2021_02_23_SS_GSP Memo
COMMISSION
AGENDA MEMORANDUM
BRIEFING ITEM
DATE: February 16, 2021
TO: Stephen P. Metruck, Executive Director
Port of Seattle Commission
FROM: David McFadden, Director of Economic Development
SUBJECT: Greater Seattle Partners Materials for Commission Study Session on Economic
Development
Executive Summary:
Amid the pandemic, Greater Seattle Partners convened stakeholders from across the region (King,
Snohomish, Pierce counties) to develop an economic recovery plan. Over the past six months the group
created an economic recovery framework that advances five major goals:
1. Promote the region’s economic competitiveness
2. Realign economic and workforce development programs equitably to create a broadly inclusive
economy
3. Ensure regionwide participation in investments and prosperity
4. Support traditional and emerging industries with post-pandemic opportunities
5. Promote sustainable economic growth to address resiliency needs
The framework ultimately contains 30 strategies and 150 opportunities for action (see appendix)
Greater Seattle Partners is now facilitating a deeper planning effort to make sure the final recovery plan
drives equitable economic development. Over the next three months GSP’s work groups will help drive
development of six to ten signature initiatives that build a more inclusive economy.
Recovery Planning: Refining the Framework to Move Needle on Equitable Economic Development
Over the next several months, the Task Force will zero in on a specific set of 6-10 initiatives that are
designed to have long-term impact but can be implemented in the near-term, drawing from the 150+
“opportunities for action” in the existing Framework document.
Workgroups* are now focused on
• Creating, growing and attracting inclusive businesses (chaired by Brian Suratt - Alexander RE;
Kerri Schroeder - Bank of America, and Tom Norwalk- Visit Seattle).
• Driving adoption of more inclusive business practices (chaired by Naria Santa Lucia – Microsoft;
and Michelle Merriweather – Urban League of Seattle)
• Connecting growing, inclusive businesses to diverse talent (chaired by Dr. Sheila Edwards Lange
– Seattle Colleges, Marie Kurose - Seattle-King County Workforce Council, and Rob Brenner -
Comcast)
• Ensuring people have access to good jobs (chaired by Mayor Cassie Franklin – City of Everett;
Michael Catsi – Tacoma PUD; and Dave McFadden)
*a roster of all committees is included with this memo
These workgroups will frame initiatives that address the following Horizon Goals and related metrics.
Ryan Donahue, a nonresident Brookings Fellow retained by GSP will guide each work group to prioritize
opportunities within the Recovery Framework through a three-step process that 1) Defines the problem
and opportunity clearly; 2) Organizes around specific metrics: and Identifies signature projects
The Task Force should identify a limited set of initiatives that can and should be scaled in order to make
progress on these metrics– perhaps six to eight initiatives. These are unlikely to be new initiatives, but
rather existing efforts that are aligned, scaled, and potentially modified based on lessons from other
regions.
NEXT STEPS/TIMELINE
• Work groups are meeting now through early March to identify and prioritize signature initiatives.
• GSP in partnership with Task Force members will actively publicize the final Economic Recovery
Framework through a series of briefings/speaking engagements in March, April, and May.
• The Task Force will have the opportunity to elect to reconvene to review the Signature Initiatives’
progress towards goals/metrics annually.
Previous Work Group Organization Name New Work Group
Workforce & Talent Ada Developers Academy Lauren Sato Diverse talent
Workforce & Talent AJAC (Aerospace Joint Apprenticeship Committee) Demetria "Lynn" Strickland Diverse talent
Workforce & Talent Bates Technical College Lin Zhou Diverse talent
Workforce & Talent Bellevue College Gary Locke Diverse talent
Workforce & Talent Building Trades Union ‐ Pierce County Mark Martinez Diverse talent
Workforce & Talent Everett Community College Daria Willis Diverse talent
Workforce & Talent Goodwill Eileen Aparis Diverse talent
Workforce & Talent Kaiser Permanente Damien Stack Diverse talent
Workforce & Talent Machinist Training Institute Shana Peschek Diverse talent
Workforce & Talent MultiCare Bill Robertson Diverse talent
Workforce & Talent One America Rich Stolz Diverse talent
Workforce & Talent Pierce College Darrell Cain Diverse talent
Workforce & Talent Port of Seattle Bookda Gheisar Diverse talent
Workforce & Talent Seattle Colleges Sheila Edwards Lange (Malcolm Grothe) Diverse talent
Workforce & Talent Snohomish County Dave Somers (Kendee Yamaguchi) Diverse talent
Workforce & Talent Swedish/Providence Guy Hudson Diverse talent
Workforce & Talent Symetra Margaret Meister Diverse talent
Workforce & Talent Tacoma Community College Ivan Harrell II Diverse talent
Workforce & Talent Technology Alliance Laura Ruderman Diverse talent
Workforce & Talent United Way of Pierce County Dona Ponepinto Diverse talent
Workforce & Talent United Way of Snohomish County Lark Kesterke Diverse talent
Workforce & Talent University of Washington Randy Hodgins Diverse talent
Workforce & Talent WA State Commission on AAA Dr. James B. Smith Diverse talent
Workforce & Talent Washington Hospitality Association Anthony Anton Diverse talent
Workforce & Talent Washington State University Colleen Kerr, Alex Pietsch Diverse talent
Workforce & Talent Washington STEM Angela Jones Diverse talent
Workforce & Talent Workforce Development Council of Seattle‐King County Marie Kurose (Jill Nishi) Diverse talent
Workforce & Talent Workforce Snohomish Joy (Howland) Emory Diverse talent
Marketing & Tourism CHI Franciscan Ketul Patel (Cary Evans) Diverse talent
Marketing & Tourism Mekanism Lisa Zakroff Diverse talent
Marketing & Tourism Tulalip Resort & Casino Troy Longwith Diverse talent
Small Business Comcast Business Rob Brenner Diverse talent
Industry Cluster Development Alexandria Real Estate Brian Surratt Inclusive biz growth
Industry Cluster Development Boeing Bill McSherry Inclusive biz growth
Industry Cluster Development Clean Tech Alliance Mel Clark Inclusive biz growth
Industry Cluster Development Convoy Kristen Forecki Inclusive biz growth
Industry Cluster Development Davis Wright Tremaine Pete Johnson Inclusive biz growth
Industry Cluster Development Flying Fish Partners Heather Redman Inclusive biz growth
Industry Cluster Development Kaiser Permanente Karen Schartman Inclusive biz growth
Industry Cluster Development Kinzer Craig Kinzer (Shelley Gill) Inclusive biz growth
Industry Cluster Development Manufacturing Industrial Council Frank Boykin Inclusive biz growth
Industry Cluster Development Nitze‐Stagen Peter Nitze Inclusive biz growth
Industry Cluster Development Port of Seattle Karin Zaugg Black Inclusive biz growth
Industry Cluster Development Port of Seattle Stephanie Bowman Inclusive biz growth
Industry Cluster Development WA Global Health Alliance Tina Vlasaty Inclusive biz growth
Industry Cluster Development WA State Commission on AAA Edward O. Prince Inclusive biz growth
Industry Cluster Development WA State Department of Commerce Chris Green Inclusive biz growth
Marketing & Tourism King County Kate Becker Inclusive biz growth
Policy & Advocacy Seattle OED Bobby Lee Inclusive biz growth
Policy & Advocacy State Department of Commerce Lisa Brown (Chris Green) Inclusive biz growth
Small Business Bank of America Kerri Schroeder Inclusive biz growth
Small Business BECU Solynn McCurdy Inclusive biz growth
Small Business Business Impact NW Joe Sky Tucker Inclusive biz growth
Small Business Columbia Bank Andy McDonald Inclusive biz growth
Small Business Dabob, LLC Mary Jean Ryan Inclusive biz growth
Small Business Ethnic Chamber of Commerce Coalition Mike Sotelo Inclusive biz growth
Small Business GardnerGlobal Jaebadiah Gardner Inclusive biz growth
Small Business Greater Seattle Business Association (GSBA) Louise Chernin (Matt Landers) Inclusive biz growth
Small Business Madrona Venture Group Tom Alberg Inclusive biz growth
Small Business Montlake Capital Andy Dale Inclusive biz growth
Small Business Pho Cyclo Café Taylor Huang Inclusive biz growth
Small Business Port of Seattle Joe Meyer Inclusive biz growth
Small Business Taber100 Ollie Garrett Inclusive biz growth
Small Business US Bank Betsy Cadwallader Inclusive biz growth
Small Business Ventures Beto Yarce Inclusive biz growth
Small Business Washington SBDC Duane Fladland (Steve Burke) Inclusive biz growth
Workforce & Talent Center for Inclusive Entrepreneurship Mike Skinner Inclusive biz growth
Workforce & Talent Dabob, LLC Mary Jean Ryan Inclusive biz growth
Marketing & Tourism Seattle Chinatown International District Preservation and Development Maiko Winkler‐Chin Inclusive biz growth
Marketing & Tourism Visit Seattle Tom Norwalk Inclusive biz growth
Workforce & Talent Microsoft Naria Santa Lucia Inclusive biz practices
Workforce & Talent Technology Access Foundation Trish Millines Dziko Inclusive biz practices
Workforce & Talent Workforce Central Katie Condit Inclusive biz practices
CONFIDENTIAL Page 1 of 2
Previous Work Group Organization Name New Work Group
Chief Seattle Club Colleen Echohawk Inclusive biz practices
SOJ Seattle Ben Franz‐Knight Inclusive biz practices
Industry Cluster Development Joshua Green Company Stan McCammon Inclusive biz practices
Industry Cluster Development Trouves Health Care Corporation/EDB Board Chair Greg Unruh Inclusive biz practices
Industry Cluster Development WA Tech Industry Association Michael Shutzler Inclusive biz practices
Policy & Advocacy Affiliated Tribes of NW Indians EDC Amber Schulz‐Oliver Inclusive biz practices
Policy & Advocacy Alaska Airlines Diana Birkett Rakow Inclusive biz practices
Policy & Advocacy AWB Kris Johnson (Dave Mastin/Tommy Gantz) Inclusive biz practices
Policy & Advocacy Bellevue Chamber Joe Fain Inclusive biz practices
Policy & Advocacy Byrd Barr Place Andrea Caupain Inclusive biz practices
Policy & Advocacy Challenge Seattle Chris Gregoire (Marty Loesch) Inclusive biz practices
Policy & Advocacy FMS Global Strategies, LLC Paula Sardinas Inclusive biz practices
Policy & Advocacy Homesight Tony To Inclusive biz practices
Policy & Advocacy King County Dow Constantine (Rachel Smith/Ashton Allison) Inclusive biz practices
