Action:

Convene thought leaders, analysts, entrepreneurs, and tech startups to focus on technology development and adoption that could reshape travel and tourism.

Background:

Thanks to the internet, the ways that people travel have changed drastically in a short span of time. Technology has made traveling safer and less time consuming, changed the way we book a flight or room, the way we are informed of events, or seek advice to sightsee a city. It has allowed us to have more personalized experiences, helped us to surpass language barriers, and even changed our packing routines. It is also impacting how destinations and those in the tourism industry market their products and services.

For example, data analytics, cloud computing and devices which are connected to the Internet-of-Things allow personalization for a better customer experience. Smart conversational interfaces have become more useful in providing feedback and answering customer questions. Free mobile connectivity not only allows travelers to share their experiences with others through social media easily, it also allows a destination to collect data about their travelers during different steps of the visit— which can help them sell the right product to the right visitor at the right time.

How To Adopt This Approach:

Identify an experienced tech accelerator partner and decide the size and cadence
of your cohorts (the Singapore Tourism Accelerator runs two rounds a year, each
with up to 12 companies).

Create an application process with clear selection criteria for admission to the accelerator. Promote the program extensively, through government colleagues, tech membership groups, incubators, universities, social media, conferences, and in person.

Design an accelerator program. The Singapore Tourism Accelerator consists of two phases:,a 2-week “acceleration” bootcamp, and a 3-month “pilot” phase. The bootcamp comprises modules, workshops, mentoring sessions, and events to help program participants define value propositions and use-cases, in collaborations with matched industry partners. During the pilot phase, participants work with industry partners to build prototypes and assess the feasibility of scaling up their solutions. The prototypes are funded by industry partner grants.

Finally, plan a demo day for participants to showcase their solutions to a wide set of industry partners and investors.

Action:

Invest in financial coaching programs designed specifically for small businesses with a particular focus on serving minority, female and LMI entrepreneurs.

How to Adapt This Approach:

• Work with partners (e.g., local/ethnic chambers, technical assistance providers, merchant groups) to assess the financial education needs of local businesses, particularly MWBEs. Conduct a survey, hold focus groups and interviews with entrepreneurs to identify gaps and existing resources
• Build a coalition of partners (e.g., education institutions, technical assistance providers, CDFIs, local/ethnic chambers etc.) that are trusted and located in target neighborhoods and have experience offering business support services to local entrepreneurs. Utilize these individuals to help design curriculum for small business financial coaching
• Work with the coalition to develop a proposal for expanding financial coaching. The proposal should include the goal, the need/opportunity, the coalition of partners, the program design, location, staffing, budget, metrics, timeline/next steps
• Determine where the program will be housed, which will depend on the lead partners involved. Cities may want to house the program at the City or have a nonprofit take the lead and the City provide funding and support
• Use the proposal to raise funds to launch the program. Pitch local banks, philanthropic partners, and corporations (especially those serving low-income and communities of color) on contributing financially, providing in-kind support or advising the program. Partners will also be necessary to help train counselors, promote the service, etc.
• Hire staff. Number of FTEs depends on how many locations financial coaching for entrepreneurs will be offered, or if the whole program will operate out of one location. If partnering with multiple community organizations, there should be at least 1 FTE per location. If housing in one primary location, consider hiring 2-3 FTEs and scaling as needed. Ensure staffing is representative of the community being served
  – Staff must be trained professionals with experience in financial coaching for small businesses and entrepreneurs. Make sure to have clear training standards for counselors
  – Offer 1-1 appointments and have call/email options. A group class is much less effective, as people are hesitant to discuss personal financial circumstances in this format
• Launch program with active outreach and media campaigns. Leverage partners in the community to reach business owners (e.g., merchant associations, local/ethnic chambers, community groups, etc.). Ensure that banks and financial institutions provide information about the service
• Track and publish KPIs on a regular basis. Include aggregated demographic and neighborhood data on entrepreneurs being served, services provided, outcomes, etc. (See KPIs section)

Action:

Seek a commitment from local universities and hospitals (“eds and meds”) to procure more goods and services from local, target, small businesses; and help them to identify and engage qualified firms. Tie the program to a small business capacity-building technical assistance program.

