Greater Des Moines Partnership presents regional economic and talent data to Urbandale council

Representatives of the Greater Des Moines Partnership updated the Urbandale City Council on recent economic development and talent initiatives, describing lead generation, business retention efforts and new talent programming.

Tiffany Tauschek, president and CEO of the Partnership, opened the presentation and thanked Urbandale leaders and staff for regional collaboration. Stacey LaVine, senior vice president of economic development, summarized multi-year partnership results and sector trends, saying the Partnership “has worked with 759 projects that created 37,000 jobs and created an investment of $14,700,000,000 in the region” since formation in 1999.

The presenters described six target industries for recruitment and said roughly 87% of Urbandale residents commute outside the city for work while most workers in Urbandale live elsewhere; Partnership staff used third-party mobility data to make that point. Alex Lynch, director of regional community integration, outlined talent-recruitment work including a DSM MVP program launched in late 2024 that pairs new residents with community volunteers to build connections.

Stacey LaVine described business retention and expansion work, noting the Partnership conducts dozens of BRE (business retention and expansion) surveys each year and reported private-sector lead sources are predominantly local. Tiffany Tauschek and staff asked the council to continue regional coordination on policy and talent initiatives and thanked Urbandale’s chamber and city staff for ongoing collaboration.

Council members thanked Partnership staff for the briefing and noted regional collaboration on transit and homelessness work. The presentation concluded with an offer to follow up and answer questions and the Partnership’s invitation to the council to participate in upcoming regional events.

The session was informational; no formal council action was taken on the presentation.