Policy & Advocacy Latino Community Fund, WA State Alejandra Tres Inclusive biz practices
Policy & Advocacy Puget Sound Energy Andy Wappler Inclusive biz practices
Policy & Advocacy Seattle Chamber Markham McIntyre Inclusive biz practices
Policy & Advocacy United Way of King County Gordon McHenry (Sara Levin) Inclusive biz practices
Policy & Advocacy Urban League of Metro Seattle Michelle Merriweather Inclusive biz practices
Policy & Advocacy WA Economic Dev Association Suzanne Dale Estey Inclusive biz practices
Policy & Advocacy WA State Commission on AAA Dorian Waller Inclusive biz practices
Policy & Advocacy Wells Fargo Mary Knell Inclusive biz practices
Policy & Advocacy WestRock Bruce Martin Inclusive biz practices
Marketing & Tourism Alaska Airlines Natalie Bowman Inclusive biz practices
Marketing & Tourism Chateau Ste Michelle Francis Perrin Inclusive biz practices
Marketing & Tourism Columbia Hospitality Brian Flaherty Inclusive biz practices
Marketing & Tourism Seattle Hospitality Group HS Wright III Inclusive biz practices
Marketing & Tourism Tacoma Rainiers Aaron Artman Inclusive biz practices
Mayors / Industry Cluster Developmen t City of Everett Cassie Franklin (Dan Eernissee) Job access
Marketing & Tourism Port of Seattle Dave McFadden Job access
Industry Cluster Development Benaroya Company Lisa Goodman Job access
Industry Cluster Development City of Everett Dan Ernissee / Mayor Cassie Franklin Job access
Industry Cluster Development Economic Development Board for Tacoma‐Pierce County Bruce Kendall Job access
Industry Cluster Development King County Dow Constantine (Rachel Smith/Ashton Allison) Job access
Industry Cluster Development Life Science WA Leslie Alexandre Job access
Industry Cluster Development Microsoft DeLee Shoemaker Job access
Industry Cluster Development OneRedmond Kristina Hudson Job access
Industry Cluster Development Port of Everett Glen Bachman Job access
Small Business Puyallup Tribe David Bean Job access
Small Business Tacoma Urban League Maamideede Hudson Job access
Policy & Advocacy Amazon Tom Florino Job access
Marketing & Tourism JLL Adam Chapman Job access
Industry Cluster Development PSRC Josh Brown Job access
Mayors / Small Business City of Tacoma Victoria Woodards (Jeff Robinson) Job access
Policy & Advocacy Sound Cities Association Deanna Dawson Job access
Policy & Advocacy Sound Transit Leslie Jones Job access
Policy & Advocacy Soundside Alliance Kathy Hougardy Job access
Policy & Advocacy Tacoma Public Utilities Michael Catsi Job access
Policy & Advocacy UW Tacoma Ali Modarres Job access
Marketing & Tourism Bellevue Downtown Association Patrick Bannon Job access
Marketing & Tourism Expedia Monya Mandich Job access
Marketing & Tourism Ivars Bob Donegan Job access
Marketing & Tourism Kemper Development Jim Hill Job access
Marketing & Tourism Metropolitan Development Council (Tacoma Pierce County) Pamela Duncan Job access
Marketing & Tourism One Redmond Audrey Fan Job access
Marketing & Tourism Seattle Southside RTA Katherine Kertzman Job access
Marketing & Tourism Travel Tacoma Dean Burke Job access
Marketing & Tourism Visit Bellevue Brad Jones Job access
Mayors / Marketing & Tourism City of Bellevue Lynne Robinson Job access
Marketing & Tourism Port of Seattle Ron Peck Job access
Marketing & Tourism Snohomish County Annique Bennett Job access
Marketing & Tourism WA Tourism Alliance David Blandford Job access
Marketing & Tourism World Trade Center Seattle Emily Cantrell Job access
CONFIDENTIAL Page 2 of 2
Regional Recovery
Framework
Greater Seattle Region
DRAFT
November 20, 2020
Prepared for:
Greater Seattle Partners
Prepared by:
Community Attributes Inc. tells data-rich stories about communities
that are important to decision makers.
President and CEO:
Chris Mefford
CAI Analysts:
Madalina Calen
Sean Volke
Elliot Weiss
Community Attributes Inc.
500 Union Street, Suite 200
Seattle, Washington 98101
www.communityattributes.com
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CO N T E N T S
Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………………………… 1
Regional Economic Recovery Task Force………………………………………………………………… 1
COVID Impacts to Greater Seattle……………………………………………………………………….. 2
Equity Framework…………………………………………………………………………………………… 8
FRAMEWORK GOALS & STRATEGIES…………………………………………………………….. 10
Goal 1. Promote the Region’s Economic Competitiveness……………………………………………. 12
Goal 2. Realign economic and workforce development programs Equitably to Create a Broadly
Inclusive Economy………………………………………………………………… …………………………18
Goal 3. Ensure Regionwide Participation in Investments and Prosperity………………………… 24
Goal 4. Support Traditional and Emerging Industries with Post-Pandemic Opportunities……. 29
Goal 5. Promote Sustainable Economic Growth to Address Resiliency Needs……………………. 35
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Regional Recovery Framework
Draft, November 20, 2020
IN T R O D U C T I O N
In March 2020, the COVID-19 virus brought unprecedented economic disruptions and
costs to the United States and regional economies across the country. The virus
continues to represent both a public health crisis and an economic crisis with the
closure of businesses and disruptions to productivity, along with a severe decline in
consumer spending.
As the greater Seattle region takes steps towards re-opening the economy, many
entities are discussing and developing plans that vary in focus and scope, from
economic mitigation to short-term recovery to long-term recovery. Greater Seattle
Partners (GSP) leads a cohesive and coordinated strategy for regional long-term
economic recovery.
As greater Seattle’s only regional economic and trade development organization,
Greater Seattle Partners (GSP) leads coordination of the plan in partnership with
other regional partners. The Recovery Framework will enhance and complement
other economic recovery plans, both subregional and at the State level.
REGIONAL ECONOMIC RECOVERY TASK FO R C E
In May 2020, Greater Seattle Partners brought together a Task Force of public,
private, and non-profit sector leaders representing all aspects of the regional
economy. Task Force members provided input through individual interviews and
small group meetings, and then began convening through Work Groups in July. The
planning process also included regional and sub-regional organizations playing a role
in the effort, integrating with the Task Force efforts.
The Economic Recovery Task Force consists of an Organizing Work Group (OWG) and
six Work Groups. Members of each Work Group represent public, private, and nonprofit
organizations from across the Puget Sound region. The Work Groups met
independently and discussed needs and solutions. The OWG and each Work Group
committed to ensure equity and social justice permeated the recovery strategy
throughout all actions.
Engagement began in May with personal interviews of selected leaders to frame the
areas of need for regional recovery. The findings from the interviews informed
development of a survey that presented five strategic themes and thirty draft
strategies to rank and comment for further discussion. The result of the survey
shaped a working draft outline that was reviewed and further developed in
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subsequent Work Group meetings, stakeholder interviews, and a broad range of
stakeholder group meetings.
More than 200 leaders from many sectors within the greater Seattle region have
contributed to this draft Framework.
COVID IMPACTS TO G REATER SE A T T L E
The first economic impacts of COVID-19 were disruptions to the global supply chain.
In late 2019, the virus forced factory closures and economy-wide lockdowns in China,
leading to reduced production and movement of goods to the rest of the world. This
supply shock affected manufacturers in Washington state and across the United
States.
By March 2020, the Seattle region was suffering from a major outbreak, leading the
state government to institute a stay-at-home order. Residents were encouraged to
practice social distancing and consumer-facing businesses had to shut down
operations. Other virus containment policies included border closures, business and
school closures, and prohibitions on large gatherings. These measures resulted in a
steep reduction in economic activity and a surge in unemployment in the greater
Seattle region.
Between March and April, total employment in the greater Seattle region fell by
nearly 312,000 jobs (15%). This reduction was most significant in Construction and
Resources, which lost more than a third of jobs largely due to project delays. When
Washington state’s stay-at-home order took effect on March 26, only construction
related to essential activities could continue.1 The Services sector was also
disproportionately impacted, having lost nearly a fifth of employment in March.
Consumer-facing firms in this industry, such as restaurants and hotels, were severely
restricted by mandatory business closures (Exhibit ).
1 Gov. Jay Inslee’s Construction Working Group, Phase 1 Construction Restart COVID-19 Job
Site Requirements (April 23, 2020), Link.
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Exhibit 1. Employment by Industry, Monthly, Greater Seattle Region, 2020
Sources: Washington State Employment Security Department, 2020; Community Attributes Inc., 2020.
As of September, employment recovery has been stronger in some industries than in
others. Finance, Insurance, and Real Estate has fared the best, having fully
recovered February employment levels and expanded by 1.6%. All other major sectors
have not yet recovered, but Retail has bounced back to only 2.3% below February
employment. Construction and Resources, which lost more than a third of jobs in
April, is now only 6.9% below February levels (Exhibit ).
Of all major industries in the greater Seattle region, the Services sector has
experienced the slowest recovery. As of September, jobs in this sector continue to lag
11.1% below February employment levels. Social distancing practices and limited
indoor capacity will continue to weigh on service-providing businesses into the future,
reducing demand and creating additional costs. Additionally, while jobs in the
Manufacturing sector had a comeback in May that spiked above February
employment levels, the sector has since been declining.