How to Adapt This Approach:

• Identify a strong, local nonprofit with a mission to support MWBEs, or galvanize the creation of a consortium
• Allocate dedicated nonprofit and City staff and/or seed funding
• Identify, convene local universities, colleges, hospitals, and other anchor institutions with significant, permanent locations in the city
• Prepare persuasive messaging and data about both the problem and the difference that the institutions could make
• With the support of your Mayor, reach out to at least 3 leaders from these institutions (CEO, finance officer, and government affairs officer). Make sure the leaders are aligned on a common agenda and understand any barriers to the institutions working together
• Convene the institutions’ leaders, encourage them to make commitments to procure local, and to instruct their organizations to cooperate. Encourage them to make these commitments public in due course
• Consider possible incentives, including around land development, and/or tax breaks.
• Go out and pitch for corporate and philanthropic funding, which can be used to recruit staff, purchase data, run events, provide TA, etc.
• Conduct an assessment of each anchor institution’s procurement practices. Develop an individualized action plan and procurement goals with timelines for each institution. Encourage anchors to publish a rolling forward plan of their procurement needs
• Work with local/ethnic chambers, business organizations, and private sector data companies to identify and develop a list of MWBE providers. It is critical that this list is verified and that providers are vetted before being forwarded to anchors. In particular, create a repository of vetted MWBEs through requests for information and market surveys, which evaluate providers’:
  – Products and Services: price, quality, industry experience
  – Management Capacity: RFP development and response, account support
  – Operational Efficiency: staffing, accounting, technology
  – Financial Capacity: revenue growth, bonding
  – External Presence: online presence, community impact, references
• Refer MWBEs, which are found not to be competitive to business support organizations and technical assistance so they can become competitive in the future
• Establish a data-tracking system to capture key metrics to measure success of the program

Short-term planning: ensuring an inclusive recovery

For cities that have not already convened a multi-sector set of partners to identify and address the needs of immigrant and refugee communities as part of their overall COVID-19 response and recovery planning, the first step should be to bring the right set of partners to the table.

This effort should be:

• Multi-sector: This group must include representation from local government, as well as organizations that serve immigrants and refugees, such as refugee resettlement organizations, local Offices of Immigrant Affairs, and other community-based organizations; and may also include chambers of commerce; universities; private corporations, community foundations, and financial institutions; and faith-based organizations.
• Data-driven: Cities should make use of existing metro-level research on immigrants and refugees (e.g., New American Economy’s Map the Impact which provides metro-level economic and demographic data about immigration), as well as local surveys of immigrant and refugee business owners. Cities should collect data on country of origin and/or language requests as part of service delivery (e.g., through small business relief funds), taking care to not include questions about immigration status or keeping such information confidential, if it is necessary to collect.
• Empowered to make and implement recommendations: Recommendations made by this group should be advanced as part of the city’s overall response, adaptation and recovery effort, including policy change and the development of new targeted programming.
• Locally and/or privately funded: Due to federal funding restrictions, immigrants — especially undocumented immigrants — may be left out of COVID-19 relief funds and other forms of federal aid, assistance or benefits. Unrestricted local public dollars or private funding should be tapped to ensure that all small business owners, regardless of immigration status, are able to access the necessary support and resources.

Action:

Work with partners to create a loan or grant product focused on MWBEs and LMI small businesses.

Ways to Help Displaced and Unemployed Workers Re-enter the Labor Market

Background:

In order to respond to rapidly shifting and dynamic market adjustments, re-engaging business leaders, re-examining data, and identifying short-term and long-term action plans has become crucial to meeting both workforce supply and demand needs. Additionally, proactive efforts are being generated by industry themselves, and our efforts to help support these initiatives have required some flexibility in coordination and alignment.

The examples below represent city-led and workforce-aligned efforts to strengthen connection to education, training, and work-based learning opportunities; financial supports; and rapid reemployment that attempts to address the needs of particularly hard-hit communities with a focus on equity and the development of career pathways, as well as impacted industries.

Many local, regional and statewide efforts have sought to address the needs of businesses and workers through a variety of strategies considered promising practices that succeeded in the last economic downturn, aligned with more recent innovations. Most have leveraged existing sector strategy efforts and some have provided employment supports for virtual learning and virtual work initiatives, as well as the transition of workers to new career pathways based on transferrable skill sets.

Some local efforts have included new innovative twists to respond to the specifics of this COVIDrelated crisis, two of which we are highlighting for you.

