipeline of companies to meet with to discuss training grant opportunities and expects to come near or exceed our goal of $1,000,000. The dollar amount is also currently being impacted by not having a dedicated BRAVO Program Coordinator.
OESBD reviewed the Fiscal Year 2025 Alliance Business Plan and recommends approval.
OESBD reviewed the Fiscal Year 2024 Alliance Second Quarter Performance Report and recommends approval.
Source of Additional Information
Sandy-Michael McDonald, Director OESBD, (954) 357-6400.
Fiscal Impact
Fiscal Impact/Cost Summary
None.