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Exhibit 2. Industries by Employment as a Percentage of February Employment,
Monthly, Greater Seattle Region, 2020
Sources: Washington State Employment Security Department, 2020; Community Attributes Inc., 2020.
Manufacturing companies impacted by the pandemic include aerospace
manufacturers, which have had to react to a significant decline in demand for
passenger aircraft. Boeing is slowing production of jets built in Everett and Renton,
and it has announced that the 787 line will be consolidated in South Carolina.2 Food
and beverage processing companies are also dealing with reduced demand from
restaurants and events with catering. Other manufacturers such as seafood
processers have had to grapple with social distancing guidelines to prevent virus
spread in their facilities.
Job growth in the greater Seattle region is beginning to plateau across all major
industries, a trend which may persist until a COVID-19 vaccine is developed and
distributed. Economic recovery will require confronting multiple challenges. These
include damages incurred to the economy from a period of prolonged closure, such as
the permanent shuttering of businesses, reduced fiscal resources available to local
governments, strains on the public health system, and the slow recovery of global
supply chains.
To a certain extent, the economic recovery will follow a pattern of other recent
recessions. Starting in December 2000, the economic effects of the Dot.com bust and,
later, 9/11 caused the region to remain below its prior peak employment level for 60
months. After August 2008, it similarly took 60 months for employment to reach its
pre-recession level. The current crisis caused a deeper dive in regional employment
2 The Boeing Company, “Boeing to Consolidate 787 Production in South Carolina in 2021”
(Oct. 1, 2018), Link.
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than these recessions, and the recovery ahead will be long. However, the distribution
of a vaccine starting in 2021 may spur a faster employment growth rate than in past
recoveries (Exhibit ).
Exhibit 3. Employment Recovery Following Recession, Monthly,
Greater Seattle Region
Sources: Washington State Employment Security Department, 2020; Community Attributes Inc., 2020.
More lasting changes in the economy could pose serious obstacles for economic
recovery. The virus has driven accelerated change to how we consume, interact, and
work. These include changes already underway, which are now rapidly forcing
economic transformation within a short period of time:
• Remote work. WebEx, Teams, Zoom, Slack, and various other online video
conference and meeting platforms have emerged in recent years,
introducing flexibility in workplace environments. With many indoor office
spaces closed or at limited capacity due to social distancing guidelines, even
more people are working from home. In the next few years, many workers
will continue to engage in remote work even as a vaccine is distributed.
Employees will classify as fully remote, hybrid remote, or fully on-site.
• Office space. The rise of remote work is compelling employers to
reexamine their office footprint. As this transformation continues, it will
involve several solutions: owned space, standard leases, flexible leases, coworking
space, and remote work. Rent and real estate costs comprise the
largest expense for many organizations outside of employee compensation,
so these changes may allow businesses to save money. However, they will
lead to reduced demand for office space, especially in expensive urban
centers like Downtown Seattle.
• Office nodes and networks. Reduced demand for centralized office space
will have secondary effects for smaller neighboring businesses. Large
employers serve as nodes for restaurants, cafes, retail shops, and other
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firms that provide services to commuters and their employees. If these large
employers move to less dense campuses or continue to work from home, the
smaller firms will be forced to close. To mitigate this problem, Amazon
established a relief fund for small businesses near its headquarters in
South Lake Union.3 However, this solution is temporary and is not possible
for all office nodes and networks in the greater Seattle region.
Equity Considerations
As COVID-19 has disrupted business activity and people’s livelihoods, it is important
to recognize that the pandemic has impacted some communities more than others.
The murder of George Floyd in May heightened concerns across the United States
and the world about how to address long-standing inequities. These inequities persist
in the greater Seattle region, which has a much smaller share of black residents
(5.9%) than the U.S. (13.4%) and is more white than the rest of the nation. In the
greater Seattle region, white people account for 62% of the population, compared to
60% nationwide.4 However, non-white and mixed-race people comprise an
increasingly large share of the regional population, growing from 32.0% in 2010 to
38.3% in 2019 (Exhibit ).
Exhibit 4. Percent of Population by Race/Ethnicity
Greater Seattle Region, 2010 – 2019
Greater Seattle Region, 2010 – 2019
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2020.
Non-white or mixed race includes non-white Hispanics.
3 Meg Coyle, “Amazon provides first batch of grants to neighbors losing business due to
COVID‑19,” Amazon (Mar. 17, 2020), Link.
4 U.S. Census Bureau, Vintage 2019 Population Estimates Program, Link.
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Asians and Hispanics have contributed most of the non-white population growth in
the Seattle region: each increasing by 47.1% and 32.6% over the last ten years,
respectively. Meanwhile, the population of Black people has increased by 27.3%, and
the population of Native people has increased by 9.2%.
The virus has had uneven impacts across races and ethnicities. Black, indigenous,
and people of color (BIPOC) tend to have lower incomes than white people, making
them more susceptible to the pandemic’s negative economic effects. Job losses have
been most severe among workers with lower incomes, and households with lower
incomes are more susceptible to food scarcity, housing insecurity, and delayed
medical care.
Exhibit 5 shows that deep disparities in income already exist across races and
ethnicities within King County. In 2019, the median Black household in the county
earned $52,500, which is barely half of the median income of $102,600 for all
households. Additionally, American Indian and Alaska Native households earned an
income of only $40,300, or 39.3% of the overall median household income.
Exhibit 5. Median Household Income by Race/Ethnicity, King County, 2019
Median Household
Race / Ethnicity # of Housholds
Income
White 588,800 $109,100
Asian 156,400 $122,700
Hispanic or Latino (of any race) 63,400 $78,200
Black or African American 55,200 $52,500
Two or more races 40,800 $85,300
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander * $85,300
American Indian and Alaska Native * $40,300
All Households 904,600 $102,600
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2020.
* = unavailable.
Income inequality across races and ethnicities is the product of many systemic
factors, all of which affect communities in the greater Seattle region. In summary,
BIPOC have less access to education, less access to healthcare, less access to capital,
more indebtedness, and lower rates of homeownership and generational wealth. They
also experience discrimination, including in hiring processes. These circumstances
lead to variations in the workforce, with proportionately more BIPOC workers in both
lower-paying industries and occupations.
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EQUITY FR A M E W O R K
The Regional Recovery Framework ensures that principles of equity, justice,
inclusion, transparency, and accountability govern all aspects of the Framework. The
Framework seeks to recognize and address racial and geographic systemic disparity
and inequities in the regional economy and improve access to prosperity for all.
Discrimination against black, indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) has its own
look and feel in the Pacific Northwest, long rooted in past laws, and sustained by
social hegemony over time. The region is gifted in 2020 with strong leadership
focused on addressing inequities, from many institutions and segments of the
economy. Leaders from across the region who focus on addressing equity contributed
to the Framework development to ensure more equitable outcomes. The Framework
will give a platform to local and regional leaders to help move the region toward a
more equitable and shared prosperity. Leaders will adopt a shared definition of an
equitable economy, grounded in actionable strategies and quantifiable metrics.
Race and Demographic Equity
An inclusive economy will yield representation of the region’s demographics up and
down all wage levels by occupation and by role, across industries, and within
companies and organizations. An elevated focus on race helps to address the gross
challenges the U.S. grapples with in 2020 and is necessary to undo racist policies and
practices that disproportionately burden communities of color across the
socioeconomic spectrum; this extends to gender, orientation and all people that face
systemic discrimination. While racial equity is the primary lens to focus the efforts of
this Framework, the Framework recognizes the connection between racism and other
forms of bias that lead to oppression.
Geographic Equity
Geographic equity within the region is another dimension that the Framework
strives to address. The clustering of industry and investments to attract talent has
created daunting hurdles for vulnerable populations in the region. Rapidly increasing
housing costs drive lower earning workers away from major employment centers, and
private investment for employment opportunities has not followed at scale. Over time
the market has increased these trends and not all areas in the region have prospered.
The Recovery Framework seeks to direct attention and strategies into areas
overlooked, and where opportunities exist to improve access to employment
opportunities for the entire region.
Guiding Principles for Action
The development of the Framework sought direct attention to inequities through
Task Force engagement and community outreach. The region is fortunate to have
strong leadership with practical knowledge to support the Framework. The
Framework seeks to reach everyone in the region for greater participation in the
region’s enormous wealth and economic opportunities. Furthermore, the Task Force
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recognizes that elevating the voices of marginalized communities to inform and guide
this work is imperative. BIPOC communities have the lived experience and expertise
needed to lead effective and new solutions.
For implementation, the Framework must provide adequate capacity to implement
strategies as outlined. It will identify metrics to serve measurement and evaluation
of equity initiatives. Framework leaders must identify barriers to prosperity and
monitor progress to overcome and eliminate them. Regional economic data will track
disparities in employment and wages by geography, industry, and occupation.
Most importantly, regional leaders will convene and confront the truths about
progress, or lack thereof, and continue to collaborate toward a more equitable region.
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GOALS & STRATEGIES
The following sections present working draft goals and strategies. All strategies are presented below,
followed by detailed explanations and potential actions for implementation.
G OAL 1. P ROMOTE THE R E G I O N ’S E CONOMIC C O M P E T I T I V E N E S S
1.1 Promote the opportunity to thrive in Greater Seattle.
1.2 Invest in readiness to respond to corporate expansions and inbound business
recruitment.
1.3 Demonstrate the connection between business economic contributions and
community benefits.
1.4. Create a unified global identity and vision to unite stakeholders and build
our global reputation and competitiveness.
1.5 Accelerate the recovery of regional tourism, travel and hospitality.
1.6 Promote the region’s start-up economy and entrepreneurial spirit.
1.7 Advance a unified regional policy agenda focused on economic development
programs and incentives to attract and retain jobs and investment and promote
a business-friendly climate.