Ways to Help Displaced and Unemployed Workers Re-enter the Labor Market

Background:

In order to respond to rapidly shifting and dynamic market adjustments, re-engaging business leaders, re-examining data, and identifying short-term and long-term action plans has become crucial to meeting both workforce supply and demand needs. Additionally, proactive efforts are being generated by industry themselves, and our efforts to help support these initiatives have required some flexibility in coordination and alignment.

The examples below represent city-led and workforce-aligned efforts to strengthen connection to education, training, and work-based learning opportunities; financial supports; and rapid reemployment that attempts to address the needs of particularly hard-hit communities with a focus on equity and the development of career pathways, as well as impacted industries.

Many local, regional and statewide efforts have sought to address the needs of businesses and workers through a variety of strategies considered promising practices that succeeded in the last economic downturn, aligned with more recent innovations. Most have leveraged existing sector strategy efforts and some have provided employment supports for virtual learning and virtual work initiatives, as well as the transition of workers to new career pathways based on transferrable skill sets.

Some local efforts have included new innovative twists to respond to the specifics of this COVIDrelated crisis, two of which we are highlighting for you.

Each example, to varying degrees, includes the following essential elements:

1. Heavy reliance on real-time labor market information, partnership alignment, and employer engagement: All involve rapid assessment of data and realignment to new priorities and hit upon the key promising practice for all workforce efforts — they are industry-aligned or employer-led, and a broad swath of key trusted partners are engaged. There is a clear commitment to high-demand industries and occupations.
2. Braiding traditional and more flexible funding sources: In each case there is a clear effort to align general funds, emergency grant funds and/or philanthropic funds to braid with traditional workforce development formula funding to ensure flexibility and responsiveness to immediate needs.
3. Commitment to equity, as well as student and job seeker supports: These efforts have implemented new tools such as equity frameworks and rubrics in the recruitment and screening process, with a focus on transferrable skills between sectors, assistance to get back into the labor market in a temporary position and financial support to supplement temporary position income so that participants can also study part time to gain new skills. Each incorporates a heavy focus on worker and student wraparound supports such as case management, career navigation, and legal and mental health services.

Key Challenges:

Rapid partnership building

MOED and the Health Department had not previously worked this closely before on a combined effort at this scale. The entire initiative was built on leveraging virtual tools such as Zoom and Webex, from remotely coordinating partnership alignment and communication to recruitment efforts.

Prior to the pandemic, the Health Department had not previously relied on the workforce system for hiring needs, and did report having struggled at various times with recruitment and identifying applicants who meet the needs of a specific position but had not aligned themselves with the workforce system.

Through this new program, the Health Department expressed their satisfaction with the candidates that have been onboarded and working for a few weeks now. Baltimore Corps’ work to identify candidates who would be successful in this environment has been pivotal to their success.

The Health Department would recommend to other similar departments that are uneasy at taking on this challenge that it really has been an incredible experience, they are very happy and pleased with the results thus far and are looking forward to continuing the relationship.

Summary of Project Impact

The team has received 4,500 applications since the program launched on June 4, 2020. As of November 6, over 200 applicants have accepted offers to join the Health Corps, and nearly 175 have already started their temporary positions with HCAM and the Health Department. To serve these staff, the Mayor’s Office of Employment Development hired five career navigators and placed approximately 100 participants into community health worker (CHW) training through the Baltimore Alliance for Careers in Healthcare.

The program team has contracted with University of Maryland School of Public Health to act as external evaluators. They will track standard workforce metrics as required by their grants but are looking to move beyond the traditional measures. They are also evaluating the public health contracting side of the project, as well as care coordination. The team will also conduct a post-intervention analysis to determine if the Health Corps program led participants to long-term employment within a health care career pathway.

Case Study #2

Train for Jobs SA, San Antonio, TX

• Training stipend of $15/hr
• Up to $450 per week
• Up to 10,000 residents by September 2021
• Anticipate 80% receiving wraparound support

In May 2020, Workforce Solutions Alamo (WSA), in partnership with the City of San Antonio and Bexar County, established Train for Jobs SA, a training program designed to quickly upskill dislocated individuals for high-growth industries and occupations.

In addition to free training, participants also receive weekly stipends and significant wraparound services to support successful completion of the program and then placement into a job. The program was made possible through the commitment of the City of San Antonio and Bexar County officials who prioritized workforce development as their leading strategy to guide the city into and through recovery from the pandemic.

