San Mateo County
Economic Vitality Blueprint

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

It all adds up to JOBS!

In 1994, the San Mateo County Economic Development Plan was formulated through a collaborative effort of the public and private sectors representing business & industry, public administrators, elected officials, chambers of commerce, and the colleges. Its stated mission was:

The 1994 Plan's goals were to establish a clearinghouse for information/resources, leverage professional skills in order to respond to business needs, retain/attract jobs, and to enhance local economic development activities. The final document, created by SAMCEDA, the County of San Mateo, member cities and the Community College District, fulfilled its purpose in being a meaningful, working tool which the economic development efforts County-wide would be leveraged.

Program priorities defined in the 1994 proposal included:

=> San Mateo County Blueprint - Phase I

=> Information & Networking

=> Retention Program

=> Attraction & Expansion Program

=> Advocacy

=> Communications & Marketing

=> Other Activities & Projects might include:

• Business Incubators

• International Trade & Investment

• Small Business Assistance Center

• Coordination with regional planning organizations

In mid-1995, the objectives of the original Economic Development Plan have been implemented in the comprehensive San Mateo County Economic Vitality Blueprint, Phase 1, the mission of which was to facilitate a County-wide community assessment.

Utilizing an expanded definition of economic development, economic vitality included Quality of Life factors in addition to traditional economic development components:

The Blueprint represents an in-depth analysis of key economic factors impacting San Mateo County, including unemployment, future trends in employment, income, taxable sales, emerging and growth industries, venture capital, and international trade. The Blueprint contains an analysis of economic infrastructure in the form of specific strengths and challenges of San Mateo County.

This in-depth analysis resulted from input received from a broad cross-section of stakeholders, including business, community, education, government, labor, environmental, and transportation leaders. Interestingly, it was determined that any particular issue could be viewed as both a strength and a challenge depending on the prevailing point of view, so further analysis was performed on many elements to further define the key challenges impacting the County's economic vitality.

Participating stakeholders were asked to view the County ten years forward and to create strategic directions in each of the categories of challenge based upon this long range perspective. What resulted was the creation of an Economic Vitality Vision:

Realization of this Vision is dependent on several requisite elements:

=> Collaborative public & private sector planning and implementation of programs and services
=> Customer service driven permit and regulatory environment
=> A well prepared and skilled, diverse workforce
=> Optimal economic vitality on remaining developable and redevelopable land
=> A range of housing that meets the needs of a diverse workforce
=> Integrated regional transportation system
=> International trade and investment leader
=> Diverse mix of business and industry providing a wide range of employment
=> A well known "identity"

The completed analysis of San Mateo County's economy and infrastructure, as well as the strengths and challenges, provides a foundation on which specific strategies could be identified. The Blueprint provides strategic directions in the form of proposed Action Teams, again utilizing the established collaborative public/private sector participation model. The Blueprint calls for separate Teams to address defined challenges and develop specific strategies and action plans that would ultimately be presented to the Economic Development Advisory Council (EDAC) for implementation.

The resulting implementation of the Blueprint- Phase I is the San Mateo County Economic Vitality Blueprint, Phase II, the 1996-99 Strategic Action Plan.

An innovative two-tiered method for measurement of results and progress has been developed; individual Action Teams will rate their performance based on attainment of specific goals on a semi-annual basis, and a separate and independent Standards and Evaluation Action Team has been created to analyze the County's economic vitality using key indices as compared with the region, State and/or other major metropolitan areas against over-all goals.

In addition, the aggregate value of the design, creation and implementation of the Strategic Action Plan has been projected, yielding a net value of over $2.3 million for the first year alone.

Strategies are accompanied by specific action plans which identify what is to be done, by whom, within what time-frame, and at what direct and indirect cost.

It is important to note that this is a three year working Strategic Action Plan. While the individual action plans focus primarily on the first year implementation, attainment of their objectives will be carried into subsequent years. A semi-annual evaluation of each Team's progress, and goals will determine future action plans. An annual review will be done by the Standards and Evaluation Team to optimize results.

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