G OAL 2. R EALIGN ECONOMIC AND WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS
E QUITABLY TO C REATE A BROADLY I NCLUSIVE EC O N O M Y
2.1 Connect workforce development systems with BIPOC and immigrant
communities, with particular focus on hiring prospects.
2.2 Increase business ownership and executive leadership for BIPOC and
immigrant communities and women.
2.3 Expand business retention and expansion programs for BIPOC, immigrant,
and women-owned businesses and microenterprises.
2.4 Expand assistance for government contracting to BIPOC, immigrant, and
women-owned businesses and increase percentages of contracting requirements for
government entities.
2.5 Elevate stories of BIPOC, immigrant and women-owned businesses in the region
to recruit entrepreneurs to start new businesses in the greater Seattle area.
2.6 Build a regional coalition that strengthens our collective capacity to dismantle
institutional racism and advance an inclusive economy.
G OAL 3. E NSURE R EGIONWIDE P ARTICIPATION IN I NVESTMENTS AND
P ROSPERITY
3.1. Promote distributed office centers to respond to permanent changes in office
needs, and to prioritize business and workforce mobility needs.
3.2 Create an approach to identify places throughout the region where inequities
are evident and address those inequities.
3.3 Address infrastructure gaps throughout the region including transportation,
broadband and more.
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3.4 Include proactive and substantive community engagement for policy and
strategy decisions.
3.5 Invest in displaced workers and decrease unemployment across the region.
3.6 Leverage and invest in higher education to connect graduates to employment
in the regional economy.
G OAL 4. S UPPORT T RADITIONAL AND E MERGING I NDUSTRIES WITH P O S T -
P ANDEMIC OPPORTUNITIES
4.1 Assess post-pandemic growth prospects for emerging and evolving industries,
such as clean energy, food systems and life sciences, and align regional BRE
efforts accordingly.
4.2 Support traditionally strong industry clusters, such as aerospace, maritime,
military & defense, and healthcare, to return to and build on pre-pandemic
competitiveness and prosperity.
4.3 Leverage the region’s strong technology foundation to compete globally and
pioneer new frontiers in tech industry innovation.
4.4 Support entrepreneurs, local small businesses and microenterprises to
ensure that the region’s entrepreneurial spirit canadapt to thrive.
4.5 Support county workforce partners to provide broad coverage of existing and
prospective workforce development needs.
4.6 Prepare the region to respond quickly to business location RFPs, corporate
expansions, including R&D centers, and other industry trends.
4.7 Focus talent attraction around critical business needs.
G OAL 5. P ROMOTE S USTAINABLE ECONOMIC GROWTH TO A DDRESS
R ESILIENCY N E E D S
5.1 Support regional efforts to address the housing affordability crisis across
greater Seattle.
5.2 Collaborate with regional transportation leadership to prioritize business and
workforce mobility needs.
5.3 Expand relief programs and pilot innovative approaches to reducing poverty.
5.4 Work with corporate partners and citizen leaders to further advance clean energy
use, clean tech development, and policies that combat climate change.
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FRAMEWO RK GOALS & STRATEGIES
GOAL 1. PROMOTE THE RE G I O N ’S E CONOMIC CO M P E T I T I V E N E S S
Regions compete globally and fiercely with one another for talent, capital, companies
and innovative ideas. The greater Seattle region’s strengths include its powerful and
exceptional sense of place, culture, outdoor beauty, and world-class businesses that
change the world. The region’s leaders and organizations must collaborate to tell the
world that the Greater Seattle region is the place for business growth and
opportunity. Strategies in this section promote our economic competitiveness to the
world.
Strategies At-A-Glance
1.1 Promote the opportunity to thrive in Greater Seattle.
1.2 Invest in readiness to respond to corporate expansions and improve inbound
business recruitment.
1.3 Demonstrate the connection between business economic contributions and
community benefits.
1.4 Create a unified global identity and vision to unite stakeholders and build
our global reputation and competitiveness.
1.5 Accelerate the recovery of regional tourism, travel and hospitality.
1.6 Promote the region’s start-up economy and entrepreneurial spirit.
1.7 Advance a unified regional policy agenda focused on economic
development programs and incentives to attract and retain jobs and
investment and promote a business-friendly climate.
Goal 1 Indicators
Key indicators describe working draft metrics that align with the goal and describe
overall economic conditions in the region. The Action Plan provides outcome metrics
specific to each action.
• Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)
• New business creation
• Total jobs and investment
• Advertising and promotional metrics
• Enplanements
• Hotel occupancy
• Visitors and visitor spending
• Employment in hospitality and retail
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Strategy 1.1. Promote the opportunity to thrive in Greater Seattle.
Greater Seattle’s environment, culture, and economy provide a high qualityof life
and should offer everyone a chance to thrive. Promoting the region is a critical part of
promoting local businesses, attracting global talent and drawing investment. The
region enjoys tremendous access to the outdoors, accessible professional and amateur
sports, world-class arts, culture, entertainment and restaurants, beautiful
neighborhoods, and quality schools. Strong industries provide a wealth of familywage
jobs that offer opportunities for advancement and contribute to a vibrant
economy. Greater Seattle offers all this in the midst of stunning natural beauty.
Business and civic leaders are united toward progress in diversity, equity and
inclusion. Residents are committed to social justice and the mission of creating an
inclusive economy. These progressive values are a hallmark of our region, and we
must actively promote our assets and values to continue to attract investment and
global talent, and build committed and vibrant communities.
Opportunities for Action:
• Utilize storytelling and thought leadership to build a platform of content and
assets for targeted marketing campaigns.
• Develop and host a centralized website with resources for talent and business
attraction, including community profiles to highlight the many cities in the
central Puget Sound region.
• Partner with in-market and industry publications, both domestic and global, to
reach established audiences of businesses and consumers.
• Work with leading employers to develop and deploy place-based
advertisements; promote the value of their location to prospective workers
through company advertising; and active and passive employee recruitment
efforts.
• Develop focused marketing campaigns with the support of community partners
to promote social justice and attract and retain BIPOC talent.
• Create a greater Seattle multi-channel marketing campaign for economic
development targeted to key decision makers in specific geographic markets,
both domestic and global.
Strategy 1.2. Invest in readiness to respond to corporate expansions
and improve inbound business recruitment.
Global business and the regional economy are dynamic. Companies seek
opportunities to expand within and into the Greater Seattle region. Regional leaders
must understand the global competition and realize that regions across the U.S. are
ready to compete for the greater Seattle region’s companies. Moreover, as the
pandemic forces major companies to rethink where and how they work, there is an
opportunity to be proactive in positioning greater Seattle to capture growth spurred
by this reshuffling. As distributed work becomes more common, even post-pandemic,
greater Seattle must be ready to make the case for HQ2s and satellite offices.
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Opportunities for Actions:
• Formally liaise with industry associations to bolster support for partner
strategies and align data needs.
• Develop a regional certified sites program with consistent criteria across cities
and counties.
• Create a shared regional data and business intelligence platform for use across
economic development organizations.
• Aggregate public and private data to produce a comprehensive, regional site
selection inventory to serve business expansion and attraction.
Strategy 1.3. Demonstrate the connection between business economic
contributions and community benefits.
The greater Seattle region is home to large and tremendously successful companies,
and these companies contribute greatly to our communities. To engender support for
local companies, and attract like-minded businesses, the region should highlight and
ensure awareness of corporate contributions. Similarly, the region should ask that
companies in the region participate fully and take advantage of opportunities to
partner to create opportunity, ensure inclusion and enhance livability.
Opportunities for Action:
• Create a collaborative community stewardship group to engage leaders at
major companies to assess and address impacts to local communities.
• Develop and disseminate materials, and discuss issues around local tax
structure, business contributions and sponsorships.
• Create and promote profiles of businesses engaged in community issues.
Strategy 1.4. Create a unified global identity and vision to unite
stakeholders and build our global reputation and competitiveness.
Communicating the region’s value proposition for companies is important. The
region’s leaders need to develop the tools to make sure the message about who
greater Seattle is, and what it offers, is broadly distributed and readily apparent.
Branding is a long-term project. First, the region must focus on defining its identity
rather than a formal “brand” – it should be self-evident based on what the region is,
does and stands for. Concerted and consistent action creates a narrative that the
region can harness to communicate its value proposition.
Once this regional identity coalesces, we can draw on it to create a regional brand.
There are challenges—such as limited national and global awareness of defining
assets like Puget Sound - but these are surmountable. Developing a brand and
associated assets and ensuring that organizations throughout the region have access
to them, can be a force multiplier for other economic recovery and development
efforts.
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Opportunities for action:
• Launch a formal brand ambassador program to designate regional brand
ambassadors and collaborate with existing leaders across tourism,
commerce, and trade.
• Conduct a Global Identity Exercise (including visibility, reputation, brand
and identity) and a regional marketing audit to align and improve current
efforts and inform subsequent regional branding conversations.
• Use broad-based focused groups to deliver a regional identity statement
and manifesto and create a regional Brandbox with messaging and assets
accessible to all regional partners.
Strategy 1.5. Accelerate the recovery of regional tourism, travel and
hospitality.
Visitors are critical to economic recovery. Traveling to and enjoying time in greater
Seattle needs to feel safe – from air travel to public safety and perceptions of crime.
Restoring confidence in safety allows our hospitality and retail partners to bring
visitors and improve sales. Regional tourism assets - gastronomy, craft beer, local
wines - allow us to compete with leading regions around the world, while prime
access to the outdoors distinguishes greater Seattle from peer regions.
Tourism also serves to attract new companies to the region. When business leaders
visit, whether for a convention, business meetings or vacation, they like what they
see and may choose to relocate or expand their company. Our tourism industry is one
of our best marketing opportunities.
Our regional partners in travel and visitation give the region a chance to showcase
communities throughout the region. We must invest in where people arrive and how
they travel throughout the area, ensuring a high-quality experience throughout.
