The Northern Waterfront Economic Development Initiative (NWEDI) covers the historic industrial northern part of the County, from Hercules to Brentwood, between Highway 4 and the Bay/Delta, and was first approved as a County work program in 2013. The NWEDI has oversight from the Northern Waterfront Ad Hoc Committee (Committee) of the Board of Supervisors, which meets as needed. At the direction of the County, two plans have been completed, and are coming forward to the Board today.  
  
The Strategic Action Plan (SAP) by Craft Consulting has been in development for about a year, building on the larger NWEDI process, with extensive public involvement from a variety of stakeholders. The Northern Waterfront Conceptual Framework for Human Capital report was completed in mid-2018 by Emerald HPC International. It was a detailed review of the people and partnerships needed for mission-aligned workforce programs in the Northern Waterfront, focusing on the East Contra Costa sub-region as the first pilot. The two documents are intended to be complementary, with the SAP focused on what government agencies can do, and the Conceptual Framework as a guide for the non-profit and philanthropic sectors supporting the workforce.  
  
The full SAP (Attachment A) has a Vision Statement of "Healthy, vibrant communities with quality job opportunities for all residents in an environmentally sustainable, globally-competitive regional economy." The SAP provides an overall blueprint for future economic growth in the region, helping to coordinate actions and track progress on the ground toward the shared goals. It builds on five broad target industries related to advanced manufacturing to identify specific actions which the County and seven city partners can implement individually or collectively. The SAP codifies many ideas raised since the inception of the Northern Waterfront Initiative, as well as many actions successfully underway already in one or more partner cities. The cities are also being asked to formally approve the SAP after the Board. Because the SAP lays out a jobs strategy for a sustainable future, many of the actions are replicable in other parts of the County, not just the Northern Waterfront.  
  
The SAP specifically addresses job retention and creation in the 21st century; it is intended to complement, not replace, each agency’s existing policy documents. In the case of the County, the SAP does not replace either the General Plan or Climate Action Plan; both those documents contain many important goals dovetailing with the SAP’s focus on “clean and green” jobs and they are both adding more over time. One example is a County-initiated General Plan Amendment approved by the Board of Supervisors on December 4, 2018, which requires new large commercial or industrial buildings to incorporate emissions reductions measures.  
  
There is a need for a more structured arrangement among the partners to facilitate collaborative actions and/or pooling funds. The partner cities and County staff will be convening as a working group to implement the SAP, beginning with developing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) document that is the necessary tool to implement the SAP. The MOU will allow the partners to move forward with the SAP’s menu of options by pre-approving a process for future joint participation in the NWEDI projects as a full set or subset of eight agencies. The MOU will come forward for approval by each governing board when a draft is complete. A few examples of the type of projects that may be contemplated in the MOU include an East Contra Costa marketing plan, a NWEDI opportunity sites website, and a sub-regional goods movement study. Ongoing governing structure of the NWEDI will also be discussed as part of the MOU.  
  
The Conceptual Framework for Human Capital (Attachment B) was conceived as a blueprint for deepening the partnerships needed to support full participation in the workforce among historically underserved communities. It also improves the understanding of the workforce characteristics of the local residents, many of whom are highly-educated, skilled professionals. East Contra Costa receives a special focus in the report, which incorporates in-depth interviews with all the key stakeholders working in the NWEDI area on human capital issues. The Board is being asked to accept it rather than approve it because in many ways its implementation lives outside the County government, among the many high-quality partners who serve workforce needs in the region. It was presented in detail to the Committee at its meeting of May 3, 2018.  
  
The most recent round of public comments on the SAP were received at the three Committee meetings in 2018; many were addressed where possible in the public review draft presented at December’s meeting. Other comments were reviewed and addressed in a Response to Comments document that was part of that December Committee meeting packet. On December 5, 2018, the Committee recommended approval of the Strategic Action Plan with a few additional edits based on comments heard at that meeting, which have been added, acceptance of the Conceptual Framework, and continuing on with an MOU and implementing projects, to the full Board.  
  
At the December meeting, the Committee discussed the tentative plan to hold a Northern Waterfront forum this spring, to mark the launch of the implementation phase in coordination with the cities. The working group and additional partners will be developing the plan for the event, and more information will be forthcoming to the Board soon. Additionally, because the planning documents are lengthy and not oriented to laypeople, staff is working in-house on a user-friendly "magazine" type handout that will explain what the Northern Waterfront Initiative is all about, for distribution in the community. While not finalized, the latest draft of the magazine is included for the Board's reference as Attachment D.

If the SAP is not approved, the Northern Waterfront Economic Development Initiative work will continue but in a less organized, mission-driven way, slowing implementation and results.

It is intended that the Strategic Action Plan will give today's children more options for living-wage jobs closer to their communities of residence, improving their quality of life as adults in the workforce.

Public speakers: Doug Sibley, Marti Roach, Jan Warren, Eric Rehn, Kristin Connelly, Vin Rover.