2013 Guelph Wellington Economic Summit Moving forward on key issues March, 2013

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1 Develop a regional brand The County and City are discussing this initiative The City has a new marketing brand ( Invest in Guelph ) The County has a new Economic Development strategy (including plans to develop a County brand) There is a Ministry of Tourism brand for the region/area (part of RTO #4) Grow Guelph is an economic development brand (it may be the brand for the BR&E program) The Township of Centre- Wellington Economic Committee is re-branding themselves (and restructuring how they work) There are multiple brands that are neither consistent/coordinated Opportunity to reduce the total number of brands Opportunity to do more brand nesting Guelph-Wellington is a relatively smaller economic unit there is a risk of being lost in the bigger geographic context Opportunity to tap into/connect with the Canada s Technology Triangle brand Opportunity to identify with the GTA West brand Need to place ourselves in the broader Ontario context and showcase selling benefits unique to the area (if marketing internationally, the focus is on Ontario) Need to emphasize attractiveness of location and connectivity to multiple markets (very central) Explore options for developing a master brand that could include nested City and County brands (and potentially including others: Grow Guelph; Downtown Advisory Council; etc.) Develop key messages in support of the regional brand or brands: City/County/Province and potentially the Region of Waterloo (that would be business and corporate-friendly) could have different brands if supporting messages are aligned Check-in with RTO #4 and explore linkages Establish a sub-committee to gather and review existing brands and assess implications and identify recommendations for moving forward Explore the potential for major companies to co-brand with the region s brand Page 1 of 7

2 Workforce development Program in place for youth at risk Multiple action plans in place/being developed About to release local labour market plan (evidence-based data) and related action plans Upcoming initiatives: promote occupations in manufacturing and health care; promote SMEs to the employment service provider network Innovation Guelph events promoting entrepreneurial activity and interest in employment in SMEs Career Education Council is conducting career fairs for Grade 8 and high school students Chamber of Commerce Workforce Development Committee is working on High youth unemployment rate Opportunity to look at issues from an employer s perspective and a resident s perspective Lot of skilled labour in the 50+ age group that could be tapped Underutilized skills/people Barriers to jobs (e.g. disability; lack of transportation; etc.) Opportunity: CARP is starting a Guelph group Employers cannot find employees for certain things Brain drain youth and others are leaving/not being retained or attracted to the area Identify future sector labour needs and identify gaps and strategies for filling them Facilitate a meeting between career planning/job fair personnel and workforce planning staff to ensure coordination and appropriate topic focus (i.e. promote the types of jobs that will be available) Distribute Workforce Planning Board existing reports in a consolidated manner The Local Immigration Partnership (LIP) does a lot of work with newcomers there is an opportunity to share program information with Summit attendees Reduce barriers to labour Page 2 of 7

3 co-op and up-skilling within the workplace Employer recognition programs for those who hire people at risk and give them a chance Lutherwood is working on a mentorship program Conestoga College has a program for those ages 55+ (TIOW: Targeted Initiative for Older Workers) force mobility Provide/disseminate updated information for travel flows (home-work travel patterns) Coordinate the various workforce planning activities (and related organizations) Establish some action teams to focus on key issues Page 3 of 7

4 Regional transportation Staff level coordination with MTO and the Grand River municipalities have assembled existing data and identified gaps (and are looking to develop a Regional Transportation Plan covering all modes) GO Transit is offering new service (albeit limited) Private bus services exist to some degree From a demand side: various universities and colleges in the region need to move students and employees to/from these institutions this need has been captured in a travel survey Home-work travel analysis has revealed changing patterns The region s largest labour interchange is with Waterloo (and somewhat to Peel region/halton Region/the GTA) there is a push for greater GO service to/from Toronto Additional transportation infrastructure is required (e.g. Hanlon interchange) Opportunity for private bus services to move employees to/from major employers Opportunity to link/connect Guelph Transit and Grand River Transit to enhance service Goods movement considerations Produce the regional transportation plan Terms of Reference (estimated in 2014) and proceed with the Study Mobilize the community to help advance MTO s and the province s timelines (reconvene elected officials and encourage them to approach the Ministry to expedite the RTP) Need to expand/enhance two-way GO train service (more trains, shorter trips) Explore linking Guelph Transit and Grand River Transit to facilitate inter-jurisdictional travel New highway 7 City to push it as an HOV and transit facility as well Implement Highway 124 as an upgraded facility, Page 4 of 7

5 including a transit corridor (could lobby the province for assistance) Explore a short-line rail connection between Guelph-Waterloo Add GO Train service with a regional focus (using the Fergus line) Accelerate Hanlon improvements/upgrades Develop a regional transportation network to connect the region s colleges and universities Page 5 of 7

6 Issue Area What s currently being done? What are the key gaps/opportunities? Small business assistance Chamber of Commerce, GWBEC, WWCFDC, and Innovation Guelph offer small business roundtables to help connect this group to information and resources doing more outreach to promote what s available and working better in partnership with one another Grow Guelph is completing a BR&E study Various programming, workshops, seminars, and other activities to assist small business UoG and OMAFRA have Highly Qualified People providing interns for small business LIP has an internet portal and employer toolkit DGBA holds monthly small business meetings The County and City of Guelph support Taste Real assists small business/small food companies Promoting and connecting small business with the timely information, programs, resources, tools, etc. for which they are looking What are the potential actions? Better promote the programs that are already available (but that may not be well known) Conduct regular small business visits Outreach to ethno-cultural communities use City neighbourhood services personnel to get the message out Conduct needs analysis with small businesses Establish a website/searchable database with links to all small business resources Develop local value chains e.g. larger companies accessing things locally and utilizing small business Page 6 of 7

7 Municipal processes to facilitate business development City is reviewing its development processes (interdepartmental review) Downtown Advisory Committee is tackling business development in the downtown Downtown secondary plan and parking study is underway The Enterprise Development Unit (that emerged from the restructuring) is addressing issues re: how City Hall can be more business like Brownfield redevelopment incentives are available from the City Facilitating land development for larger professional developers (need to differentiate between Greenfield, Brownfield, infill, etc.) Assisting the general business community ( end users with their own land) with such things as turn around times/consistency of the process re: rezoning, site plan approvals, permitting, etc. Roll-out of an implementation framework for improved development and investment processes Making better use of technology (BizPal) More dialogue with business Moving Forward: There was agreement with the concept of creating small, action-focused working groups potentially established as Connect Guelph sub-committees to advance initiatives within each of the issue areas described above. Page 7 of 7