Opportunities for Action:
• Develop a strategic blueprint for inclusive and collaborative tourism that
highlights the unique characteristics, assets and rich cultural attributes
throughout the region.
• Leverage restored access to the Washington State Convention Center to
resume business travel and begin hosting events; build on the Convention
Center’s experience to provide technical assistance in pursuing and
attaining Global Biorisk Advisory Council (GBAC) STAR accreditation at
venues throughout the region.
• Promote the region’s aggressive response to the pandemic and clear focus
on public health safety to improve visitor confidence in travel.
• Address vagrancy, homelessness, drug use and other issues detrimental to
the street scene and visitor experience.
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• Ensure support for hospitality workers that remain unemployed or do not
qualify for unemployment insurance.
• Look for specific means of assistance for especially vulnerable small
businesses in the tourism and hospitality industries.
Strategy 1.6. Promote the region’s start-up economy and
entrepreneurial spirit.
The world’s greatest companies were born in the greater Seattle region. New
companies form and spin off our established companies to create new investment and
employment. Start-ups and entrepreneurs need to see a path to success with access to
funding and low barriers to entry to grow new businesses.
Opportunities for Action:
• Solicit interviews with founders and other successful entrepreneurs in our
region to tell the creation story of their businesses and highlight the
locational advantages that spurred their success with an emphasis on
representation of BIPOC founders and entrepreneurs.
• Create a clearinghouse for the region’s entrepreneurial resources and small
business support.
• Create or scale a mentorship program that matches young founders and
emerging entrepreneurs with experienced business leaders and tech
industry veterans.
Strategy 1.7. Advance a unified regional policy agenda focused on
economic development programs and incentives to attract and retain
jobs and investment and promote a business-friendly climate.
Recognize that global perception of doing business in greater Seattle includes how
civic leaders address social challenges. Public-private partnerships are critical to the
region’s success and image. Elected officials and civic leaders must collaborate with
local businesses at the outset of policy discussion to ensure support for significant
measures to address social challenges and civic improvements.
To attract outside investment and new employment opportunities, businesses must
see cities that welcome employers and prosperity. Cities must work with businesses
for businesses to prominently lead on civic stewardship and establish a highly visible
cooperative relationship amongst business leaders and elected officials.
Opportunities for Action:
• Support Local Redevelopment/Revitalization Financing, and tax increment
financing that is used as a subsidy for redevelopment, infrastructure, and
other community-improvement projects.
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• Allow lending of public funds and credit to support RLFs and other
programs to fund small business and entrepreneurship.
• Restore the Economic Development Strategic Reserve Fund
• Protect and expand targeted incentives.
• Expand Sales & Use Tax
• Further policies to increase investment in distressed communities.
• Re-establish R&D tax credits.
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GOAL 2. RE A L I G N ECONOMIC AND WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT
PROGRAMS EQUITABLY TO C REATEA B R O A D L Y INCLUSIVE EC O N O M Y
The Puget Sound Region is becoming increasingly more diverse. Black, Indigenous,
and People of Color (BIPOC) comprised 19% of the region’s population in 2000
compared to 29% in 20195. At the same time, patterns of racial and demographic
inequities affecting BIPOC and immigrant communities are more apparent now than
ever. Systemic barriers to economic security, low capacity to utilize available
resources and support, environmental injustice conditions and lack of access to civic
influence are leading factors. The pandemic has also exacerbated inequities facing
the region and disproportionately impacted BIPOC and immigrant communities.
The strategies under this goal aim to advance equity in the region by investing in
efforts that ensure access to opportunities for everyone; driving both individual- and
systems-level change; and transforming culture to see and address disparities.
Strategies At-A-Glance
2.1 Connect workforce development systems with BIPOC and immigrant
communities with particular focus on hiring prospects.
2.2 Increase business ownership and executive leadership for BIPOC and
immigrant communities and women.
2.3 Expand business retention and expansion programs for BIPOC,
immigrant, and women-owned businesses and microenterprises.
2.4 Expand assistance for government contracting to BIPOC, immigrant, and
women-owned businesses and increase percentages of contracting requirements
for government entities.
2.5 Elevate stories of BIPOC, immigrant and women-owned businesses in the
region to recruit entrepreneurs to start new businesses in the greater Seattle
area.
2.6 Build a regional coalition that strengthens our collective capacity to
dismantle institutional racism and advance an inclusive economy.
Goal 2 Indicators
Goal 2 indicators include BIPOC, immigrant, and women participation in the
following:
• Workforce participation
• Business ownership
• Government contracting
• Corporate and civic leadership representation
5 Washington State Office of Financial Management, 2000 and 2019 estimates.
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Strategy 2.1. Connect workforce development systems with BIPOC and
immigrant communities with particular focus on hiring prospects.
The ethnic and racial diversity of the residents of the Puget Sound Region is one of
the region’s strengths. However, BIPOC communities across the region face wide
racial inequities in educational attainment, access to training and employment.
Additional workforce policies and innovative approaches are needed to counter
decades of intentional, structurally racist policies that are undercutting the region’s
economic competitiveness. Efforts to close race-based skills disparities need to be
combined with efforts addressing: occupational segregation (workers of color are more
likely to staff low-wage jobs), hiring bias, and providing the same opportunities in the
workforce for BIPOC workers as for white workers.
Opportunities for Actions:
• Focus on trades in high school and community college and internship
opportunities for college students.
• Ensure Internet and technology access for all students at home to continue
learning remotely.
• Allocate resources to support nonprofits that provide job training,
mentoring, youth employment, etc. to BIPOC communities.
• Embed racial equity goals in local workforce development plans and
develop strategies to achieve these goals.
• Develop education and workforce data systems that can track program
access and outcomes-focused data by race and ethnicity to measure
progress towards closing equity gaps.
• Enhance the diversity and inclusion practices of sector partnerships that
bring together multiple employers within an industry with education,
workforce and community organizations.
• Partner with employers to create initiatives that foster more diverse and
inclusive work environments.
• Increase upfront investment to scale training and apprenticeship programs
such as Apprenti, as well as programs like TAF & Ada Developers Academy
that focus on women and BIPOC.
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Strategy 2.2. Increase business ownership and corporate leadership for
BIPOC and immigrant communities and women.
Closures imposed by the coronavirus have led to a drop in the number of BIPOC,
immigrant and women-owned businesses in the region, especially amongst those
racial groups that already had the lowest business ownership rates in the population
such as Hispanic and African Americans6. This is partly due to lack of financial
options, as many lack savings or personal wealth to draw upon to weather financial
shocks or to invest in the future. Such groups also face barriers in accessing capital,
including discrimination by commercial banks and other private lenders. Many have
difficulty accessing government aid and work in industries most impacted by the
crisis.
Business ownership is a route to wealth creation. BIPOC businesses most often
create jobs for people from the owner’s ethnic or racial group, benefiting the
community at large.
The corporate workplace is another area that reveals extreme disparities for BIPOC,
and immigrant communities and women including underrepresentation in higher
paying and leadership positions and numerous barriers to promotion and career
advancement. A recent Boston Consulting Group report noted that Black executives
account for less than 1.9% of corporate leadership roles in Washington7. Our
workforce and corporate leadership representation should mirror the demographics of
the working age population in our region. Actions that target increases in corporate
leadership positions for BIPOC, and immigrant communities and women are critical
and present additional opportunities for wealth creation and overall economic benefit
for the region.
Opportunities for Action:
• Provide technical assistance for start-up opportunities.
• Develop support networks to aid business owners post-start-up.
• Engage large companies with significant minority customer bases, or
supplier spend, to share best practices in DEI.
• Support entrepreneurship for BIPOC and women in sectors such as tech
and life science that offer higher potential for greater wealth generation.
• Provide healthcare coverage for women & BIPOC start-up entrepreneurs.
6 Data from 2017 from the US Census Bureau Annual Business Survey shows that 1% of all
businesses in the region are owned by Black or African American, 4% by Hispanics, 15% by
Asians and 82 by White people. Asian ownership represents 73% of all minority owned
businesses in the region.
7 The Commitment to Progress: An Equitable Future for Washington, 2020.
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Strategy 2.3. Expand business retention and expansion programs for
BIPOC, immigrant, and women-owned businesses and
microenterprises.
BIPOC, immigrant, and women-owned businesses in the region serve the local
communities where they are located by offering proximate products and services,
hiring locally, providing a pathway to economic self-sufficiency for owners and their
families, and empowering community culture. This strategy furthers actions to
retain, grow and expand businesses owned by underserved entrepreneurs in
underserved communities.
Opportunities for Action:
• Scale existing programs at community development financial institutions
(CDFIs).
• Continue to build relationships with existing companies, understand their
needs and connect them to relevant services.
• Design programs and collaborative initiatives to boost networking and the
ability to tap into pools of larger businesses for procurement, learning and
partnership opportunities for BIPOC and women owned businesses (for
example, minority business accelerator programs).
• Design interventions that boost the productivity of businesses through
investments in technology adoption and process innovation.
• Work with banks, credit unions and microlenders, along with BIPOC
community leaders to understand and document how entrepreneurs access
capital and map barriers to entrepreneurial success for historically
marginalized entrepreneurs.
• Analyze existing data to inform and set goals, such as increasing the
number of originations and total lending to BIPOC, immigrant and women
owned business.
Strategy 2.4. Expand assistance for government contracting to BIPOC,
immigrant and women-owned businesses, and increase percentages of
contracting requirements for government entities.
At a policy level, Washington State’s Initiative 200 passed in 1998 prohibits racial
and gender preferences by state and local government. Many local jurisdictions and
counties throughout the region and the State of Washington offer small, women and
minority-owned businesses opportunities to contract on public works projects,
including goods and services, construction and consulting contracts. Most recently,
the City of Seattle passed an executive order to advance the City’s mission for
economic inclusion and equity in contracting. The City of Tacoma is also in the
process of implementing a range of programmatic improvements as part of its Equity
in Contracting Program. Other organizations such as Sound Transit and the Port of
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Seattle have developed policies and strategies to provide meaningful contracting
opportunities to minority, women and disadvantaged businesses.
