Adopt Resolution #21-124 Approving Anoka Area Chamber of Commerce Manufactures Cohort 2020-2021 Renewal 
 

The purpose of this case is consider renewal for the Anoka Area Chamber of Commerce Manufacture Cohort 2020-2021 

Chamber Background
The City of Ramsey is a member of the Anoka Area Chamber of Commerce.  The Anoka Area Chamber of Commerce has a rich history of success in catering to the needs of retail, food, and professional service industries.  The Chamber specializes in events, marketing, and networking.

Manufacturing Coalition/ Manufacture Cohort Background
In 2015, the Chamber identified the need to better serve the large "manufacturing" sector physically located in the Chamber's service territory.  Commonly, the Chamber's standard "events/ marketing/ networking" opportunities do not provide significant value to manufacturers.  NOTE: the Cities of Ramsey and Anoka share a roughly 1,000 acre business park that includes over 10,000 jobs--most of said jobs are manufacturing (or related to manufacturing).

With this in mind, the Chamber began a "sub-group" known as the "Manufacturing Coalition" about five years ago.   The group has now self identified as the Manufacture Cohort.  The mission of the Manufacture Cohort is to: become a catalyst for strengthening community manufacturing; accelerating transformation into a more efficient and powerful engine of innovation, job creation and economic growth.

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In summary, the Manufacture Cohort is a group of leaders from local manufacturers that meet periodically to discuss and address issues unique to their industry and identify an ongoing topic list.  In some cases, meetings are purely the exchange of best practices. In other cases, the Manufacture Cohort asks the Chamber to implement and develop a service or product to help the group.  The Manufacture Cohort, through Chamber Staff, has routinely facilitated outreach with Legislators, businesses, and school districts to drive initiatives developed by this group. 

Staff attended a Manufacturing Signing Day event held at Anoka Technical College in February 2019.  This event was well attended by both businesses and high school students.  The event is geared to educate potential future workforce about the manufacturing field and the demand for workers.  Staff also attended a another Cohort event in May 2019, including a presentation on the state of manufacturing industry and trends. The businesses in attendance seemed engaged and the event was well attended. Staff has attended other events since and has found them to be engaging and helpful to Ramsey businesses. A list of Ramsey businesses that have participated in Cohort over the past year is included as an attachment.

Although the Chamber does receive some funding for the Manufacture Cohort via subscriptions from manufacturing businesses, this initiative needs financial support to keep operating.  The purpose of this case is to consider continued support of the Manufacture Cohort by providing $5,000 for the 2020-2021 program year.  These dollars would be utilized for "facilitation/ operation" expenses related to the Manufacturing Cohort (meetings/communications/ etc.).  NOTE: the City has supported the program 2016-2020.

The Manufacturing Cohort has provided attachments recapping the 2019-2020 timeframe, outlining a work plan for 2020-2021, a listing of participating Ramsey businesses and words of support from Ramsey businesses . The current focus is on workforce development, education and coordination.  Mr. John LeTourneau serves as the facilitator of this process on behalf of the Anoka Area Chamber of Commerce. 

Mr. Letourneau has been active over the past year working on workforce issues and education. His work has included research and education in the most recent trends relating to workforce readiness and coordination between school district, professional and industry partners.  He has also presented increasing access and equity in career & technical education to the Bipartisan House Career and Technical Education (CTE) Caucus in Washington, DC.  He has worked the the Department of Labor and Industry and worked to get Cohort Members connected to grant programs and education opportunities. In addition, Mr. LeTourneau was involved in outreach to the Cohort to work with connections to the Payroll Protection Program (PPP) and Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) readiness.

Due to COVID-19, there has been less programming and events available for Staff.    Here are the structured events and meetings that City Staff has attended since in 2020

• 1/23/20 Rapid Packaging Tour - Champlin
• There was a July 2020 Manufacturing Cohort - Covid and Manufacturing that staff did not attend.

Consistent with the past several years, the City is being asked to consider funding $5,000.00. This expense has historically come from the EDA Budget. 

Other Trusted Sponsors that have provided 2019-2020 financial support for the Manufacture Cohort include: Anoka Technical College, Connexus Energy, Anoka Public Utility (City of Anoka), Village Bank and Rapid Packaging. The City of Anoka has renewed for the 2020-2021 year.

On a 5-2 vote, the EDA discussed this item at the January 14, 2021 and recommended that the City Council to continue its contribution to the Anoka Area Chamber of Commerce Manufacture Cohort.

A copy of the January 14, 2021 EDA Minutes is attached.

Motion to adopt Resolution #21-124 approving Anoka Area Chamber of Commerce Manufactures Cohort 2020-2021 Renewal.