TO: Members of the City Council
FROM: Mayor Angela Birney
DEPARTMENT DIRECTOR CONTACT(S):
Planning and Community Development
Carol Helland
425-556-2107
DEPARTMENT STAFF:
Planning and Community Development
Seraphie Allen
Deputy Planning Director
Planning and Community Development
Philly Marsh
Economic Development Manager
TITLE:
title
Approval of Startup425 Interlocal Agreement Amendments
OVERVIEW STATEMENT:
recommendation
Startup425 is a collaborative effort of five Eastside cities and the Port of Seattle that began in 2016 with a focus on fostering new business creation across all industries. The City of Bellevue began as the administrator of the collaborative effort between the cities of Bellevue, Issaquah, Kirkland, Redmond, and Renton. Kirkland has been the administrator of the program for the last four years and the program is now returning to City of Bellevue administration.
The ILA requested for approval is an update to the ILA approved by Redmond City Council on January 15, 2019. The ILA reflects the administration change and allows the opportunity for additional cities to join the collaborative effort.
Pre-pandemic the program found success in partnering with King County Library System (KCLS) to offer a series of classes for business creation. With the COVID-19 pandemic, the business assistance landscape changed. Many new business assistance providers entered the ecosystem to focus on business support and recovery.
Due to the changes in the entrepreneurship and business assistance landscape, it was important for the city partners to re-assess the Startup425 program to ensure it was meeting the current needs of businesses and gaps in business support. In 2022, the partners retained High Peak Strategies to identify opportunities to best fill gaps and needs with the Startup425 program.
In addition, the Eastside is now at a new unique moment economically. After a decade of strong growth at larger employers, those employers are reducing headco...
Click here for full text