Inclusive procurement can help close racial income and wealth gaps. Local
jurisdictions in the region can leverage their buying power to support residents that
have been left out of wealth-building activities and contribute to better economic
outcomes for all. This strategy is meant to further advance the work the region is
already doing in inclusive procurement.
Opportunities for Action:
• Use the disparity study as a roadmap to improve regional contracting of
WMBE businesses.
• Design and implement a universal procurement system, including a central
repository for all contract and vendor information.
• Establish a regional Procurement Reform Task Force to research and
review best practices in the region and in other areas in US and
recommend solutions to shared regional challenges.
Strategy 2.5. Elevate stories of BIPOC, immigrant and women-owned
businesses in the region to recruit entrepreneurs to start new
businesses in the greater Seattle area.
A 2019 study by American Express8 ranks Washington state ninth in the nation in
economic clout - defined as growth in the number of firms and growth in employment
and revenue of women-owned businesses. The same report ranks the state as sixth,
and the Seattle metropolitan areas as third in the nation for employment vitality -
measured by employment growth rate of women-owned businesses over the past five
years, and the average number of employees per women-owned businesses in 2019.
Additionally, the Puget Sound Region has a share of minority owned businesses
higher than the national average – 21% compared to 19%. Minority owned businesses
contribute 11% to business revenues in the region9.
Women-owned and BIPOC businesses are driving economic growth in the state and
the region, and their stories need to be elevated to attract other businesses to the
area.
Opportunities for Action:
• Design a campaign that highlights success stories of BIPOC owned
businesses in the region.
• Create a virtual marketplace to inventory and promote BIPOC businesses.
8 https://s1.q4cdn.com/692158879/files/doc_library/file/2019-state-of-women-owned-
businesses-report.pdf
9 US Census Bureau Annual Business Survey, 2017.
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Strategy 2.6. Build a regional coalition that strengthens our collective
capacity to dismantle institutional racism and advance an inclusive
economy.
Establishment of a formal alliance of regional leaders driven by the leadership and
wisdom of BIPOC community is necessary to move forward with equitable recovery
and inclusive economy strategies. Established and emerging leaders will listen to and
collaborate with BIPOC leadership with intent to support and partner on initiatives
that address the most fundamental challenges we face as a community, centered on
addressing institutional racism, social justice and equitable economic recovery. The
alliance will enable BIPOC community leaders to hold our major employers and
public sector leaders accountable to equity goals.
The coalition will create and guide policies and initiatives that address the following
areas including but not limited to:
▪ Health outcomes
▪ Housing
▪ Public safety, police and criminal justice reform
▪ Equitable economic opportunities and resiliency
▪ Small business incubation
▪ Community access and transportation alternatives
▪ Homelessness
▪ Education and career training opportunities
▪ Community engagement and capacity building
▪ Wealth Creation and Upward Mobility
Opportunities for Action:
• Convene public, private and community partners to form a BIPOC led
regional Equitable Recovery & Reconciliation Alliance.
• Set goals on reduction of poverty, wealth creation and upward mobility and
support this effort with development of regional equity data dashboards to
monitor progress.
• Establish a coalition of private sector employers committed to advancing
and investing in racial equity.
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GOAL 3. ENSURE REGIONWIDE PARTICIPATION IN INVESTMENTS AND
PROSPERITY
Throughout the Puget Sound region’s history, certain areas and neighborhoods
prospered while others lagged far behind. Place-based policies and investments such
as redlining, racially restrictive covenants, public subsidies and discriminatory real
estate lending and marketing practices contributed to the unequal geographic
distribution of wealth and poverty for many generations. Other regional factors that
have impacted the spatial structure of wealth and poverty in the region include
zoning and land-use regulations, housing policies, suburbanization patterns and
agglomeration economies.
This goal seeks to ensure a high quality of life and economic opportunity, regardless
of ZIP code. Strategies to achieve this goal aim to create an equitable region where,
irrespective of where one lives, every community has its basic needs, health and wellbeing
met; communities are directly empowered in decision-making processes; all
communities reap the benefits and share the costs of growth and change10:
Strategies At-A-Glance
3.1. Promote distributed office centers to respond to permanent changes in
office needs, and to prioritize business and workforce mobility needs.
3.2 Create an approach to identify places throughout the region where
inequities are evident and address those inequities.
3.3 Address infrastructure gaps throughout the region including
transportation, broadband and more.
3.4 Include proactive and substantive community engagement for policy
and strategy decisions.
3.5 Invest in displaced workers and decrease unemployment across the
region.
3.6 Leverage and invest in higher education to connect graduates to
employment in the regional economy.
Key Indicators
• Geographic baseline metrics for inequitable economic distribution (equity
index).
• Access to broadband, transit, transportation and other infrastructure.
• Participation by communities in decisions made.
10 Definition of regional equity developed by the Coalition for a Livable Future and the
Regional Equity Atlas 2.0 Advisory Committee. http://clfuture.org/programs/regional-equityatlas
/about-regional-equity-atlas-project/defining-regional-equity
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Strategy 3.1. Promote distributed office centers to respond to
permanent changes in office needs, and to prioritize business and
workforce mobility needs.
The pandemic and changing work patterns during lockdown have led to a surge in
employers’ interest in offices in satellite and regional locations. As office needs evolve
and more companies are re-imagining the future of work, a more distributed model
throughout cities in the region could better support employee performance and
organizational resiliency. At a community level, a distribution of organizations
throughout multiple locations can improve opportunities and bring new life to
obsolete spaces and disadvantaged communities in both cities and suburbs.
Opportunities for Action:
• Conduct a regional employer survey to determine the extent to which
businesses will return to prior office arrangements.
• Work with Puget Sound Regional Council (PSRC) urban centers framework
and regional infrastructure plans (transportation, transit, broadband) to
identify outlying centers suitable for increased employment regionwide.
• Identify remaining infrastructure gaps around the potential office centers,
where evident.
Strategy 3.2. Create an approach to identify places throughout the
region where inequities are evident and address those inequities.
The PSRC data points to disparities in access to opportunity among communities in
the region. Almost half of all Black and Hispanic/Latinx households, and 6 out of 10
American Indians live in areas of lower opportunity. Conversely, less than 40% of
White households and less than one-third of Asian households live in areas of lower
opportunity.
This strategy proposes using the lens of location to look at all manners of inequity
such as uneven access to education, health care, housing, transportation and criminal
justice to understand where they exist, what are their root causes, and how we can
reduce them. Investment alone cannot address these disparities. These communities
require systemic policy change to get at the root of discrimination and drive lasting
economic change.
Opportunities for Action:
• Create a tool that combines spatial equity indicators with land utilization
indicators to identify areas with economic inequities.
• Develop a marketing plan to showcase the areas identified.
• Identify and support implementation of emerging best practices and
models for addressing geographic economic inequities, which are more than
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just investment (for example, the Evergreen Cooperative Initiative in
Cleveland).
• Partner with local communities to understand how spatial inequity
manifests for them and build a road map that will show how economic
hardship and poverty can be addressed.
• Ensure a robust mix of uses and accessible quality of life amenities at the
neighborhood scale regionally.
Strategy 3.3. Address infrastructure gaps throughout the region
including transportation, broadband and more.
Infrastructure is the foundation of a strong competitive economy and fundamental for
health and economic opportunity. The pandemic is highlighting the disparities in
access to infrastructure across the region such as high-speed internet. Having
affordable broadband is a necessity for people in the region needing to work or study
from home, apply for jobs and obtain a variety of vital services from small-business
loans, unemployment benefits to telemedicine.
Federal, state and local governments are facing strained budgets due to the
pandemic, which could impact the annual gap in infrastructure investment in the
short to medium term. As the economic and social environment is undergoing
considerable and potentially long-lasting changes, infrastructure investment
priorities, particularly in transportation, will need to be rethought. This strategy
aims to double down on the commitment to create an infrastructure network that
contributes to a more just society.
Opportunities for Action:
• Assess infrastructure needs to identify critical gaps across the region in
provision, including transportation, broadband, water, sewage and electric
systems.
• Coordinate with PSRC, Sound Transit and other partners to communicate
the business community’s perspective on highest-ranking infrastructure
needs for broad economic development.
• Adequately fund transportation and other infrastructure needs to up and
coming office centers.
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Strategy 3.4. Include proactive and substantive community
engagement for policy and strategy decisions.
Community voices need to be heard as part of the decision-making process and work
alongside city planners, developers and other stakeholders to ensure their priorities,
needs and values are aligned with economic development policies and capital
investment plans. In order to help existing communities thrive in place, there needs
to be more local involvement in land use decisions and plan implementation.
Community leaders and members should have access to political and economic
decision-making processes, as well as the know-how to influence them. The
advantages of community-based decision making include more roundly equitable
decisions and outcomes, better alignment with community priorities and
accountability and the ability to prioritize specific opportunities for addressing
inequity.
Opportunities for Action:
• Prioritize funding for community development by local non-profit agencies,
community groups and business and neighborhood associations.
• Devise a plan to engage communities in decision making related to this
Framework’s implementation.
Strategy 3.5. Invest in displaced workers and decrease unemployment
across the region.
Too often in the Puget Sound region low-income communities have no living wage
jobs near where they live, and few transit or childcare options that would facilitate
access to quality employment elsewhere. Other barriers include past criminal
records, language barriers, low educational attainment and discrimination. These
factors lead to a spatial mismatch between affordable housing and job opportunities,
and thus contributes to persistent unemployment and low earnings in such
communities. When people are trapped in cycles of joblessness or low-wage work with
little opportunity to advance, they are particularly vulnerable to instability and
financial uncertainty that can push them into homelessness. Those that manage to
get by do not participate in wealth accumulation that creates prosperity in other
communities.
Opportunities for Action:
• Leverage transferable skills in the workforce to connect unemployed and
under-employment individuals with opportunities in other industries.
• Expand evidence-based training programs that build skills and increase
education to prepare unemployed and disadvantaged workers to compete in
the labor market.
