2016.02.08 CC Packet Goal Setting

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Housing and Economic Development • Continued competitive funding for the Minnesota Investment Fund and Job Creation Fund; • Continued funding for the Urban Initiative Program and other state programs to support minority business start-ups; • Continued support for the Bioscience partnerships among cities, companies and University of Minnesota; • Development of green opportunities for green job development and related innovation and entrepreneurship; • Economic tools that facilitate job growth without relying solely on the growth of property tax base; • Appropriate classification of indoor urban farms in the building code; • The Regional Competitiveness Project, a collaboration of the Regional Council of Mayors and the DEED's Business and Workforce Investment Boards with the goal of implementing a regional economic and workforce development competitiveness strategy for short and long-term economic growth; • The Itasca Project, an employer led project to drive regional efforts to keep the Twin Cities economy and quality of life competitive with other regions; • The Metro Business Plan initiative, a pilot project designed to highlight the emergence of metropolitan areas as a dominant source of economic and cultural power in modern America; • Greater MSP, a region -wide, private -public partnership whose mission is to stimulate economic growth in the 16 -county Twin Cities Metropolitan Region; • Funding "QED's," the Qualified Economic Development Lender loan guarantee program; • Small business financing tools, such as a state new markets tax credit program, mirrored on the federal program, which provides capital for business; • Tools, such as tax incentives, to attract and retain data centers and other IT facilities; and • Maintain existing municipal authority to establish a special service district (SSD), and support further study for allowing mixed-use buildings that have both commercial and residential uses to be included in an SSD. 28 2016 Legislative Policies