To: Honorable Mayor and Members of City Council
From: Vin Smith, Community Development Director
Prepared By: Neal Harrison, Development Project Coordinator
TITLE:
Title
Creative Space and Local Manufacturing Action Plan (Make It In Napa Initiative)
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RECOMMENDED ACTION:
Recommendation
Receive an overview and recommendations from the Creative Space and Local Manufacturing Action Plan.
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DISCUSSION:
In 2021, the City of Napa was awarded a federal grant from the Chamber of Commerce's Economic Development Administration (EDA) to advance the City's local manufacturing and creative sectors. Engaging two nonprofit consultants and developers, Artspace and PlaceMade, the EDA grant allowed for "The City of Napa's Creative Space and Local Manufacturing Action Plan" report ("Action Plan"). From March to November 2021, the aim was to develop an Action Plan to make Napa a place where the manufacturing, maker, and creative sectors and their workforce can thrive. This initiative was named "Make It In Napa" and had a unique webpage: www.makitinnapa.com.
Representatives from Artspace and PlaceMade, alongside the City's Economic Development team, will provide an overview of the Action Plan for retaining and attracting individual artists, creatives, makers and their making and manufacturing business.
Background and Purpose of the Action Plan
In 2019, the Bay Area Council Economic Institute delivered the "City of Napa Economic Action Strategy". This study concluded that there was a significant opportunity to sustainably grow the City of Napa's creative and local manufacturing sectors. Investing in, and building thriving, local manufacturing and creative ecosystems will provide living wage jobs for diverse, local residents. This investment would also advance the prosperity of Napa and provide much-needed resiliency and economic diversification to help weather disruptions like the COVID-19 pandemic and local wildfires. The result would be a stronger, more diver...
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