Regional Economic
Recovery Task Force
Framework for an
Equitable COVID Recovery

        THE NEED: Convergence of Crises
 Regional Economic Dynamics – Critical that we work together as a region in order
to accelerate recovery
 Economy Will Change – The economy that emerges will not be the same as the one
that went into the crisis.
 Some clusters will rise, others will fall
 On-shoring, near shoring
 Telework (new neighborhood hubs)
 Tourism, travel and hospitality
 Job Losses – It will take years to gain back what we lost
 Workforce Challenges– Providers will need to adjust skills training for displaced
and younger workers
 Marketing/Messaging/Branding – Our region was hit first and now City of Seattle
“self-imposed” crisis
 Although growing, economy was not working for everyone before

        VISION FOR EQUITABLE RECOVERY
Together we can rebuild better, generating higher-quality jobs and wealth creation
opportunities locally that advance racial inclusion.
Principles for Action
Set goals to increase prosperity and racial equity
Adopt quantifiable metrics such as the wage and employment gap between whites and
BIPOC and create a formal mechanism to track progress.
Adopt a holistic strategic framework to pursue those goals
Promote local business and industry growth, upskill a racially-diverse talent base, and
support connected communities. Look at job creation, job preparation and job access.
Build new institutional coalitions to drive the change
Develop the capacity of credible existing institutions or new partnerships to execute a
racially inclusive economic recovery plan.

       KEY GOALS
 Regional long-term plan, not a GSP plan. Our goal is for all stakeholders from across the
region to be able to see themselves in the final plan and for all strategies for long-term
economic recovery to be regional in scope.
 Framework. As we have progressed through the planning process, we are now aiming to
develop a framework that will guide development of more detailed strategies and actions.
 Collectively drive inclusion and equity. We together must commit to identifying and
addressing barriers to economic prosperity in our region and throughout our communities.
 Aspirational. We hope this plan will include aspirational, innovative and transformational
strategies that are unique opportunities for our region.
 Actionable. The intent is for the strategies identified to be broad and regional in scope but
still concrete, focused and actionable.
 Private Sector Leadership. This Taskforce brings together private, public sector and non-
profit organizations with a particular emphasis on ensuring private sector leaders play a
lead role in informing and implementing the work.

                                     Industry Cluster                     TASK FORCE
Development
chaired by                                                                                            Marketing & Tourism
chaired by
Mayor Cassie Franklin                   LEADERSHIP
City of Everett                                                                                                                    Dave McFadden
Port of Seattle
Brian Surratt
Alexandria Real Estate                             TASK FORCE                                   Tom Norwalk
Visit Seattle
chaired by
Workforce & Talent
chaired by                                   Betsy Cadwallader,                                 Small Business
chaired by
Sheila Edwards Lange              Puget Sound Market President, US Bank
Seattle College
Rob Brenner
Marie Kurose                             Governor Gary Locke                             Comcast Business
Workforce Dev Council of Seattle-KC            Interim President, Bellevue College
Kerrie Schroeder
Naria Santa Lucia                                                                                       Bank of America
Microsoft                               Mayor Victoria Woodards
City of Tacoma
Policy & Advocacy
200+ Task Force Members                    chaired by
Mayors
Dom Amor
Auburn, Arlington, Bellevue,                                                                     Economic Alliance of Snohomish County
Everett, Kent, Marysville,                                                                                    Michael Catsi
Seattle, Tacoma                                                                          Tacoma Public Utilities
Michelle Merriweather
Urban League of Metro Seattle

              RECOVERY WORK GROUPS
CREATING, GROWING,                    ENSURING PEOPLE
AND ATTRACTING                      HAVE ACCESS
INCLUSIVE BUSINESSES                     TO GOOD JOBS
Mayor Cassie Franklin
Kerrie Schroeder
City of Everett
Bank of America
Brian Surratt                                                         Michael Catsi
Alexandria Real Estate                                                              Tacoma Public Utilities
Tom Norwalk                                               Dave McFadden
Visit Seattle                                                                                 Port of Seattle

CONNECTING GROWING,
DRIVING ADOPTION OF                  INCLUSIVE BUSINESSES
MORE INCLUSIVE                     TO DIVERSE TALENT
BUSINESS PRACTICES
Sheila Edwards Lange
Seattle College
Michelle Merriweather
Urban League of Metro Seattle
Marie Kurose
Workforce Dev Council of Seattle-KC
Naria Santa Lucia
Microsoft
Rob Brenner
Comcast Business

       TASK FORCE TIMELINE
Month              Milestones
May/June 2020       Planning begins, Mayors from across the region ask GSP to convene a long-term economic
recovery planning process and Task Force 
July                   Task Force Charter Developed , 200+ regional leaders invited to participate 
August              First Task Force Meeting 
Surveys sent and interviews conducted 
September           1st Round of Work Group Sessions
October             Second Task Force Meeting
November           Exploration & Analysis drafted and endorsed by Task Force Co-Chairs
2nd Round of Work Group Sessions and Surveys
December           Exploration & Analysis phase/document completed, identified 5 goals, 40+ strategies, and 150+
opportunities for action with support from Community Attributes
3rd Round of Work Group Sessions focused on Problem Definition
January 2021          Economic Developers Work Group Session
Problem Definition complete
February             4th Round of Work Group Sessions focused on Metrics (in progress)
Metrics complete
March/April           5th Round of Work Group Sessions focused on endorsing Signature Initiatives
Signature Initiatives Endorsed & Leads identified
Recovery Framework launched publicly

       Process overview

January: shared definition of the problem and
Prob          “business case” for investing in solutions
Definition
February: specific gaps that Greater
Metrics               Seattle can close in a specific time period

March: 6-10 initiatives led by regional
Signature Projects               coalitions – scaled and sustained to close gaps

P rojects drawn from
Exploration & Analysis (Complete)
Opportunities for Action

       The recovery must be inclusive
Economic recovery will be slow and incomplete if all people in the Greater
Seattle region do not have the opportunity to prosper.
Inclusion will drive growth.
Closing racial disparities in employment and income = over $26 billion more GDP annually.

