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City’s contracted economic partners report outreach, minority-business supports and referral activity
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Summary
Commerce Lexington, Community Ventures and Jubilee Jobs reported referral and outreach activity, minority-business supports and a range of business-assistance services during the annual update to the committee Sept. 16.
Amy Glasscock, director of business engagement, summarized the city’s contracted economic-development partners Sept. 16, highlighting recruitment and retention work carried out by Commerce Lexington, small-business and minority-business supports through Community Ventures, and direct-services and employer connections through Jubilee Jobs and the Work Lexington program.
Glasscock said Commerce Lexington operates under the Lexington Economic Partnership branding and conducted outreach and retention meetings; the presentation cited 56 on-site or direct business meetings in the reporting period and noted that Commerce Lexington contacted more than 100 businesses and met with 56. The partnership held four sector group meetings focused on manufacturing, biotech, tech and Bluegrass Station interests.
For minority and community business development, Commerce Lexington’s programs include an accelerator, an access-loan program and financial-literacy sessions. Community Ventures targets businesses with under $500,000 in annual revenue and provides one-on-one counseling, entrepreneurial development, training and events; Glasscock cited figures for clients assisted and for amounts of funding secured, and said Community Ventures worked with 10 minority business clients on financing options in the period (staff said they would provide later detail on how many of those clients actually secured funding).
Jubilee Jobs serves as the direct-service partner for Work Lexington, Glasscock said, providing orientations, employer connections and monthly job-seeker services; the presentation described two Work Lexington orientations per month and a role in promoting workforce events.
Council members asked for year-over-year comparisons and breakdowns for certain figures; Glasscock said some data (for instance, the Community and Minority Business Development numbers) cover Jan. 1 to June 30 because that agreement began in January and that she would follow up with requested comparative data.
Ending
The chair noted the partner contracts are awarded through a competitive RFP process every two years and reviewed by the Economic Development Investment Board. Council members expressed interest in connecting downtown merchants with partner services and requested more granular funding-outcome data from staff.
