Economic Development Strategy
Our city is experiencing significant change. Vancouver is no longer a bedroom community, but an economic driver in the region. We must be responsive to significant increases in population, employment, entrepreneurship, and economic activity.
In addition, Vancouver’s economy must be responsive to community priorities, such as mitigating the impact of climate change, addressing socio-economic disparities, and maintaining a high quality of live for residents.
If we are to maintain our competitive advantage and tackle unforeseeable challenges, it is essential that the city is strategic in its approach to economic development. With this imperative in mind, we recently launched an effort to create the City of Vancouver’s next 5-Year Economic Development Strategy.
The City’s approach to developing its new Economic Development Strategy will ensure that it aligns with our economic development blueprint – the Columbia River Economic Development Council’s (CREDC) Comprehensive Economic Development Plan – and clearly defines City roles and responsibilities relative to its local and regional partners.
The scope of the City’s Economic Development Strategy will focus on prioritizing programs and initiatives to support:
- Small businesses, entrepreneurship and innovation
- Neighborhood commercial districts
- Employment land and industrial development
- Job creation and target industry support
The City is committed to a community-led process. While the Vancouver City Council will ultimately approve and adopt the new Economic Development Strategy, an Economic Development Steering Committee has been created to help the City establish guiding principles, inform our long-term economic vision and provide feedback on actionable initiatives, strategies and investments.
In addition, a Core Planning Team, consisting of City staff and external stakeholders will meet 4-5 times over the course of the project to complete the heavy lifting of creating the Strategy. We are supported in this effort by ECOnorthwest, who is serving as our economic development strategy consultant.
Steering Committee Members:
Jen Baker, President/CEO, Columbia River Economic Development Council
John McDonagh, President/CEO, Greater Vancouver Chamber of Commerce
Ron Arp, President, Identity Clark County
Miriam Halliday, Executive Director, Workforce Southwest Washington
Mel Netzhammer, Chancellor, Washington State University – Vancouver
Karin Edwards, President, Clark College
Nicole Davidson Leon, Executive Director, Hispanic Metropolitan Chamber
Paul Burgess, Executive Director, Fourth Plain Forward
Michael Walker, Executive Director, Vancouver’s Downtown Association
Jordan Boldt, Executive Director, Vancouver Farmers Market
Matt Morton, President, Community Foundation for Southwest Washington
Patrick Adigweme, Chair, City of Vancouver Planning Commission
Jay Schmidt, Executive VP & General Manager, Silicon Forest Electronics + Hi Tech Council
Mike Bomar, Chief Economic Strategy Officer, Port of Vancouver
Tracey Fernandez, CFO & Interim CEO, SW Medical Center PeaceHealth
Cameron Hyzer, CFO, ZoomInfo
Marc Esrig, Principal, New BluePrint Ventures + Vancouver Innovation Center
Allie Persitz (Magyar), Chairwoman of the Board, Dynamic Events, Inc.
Julie Harrelson, Partner, Cascade Seed Fund
Charles Swatzell, CEO, Formos
Alan Hwang, Executive Director, Riff + CREDC Board Chair
Lance Killian, Chief Visionary Officer, Killian Pacific
Jason Presser, Director of Government Affairs, East Vancouver Business Association
We would love your input and thoughts on the future of economic development in Vancouver.
- What is your long-term vision for Vancouver’s economy? What is the ideal future state this strategy should strive to create?
- What must be accomplished over the life of this plan to improve economic outcomes for Vancouver residents?
- What specific strategies or initiatives should the City consider including it this plan?
Stay tuned for other opportunities to get involved.