Inclusion will raise wages – for everyone.
10% increase in female labor force participation = +5% median wages for women and men.

Inclusion will catalyze innovation.
Above-average diversity on management teams = 1.8X as much innovation-related revenue.
Inclusion will generate more high-growth startups.
Closing race and gender disparities in ownership of high-growth firms = 6,000 more businesses.

       The recovery must address “preexisting conditions”
Greater Seattle’s pre-Covid growth obscured serious underlying weaknesses.

1) Lack of good jobs and new businesses             2) Failure to realize potential of diverse talent

860,000 people out of work or in low-wage jobs        46% of emerging workforce is people of color, but:
Over 30% had at least a 2-year degree
Only 39% women of color with a college degree
have a good job (vs. 65% of white men)
13% decline in jobs in new businesses
People of color start very few businesses: 30% of
Denver and Austin: gains of 12% and 35%
college degrees, only 8% of high-growth firms

Out of work: age 18-64, want a job or would benefit but stopped looking. Low-wage: less than $18/hour. New
businesses: less than 5 years old (data from 2008 to 2018)                                              Good job: $24/hr and benefits. Potentially high-growth business: at least 5 employees and traded-sector.

Sources: Brookings (Meet the Low-Wage Workforce, Metro Monitor, Opportunity Industries), analysis of Census data

       The role of the Regional Recovery Task Force
This crisis demands a bold regional response.

But funders won’t organize and invest at necessary scale without a compelling
agenda.

The risk: transformative moment turns into small pilot projects, status quo returns.
Task force role:
 Define the problem and opportunity clearly
 Create metrics that can be used to carefully measure progress
 Identify initiatives that need to be scaled or created to hit metrics
 Implement or support initiatives

       Proposed Horizon Goals
Out of Work      Low-Wage      Underemployed    Entrepreneurs
Target      <10%            <33%            >60%            >30% of growth
firms BIPOC-owned
of people are out         of jobs are                of workers w/ BA
of work                 low-wage               have good jobs           >50% women-
owned
Work     70,000       50,000       60,000        4,000
required
people connected       low-wage workers       jobs improved           new or larger firms
to promising jobs         in new/improved
jobs
How we                                  (Black women)       (% of degrees)
know it’s   G. Seattle: 13%        G. Seattle: 36%        G. Seattle: 39%        BIPOC: 30%
possible    Minneap: 9.8%       Hartford: 32%        LA: 57%              Women: 50%

        Proposed Initiative Metrics
Out of Work      Low-Wage      Underemployed    Entrepreneurs
Horizon   70,000          50,000         60,000          4,000
Goals    people connected     people connected     jobs improved        high-growth, women-
to promising jobs         to living-wage jobs                                 and min-owned firms

4,500         5,000        9,000         1,000
Initiative    young women          young women of       women of color in       new or larger
Metrics    of color            color connected      better jobs           businesses owned
connected to           to living-wage                                  by people of color
promising jobs           jobs                                             or women

        Proposed Initiative Metrics
Out of Work      Low-Wage      Underemployed    Entrepreneurs
4,500         5,000        9,000         1,000
Initiative    young women          young women of       women of color in       new or larger
Metrics    of color            color connected      better jobs           businesses owned
connected to           to living-wage                                  by people of color
promising jobs           jobs                                             or women

Why young women of color?
Clearly hardest-hit population
Initiatives must reach those that face the biggest barriers
Business case for focusing on biggest source of untapped talent

         Signature projects (examples)
Task Force to select in March. Key criteria: impact on metrics,
regional in scope, engaged public-private leadership.

       TASK FORCE TIMELINE
Month              Milestones
May/June 2020       Planning begins, Mayors from across the region ask GSP to convene a long-term economic
recovery planning process and Task Force 
July                   Task Force Charter Developed , 200+ regional leaders invited to participate 
August              First Task Force Meeting 
Surveys sent and interviews conducted 
September           1st Round of Work Group Sessions
October             Second Task Force Meeting
November           Exploration & Analysis drafted and endorsed by Task Force Co-Chairs
2nd Round of Work Group Sessions and Surveys
December           Exploration & Analysis phase/document completed, identified 5 goals, 40+ strategies, and 150+
opportunities for action with support from Community Attributes
3rd Round of Work Group Sessions focused on Problem Definition
January 2021          Economic Developers Work Group Session
Problem Definition complete
February             4th Round of Work Group Sessions focused on Metrics (in progress)
Metrics complete
March/April           5th Round of Work Group Sessions focused on endorsing Signature Initiatives
Signature Initiatives Endorsed & Leads identified
Recovery Framework launched publicly