• Increase the quality of jobs in all industries by investing in work supports
and benefits that boost wages and make jobs more stable.
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• Boost investment in childcare.
Strategy 3.6. Leverage and invest in higher education to connect
graduates to employment in the regional economy.
Small and medium-sized businesses do not have the time and budget to train
graduates. They face cost and price competition and would prefer to hire experienced
workers. Those that do take the time to “train up” new hires often later experience
the sudden loss of such employees to larger firms with better opportunities as their
skills increase. Higher education helps develop an agile, capable workforce with the
so-called “soft skills” needed to succeed in many industries, as well as increasing
trainability and basic aptitudes for the professional world.
However, access to higher education is highly geographically unequal. Members of
poorer communities are not educated about the resources available to them to finance
higher education, or these resources are insufficient. The actions in this strategy seek
to level the playing field for all communities in the region in terms of foundational
higher education access.
Opportunities for Action:
• Invest in and expand existing incubators, accelerators, and mentorship
programs that link educational institutions with the private sector to
create accelerator and mentorship programs targeting small businesses in
underserved communities, such as UW Consulting & Business
Development Center, Black Founders Co-op, etc.
• Increase state support for community colleges, which are more widely
distributed throughout the region.
• Increase funding aimed at removing financial barriers to higher education
for underserved communities, such as the Husky Promise program, and
expand such funding structures to other area colleges.
• Create comprehensive Career Pathways.
• Accelerate achievement of Washington’s statewide postsecondary
credential attainment goal of 70% by 2030.
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GOAL 4. SUPPORT TRADITIONAL AN D EMERGING INDUSTRIES WITH
PO S T-PANDEMIC OPPORTUNITIES
The pandemic has fundamentally changed the landscape for many traditional
industries. New opportunities have arisen within traditional clusters and in
new and emerging clusters. The strategies in this section address how the region can
support these traditional and emerging industries, secondary supportive industries,
and the entrepreneurial and small business ecosystems behind them. This also
means addressing critical opportunities and challenges in talent attraction, workforce
development and business location / relocation in the post-pandemic landscape.
Strategies At-A-Glance
4.1 Assess post-pandemic growth prospects for emerging and evolving
industries such as clean energy, food systems and life sciences, and align BRE
efforts accordingly.
4.2 Support traditionally strong industry clusters such as aerospace,
maritime, military and defense, and healthcare to return to and build on
pre-pandemic competitiveness and prosperity.
4.3 Leverage the region’s strong technology foundation to compete globally and
pioneer new frontiers in tech industry innovation.
4.4 Support entrepreneurs, local small businesses and microenterprises to
ensure that the region’s entrepreneurial spirit canadapt to thrive.
4.5 Support county workforce partners to provide broad coverage of existing
and prospective workforce development needs.
4.6 Prepare the region to respond quickly to business location RFPs, corporate
expansions including R&D centers, and other industry trends.
4.7 Focus talent attraction and retention around critical business needs.
Key Indicators
• Jobs and revenues by industry
• New small business licenses
• Key corporate relocations, expansions
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Strategy 4.1. Assess post-pandemic growth prospects for emerging and
evolving industries such as clean energy, food systems and life
sciences, and align BRE efforts accordingly.
While the pandemic has been devastating in many ways, it has also created
surprising and unforeseen opportunities. In numerous emerging and evolving
industries in the region, these opportunities will be the key from pivoting into a
successful post-pandemic recovery for the regional economy at large. Opportunities at
the intersection of life sciences and technology, for example, can create ripple effects
across other industries – traditional and supportive – that can help diversify the
regional economy and replace jobs and economic activity lost during the pandemic.
Opportunities for Action:
• Enhance the region’s research and analysis capabilityto identify emerging
trends and support action-oriented economic development.
• Develop targeted marketing and BRE strategies for specific sectors that
pay strong wages, potentially including:
o Clean/Green Tech
o Military & Defense
o Blue Economy
o Technology – AI, FinTech, Cybersecurity, Quantum Computing
o Life Sciences & Biotech Manufacturing
o Advanced Manufacturing
o Tourism
• Harness and leverage pandemic-related funding and growth opportunities
in life sciences, advanced logistics and related industries.
• Develop a strategy for economic diversification based on both traditional
and emerging industries that renders the region stronger in the face of
future economic shocks.
Strategy 4.2. Support traditionally strong industry clusters such as
aerospace, maritime, military & defense, and healthcare to return to
and build on pre-pandemic competitiveness and prosperity.
So-called “traditional” industries are the stable drivers of the region’s long-term
economy. They are those that combine a long and well-established
presence with comparative strength in the region. Aerospace, maritime, logistics and
healthcare are also increasingly advanced, cutting-edge industries driven more and
more by innovation, technology, and reliant on top talent. As the region recovers into
the post-pandemic area, it will strive to support the historically strong, stable and
growing industries it has nurtured for generations by understanding and responding
to evolving dynamics.
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Opportunities for Action:
• Increase the amount of foreign direct investment and accelerate exports
from this region.
• Convert export partners to investors in advanced industries.
• Leverage institutions such as the Ports of Seattle, Tacoma and Everett to
incubate and accelerate businesses and harness emerging opportunities.
• Support the development of the digitization of healthcare in the region,
including rapid response and home treatment paradigms.
• Recruit a full complement of up- and down-stream partners in key
industries.
• Accelerate manufacturing onshoring or reshoring strategies.
• Engage established industry associations to coordinate recovery efforts and
rally businesses toward implementation.
• Recognize and promote philanthropy as an industry cluster; build on the
strength of the Gates Foundation, the non-profit hospitals and research
centers, and Paul Allen’s companies.
• Support further densification in the region to strengthen industries related
to real estate development (construction, engineering, architecture) and
increase affordability.
• Promote and support mass timber / cross-laminated timber (CLT) as
opportunities for growth in the regional timber industry.
Strategy 4.3. Leverage the region’s strong technology foundation to
compete globally and pioneer new frontiers in tech industry
innovation.
The central Puget Sound region was one of the earliest tech industry hubs in the
world and this sector continues to define the region and drive its economy. The region
must clear the path for continued success and pioneering development within the
tech industry by ensuring livability with improved transit and housing affordability,
by recruiting top talent and synergistic companies, and by collaborating closely with
industry leaders on to ensure shared success.
Opportunities for Action:
• Recruit companies that are pioneering new technologies or new
applications of technology, including companies focused on remote working
technologies, robotics, AR/VR and new communication tools.
• Consider policy changes including tax incentives and regulatory changes to
better support the development of IT, advanced manufacturing, data
centers and logistics hubs.
• Leverage opportunities created by those such as Amazon and SpaceX who
are implementing low-level satellites for 5G broadband connectivity
regionally.
• Produce a region wide strategy to support tech companies and occupations.
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Strategy 4.4. Support entrepreneurs, local small businesses and
microenterprises to ensure that the region’s entrepreneurial spirit can
adapt to thrive.
Small businesses have arguably been hardest hit by the economic effects of the global
pandemic with hospitality, tourism, retail and other sectors facing profound and
ongoing changes to the consumer and business-to-business landscape. While gap
measures such as paycheck protection programs and other measures have helped, the
region needs to pay particular attention to the needs of this sector now, and ensure
that the diverse entrepreneurial and small business ecosystems not only survive this
era, but that they can evolve with the changing landscape to thrive post-pandemic.
This will mean understanding these changing conditions and supporting the sector in
multiple ways, from additional financing, to commercial lease protections, to new
workforce development needs, and others.
Opportunities for Action:
• Ensure no geographic or demographic limitations on who can invest in the
Central Puget Sound fund or on the use of funds.
• Engage landlords to protect small businesses from eviction, escalating rent
and other threats.
• Identify state and local solutions to fill gaps left by PPP.
• Engage local governments and chambers of commerce in programs to save
local jobs.
• Create virtuous partnerships between workforce development and small
business development.
• Support entrepreneurial activity and R&D, onshoring vaccine production
and PPE, with incentives and other assistance.
• Help SMES access new capital and export markets. Develop and enhance
mechanisms by which small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) can
more readily access foreign capital and export opportunities.
• Develop a Revolving Loan Fund focused on SME exporters.
• Develop a strategy for how venture investors and managers can work with
regional public, university, and philanthropic leaders to form a Central
Puget Sound fund of funds to increase VC investment in the region.
Strategy 4.5. Support county workforce partners to provide broad
coverage of existing and prospective workforce development needs.
The face of education and workforce development has changed dramatically in recent
months. Through challenges with remote learning, institutions and companies are
zeroing in on best practices to improve the quality of offerings and regain trust and a
competitive edge in attracting high-performing students and workers to programs.
The region must step in to ensure funding sources are secure, to help connect
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workforce development with emerging best practices in the post-pandemic landscape,
and to continue to leverage the uniqueness of the workplace ecosystem in this region.
And the region and workforce partners must listen closely to the changing needs of
local industries and respond decisively with program and policy changes where
necessary.
Opportunities for Action:
• Collaborate to identify changing workforce needs in the post-pandemic
economy and tailor curricula and programming to meet identified needs.
• Identify and regionally support the implementation of emerging best
practices around remote learning.
• Address industry and business needs for well-trained people at all levels
(entry-level certificate educated to PhD researchers).
• Establish a unified vision and regular collaboration across county WDCs,
training and education institutions, and major employers.
• Compile and track regionwide data on occupations and skills needed across
key industry sectors to develop local workforce for available and future
jobs.
• Create a pool of funds and other economic incentives that can cover the
upfront costs of training and offset other employer risks for apprenticeship
programs designed for in-demand skills and occupations like coding or
computer science.
Strategy 4.6. Prepare the region to respond quickly to business
location RFPs, corporate expansions, including R&D centers, and other
industry trends.
The global pandemic has re-shuffled the deck dramatically with regards to physical
spaces and land for commercial and industrial development and corporate location.
