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Quarterly economic development report: apprenticeships, foreign‑trade activity and shop‑local campaign gains
Summary
Office of Economic Development and Cultural Affairs reported apprenticeships, the foreign‑trade zone’s national ranking, a shop‑local campaign increase in web traffic and new business improvement districts; committee accepted the quarterly report.
Carlos Velasquez, public information manager for the Office of Economic Development and Cultural Affairs, presented the quarterly economic development activities report covering October–December.
Highlights - National Entrepreneurship Month: More than 300 attendees at the city’s event; 19 businesses honored with Business of the Year and Legacy Business Awards (examples cited: Pink Elephant Bakery, Happy Donuts, Heartbeat Cafe). Staff said award and outreach materials will be shared with council offices for newsletters. - Workforce and apprenticeships: Manufacturing tours reached about 550 students. Staff reported 30 semiconductor apprentices in an 18‑month apprenticeship program—12 of whom are San Jose residents—with participating companies including Applied Materials, Infinera and Western Digital; the program will begin completions soon. - Foreign Trade Zone: San Jose’s Foreign Trade Zone 18 accounted for about $25.5 billion in activity and 30,000 employees in 2023, noted staff; a seminar on FTZ topics is planned for May. - Shop Local campaign and business neighborhoods: The Office’s holiday campaign pages received more than 20,000 visits (a 49% year‑over‑year increase); partners reported a 4.5% increase in foot traffic to key business neighborhoods and a 9% increase in downtown holiday visitors (about 2 million visitors cited). Two new business improvement districts (Eastridge/Tully Road and another corridor) were established and could raise up to $549,000 annually combined. - Major partnerships: City facilitated a memorandum of understanding with NVIDIA on AI workforce training and other initiatives; staff noted NVIDIA’s expanding local presence and the GTC AI conference downtown.
Action Vice Mayor Rosemary Camay moved to accept the quarterly status report; the committee approved the report.
Ending Staff said they will continue event and training outreach, share workshop calendars with council offices and expand data-driven measures of economic impact where possible.