While some companies (such as REI) have perceived less of a need for central
physical facilities, other companies see this as an opportunity to upgrade space for
physical community for their workers and staff. The only certainty is that a range of
typologies will be required to respond to company needs for space in the postpandemic
era. The region needs to take stock of its inventory and identify policy and
regulatory reforms to pave the way for new development and redevelopment for
companies seeking to locate and relocate here, expand R&D, or develop logistics or
data centers.
Opportunities for Action:
• Track national developments in emerging industries such as life sciences
and technology to position the region to capture major opportunities as
they arise.
• Leverage the strong retail industry presence in the region to identify and
support e-commerce opportunities for industrial and data centers.
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• Develop and circulate a comprehensive package of tax incentives and eco-
nomic development tools, such as local revitalization financing and TIF, to
compete with other regions for top tier industry relocations.
Strategy 4.7. Focus talent attraction around critical business needs.
Industries in the region thrive on talent and attracting world-class talent to the
region to complete globally. Technology companies, global exporters and companies
with business networks that cross the U.S. all require top talent with global
perspectives and experience. Even as local companies invest in local educators and
workforce training systems, attracting talent from around the world is needed to
meet global and post-pandemic opportunities. In the post-pandemic world with more
people working remotely than ever, the region must stand out and lead the nation in
in its post-pandemic response in order to compete successfully with other regions for
key talent.
Opportunities for Action:
• Provide marketing and other assistance to sectors supporting talent
attraction and business relocation, including hospitality and tourism.
• Look to high-growth industries to provide guidance on avenues of talent
attraction and development in the post-pandemic landscape.
• Implement land use reforms aimed at reducing cost of living and enhancing
quality of life in the region.
• Implement reforms aimed at improving regional mobility, public safety and
criminal justice reform.
• Showcase the uniqueness of our workplace ecosystem such as the
intersection of life sciences and tech unique to greater Seattle.
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GOAL 5. PROMOTE SUSTAINABLE ECONOMIC GROWTH TO
ADDRESS RESILIENCY NE E D S
Even before COVID-19, the Puget Sound region was confronting multiple challenges
that come with rapid economic growth and success – such as a homelessness crisis,
increasing traffic congestion and a housing affordability crisis. The pandemic has
further exacerbated some of these issues and the disparities in how vulnerable the
region’s residents were to economic downturns, most notably along racial and
geographic lines. It has strained social safety nets and made it clear that many of the
region’s workers lack basic protections and a sense of financial security.
At the same time, the climate crisis has not gone away and requires immediate
action. The Puget Sound region has been impacted this summer by Washington
state’s worst fire season on record, after 2015.COVID-19 has put in context the
importance of protecting nature. Failure to do so increased the risk of infectious
disease emergence and led to immense social and economic damage.
There is a unique opportunity today for the region’s recovery to re-imagine and build
a sustainable well-being economy, embracing the economic, social, and environmental
dimensions of well-being. Risk and resilience will need to be center stage. This goal
aims to increase the economic resilience of the region to economic downturns,
disasters and climate change impacts through a risk-based approach.
Strategies At-A-Glance
5.1 Support regional efforts to address the housing affordability crisis across
greater Seattle.
5.2 Collaborate with regional transportation leadership to prioritize business
and workforce mobility needs.
5.3 Expand relief programs and pilot innovative approaches to reducing
poverty.
5.4 Work with corporate partners and citizen leaders to further advance clean
energy use, clean tech development and policies that combat climate
change.
Key Indicators
• Supply of housing at prices aligned with area income brackets
• Commute time and access to jobs
• Emergency response capacity
• Basic needs and family wellness indicators
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Strategy 5.1. Support regional efforts to address the housing
affordability crisis across greater Seattle.
Counties in the Puget Sound region (King, Pierce, and Snohomish) are adding new
residents and creating more jobs faster than new units of housing. The region’s
population has increased by almost half a million people and employment grew by
more than 420,000 jobs over the past decade11. Between 2010 and 2019, the region
created just over 160,000 housing units but added roughly 190,000 households12.
Home values across the region have soared beyond their 2008 pre-recession peak. In
2019, the median home value was 43.6% above its 2008 peak in King County, 25.7%
in Snohomish County and 13.7% in Pierce County13. Median gross rent is the fourth
most expensive in the country and roughly 47% of renters in the region are rent
burdened14. The severe housing shortage and one of the worst levels of housingaffordability
in the nation is also contributing to the homelessness crisis in the
region.
It is safe to assume that the pandemic has only compounded the region’s affordable
housing shortage by increasing the need and slowing the delivery of new units for
people of all levels. The housing challenges fell hardest on people of color,
immigrants, those who are consistently disadvantaged by our economy, or others who
were already too close to a financial cliff prior to the pandemic. Some steps have
already been taken to provide immediate relief for individuals who are now at risk of
losing their homes, such as temporary state and local bans on evictions and public
and private rental assistance programs. However, these short-term mitigation
measures should not divert from the long-term focus on correcting the region’s
housing shortage. This strategy aims to look beyond recovery and create a better
future that gives everyone in the Puget Sound region the opportunity to have a stable
home.
Opportunities for Action:
• Work with existing regional coalitions to create an aligned larger regional
network to address the housing affordability crisis across the entire greater
Seattle region.
• Help affordable housing advocates uncover how existing systems produce
housing inequities and bring into focus the specific ways these systems
must change.
• Identify whether existing regional efforts addressing housing affordability
are meeting the needs of all communities in the region, to ensure that
solutions address the impacts of systemic racism and displacement risk.
11 Washington State Office of Financial Management, 2020; Washington State Employment
Security Department, 2020.
12 United States Census Bureau, 2020.
13 https://www.psrc.org/sites/default/files/peer201805-pres-zillow.pdf
14 https://www.nationalcapacd.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/COVID-19-Housing-Costs-.pdf
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• Catalyze stronger investments in programs that provide housing near jobs
and schools to reverse the trend of income segregation.
• Advocate for policies and tools that aim to change land and zoning
regulations to allow a variety of housing affordable to people at all income
levels.
• Increase regional cooperation to provide financial incentives, standardize
building codes and streamline permitting requirements for developers to
build more affordable housing options and reduce the cost of construction.
• Work together with leaders across the region to make the most of existing
funding and to identify innovative ways to increase funding for housing.
Strategy 5.2. Collaborate with regional transportation leadership to
prioritize business and workforce mobility needs.
The Puget Sound Region has experienced a significant decline in travel across all
modes of transportation since COVID-19 related restrictions came into effect at the
beginning of March 2020. The decline in travel due to the COVID-19 pandemic has
financial repercussions on the state’s revenue sources from fuel tax, tolls and ferry
fares. Fuel tax, tolls and ferry revenues represent roughly 45% of transportation
funds.
The pandemic also risks undoing years of transit growth. A ‘new normal’ of home
working is anticipated for many employees, which means there is no guarantee that
peak period travel market will fully recover to previous levels, and even if so, the
mode split may look very different. Furthermore, as fares are not being collected and
tax revenues have plummeted, transit projects may suffer delays or cancellations
with potential negative impacts on traffic congestion in the region.
As the region adapts in this transitional period, there is an opportunity to become
better prepared to account for the unexpected and build a more resilient
transportation network. The pandemic has surfaced the need for an infusion of
resilience planning into the design, construction, operation and maintenance of public
transit systems.
Opportunities for Action:
• Identify and develop a plan to address long-term implications wrought by
the pandemic to traffic and transit, such as changing customer needs,
behaviors, and expectations.
• Advocate for increased public spending on priority investments in
infrastructure as part of the stimulus spending.
• Work with transportation agencies and other partners to understand how
changes to access and mobility needs brought by the pandemic impact
financing priorities of transportation infrastructure.
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Strategy 5.3. Expand relief programs and pilot innovative approaches
to reducing poverty.
The pandemic and acute economic disruption that followed carries particular risks for
poor households in the Puget Sound region whose livelihoods are already precarious.
Many low wage jobs in the service sector will not reappear in the short or medium
term, many people cannot work from home, and enhanced unemployment benefits
will expire, leaving many exposed. Workers being laid off are losing their health
coverage due to reliance on employers as the primary provider of health insurance.
But poverty is not new to the region and has been rising despite the region’s overall
prosperity. The number of people in poverty increased by 70 percent in King County
and doubled in Snohomish County in the past 30 years15. The recession will
exacerbate this trend and rising poverty can overwhelm an already strained human
services infrastructure. This strategy aims to expand economic opportunities and
provide a more robust safety net for people in our region.
Opportunities for Action:
• Inventory existing relief and safety net programs and assess their
effectiveness through an equity lens.
• Work with local or state leaders to learn more about radically different
models to fight poverty and create economic stability, evaluate their
potential merits and set out the time and resources to test them in real
world situations (e.g. negative income tax, federal jobs guarantee,
universal basic income / services).
• Strengthen short and long-term workers’ protections and benefits, focusing
on recovery of displaced and at-risk workers first.
• Expand access to more affordable childcare for all parents and work with
employers to ensure all workers benefit from paid leave and fair,
predictable work schedules.
Strategy 5.4. Work with corporate partners and citizen leaders to
further advance clean energy use, clean tech development and policies
that combat climate change.
The region must respond to climate change by reducing emissions and preparing for a
resilient future by adapting to the potential effects of climate change. The region has
strengths in key sectors that can be leveraged to respond to the environmental
challenges being experienced with climate change. Elements of green infrastructure
and emerging opportunities in the green economy can make a meaningful
contribution to economic recovery in the near term while also responding to the
environmental challenges brought about by climate change.
15 U.S. Census Bureau, 2020.
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Opportunities for Action:
• Identify climate change goals that will also promote job creation and can be
an important element of the economic recovery.
• Champion the blue economy and clean tech industries.
• Promote sustainable industries across the region.
• Using an environmental justice lens focus on addressing pollution in
underserved communities.
• Drive regional utilities toward renewables such as solar, wind, hydro and
geothermal sources of energy with policies and incentives aimed at
maintaining profitability.
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