The overall goal of the program is to provide economic stability for those who are displaced as well as ensure the talent needed to support local industry is available as businesses begin to recover. Train for Jobs SA aims to serve up to 10,000 San Antonio and Bexar County residents by September 2021.

Eligible participants enroll via phone, and once in the program, complete a skills and career assessment. Participants may then be enrolled in high school equivalency preparation, or short-term, long-term or on-the-job training, all of which are aligned to in demand occupations in the city’s target industries and growth occupations. There are a myriad of training courses available, both on and off of their Eligible Training Provider List (ETPL).

Qualified participants are eligible to receive stipends of $15/hour (for between a minimum of 6 hours and a maximum of 30 hours per week) for actual time spent in an approved training program, up to a maximum of $450 stipend per week. The stipend is made available for the full length of the training, with a focus on participants attaining new skills or credentials and keeping them engaged after the training to advance on a career pathway.

Train for Jobs SA is also a key driver supporting the City of San Antonio’s long-term goal of decreasing economic segregation. The program developed and uses an equity matrix questionnaire to identify participants in specific areas who are more at risk and prioritize them for enrollment and additional services.

Up to 80% of program participants are anticipated to receive comprehensive wraparound support such as case management, career navigation, and connection to other Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA)-funded services.

Action:

Lead the way in aligning small business services into a more unified, client-centered, data-driven business support system with a focus on MWBEs and LMI small businesses. The system should have a consolidated point of entry for small businesses support to triage, navigate, and refer entrepreneurs to the city’s broader business support network.

How to Adapt This Approach:

• Assess the effectiveness of the current small business support system
  – Reach out to a diverse set of small businesses, business groups and local stakeholders through one-on-one interviews, focus groups and surveys. Be sure to engage communities of color and LMI businesses to understand the specific needs of their communities
  – Evaluate reporting and outcome data from business support providers and any City run programs. Review the profile of which business (e.g., sector, size, business type, ownership profile, neighborhoods, etc.) are receiving the most and least amount of services and how effective those services have been
• Build a coalition of business support providers (e.g., nonprofits, academic, other government agencies, etc.) to review findings of the assessment, agree on shared goals for aligning the system and develop a project plan to advance these goals
• Develop a comprehensive map of the small business support services available in the city.
  – Take a client centric approach to identify missing services, determine gaps in the system where entrepreneurs get stuck or fall through the cracks, and assess which services are most and least effective
  – Consider language access, cultural competency, outreach/proximity to high need communities and other factors when evaluating existing services
• Working through the coalition of business support providers, develop an implementation plan with specific actions to create a more unified system. These actions could include:
  – Establish one support provider or City agency to serve as the primary point of entry for small business services— triaging, navigating, and case managing the small business through the business support system
  – Draw on the comprehensive service map to create a consolidated business portal designed for small business clients to quickly understand, navigate and access business services
  – Agree to a uniform set of KPIs. Develop a unified data system/client relationship management (CRM) tool to track a business clients experience across the business support system and measure impact
  – Create a “community of practice” with regular meetings so providers can coordinate on cases, share best practices/challenges, conduct trainings and coordinate on the delivery of the implementation plan
  – Develop new programming to address gaps in services. Cities could fund these services directly or advocate for philanthropic, corporate or other governmental funding sources.
  – If the City is contracting for business support services with nonprofit providers, include as part of the contract requirements to coordinate on the above elements
• Partner with merchant associations, local/ethnic chambers, and other community groups, which are trusted partners in the communities, to drive outreach, promote and connect harder-to-reach businesses to business support
• Track and publish KPIs on a regular basis. Include aggregated demographic and neighborhood data on businesses being served, services provided, outcomes, etc. across the entire system. (See KPIs section)

Action:

Work with local communities to develop marketing campaigns which will give residents and nearby travelers reasons to explore your destination’s “off the beaten track neighborhoods”.

Background:

Travel restrictions to and from countries combined with insecurity regarding crowded airport terminals and flights mean that domestic tourism is likely to recover much more quickly, and local holiday options and weekend staycations are increasing in popularity.

Even before the pandemic, the U.S. domestic tourism market was worth nearly U.S.$ 1 trillion. Since 2020, many destinations have focused on growing domestic tourism, including programs to encourage residents to explore their own cities. These include initiatives focused on marketing and promotion, as well as financial incentives.

Examples:

• As part of its All In NYC campaign, New York City’s NYC&Co created weekend neighborhood guides, such as Exploring Black-Owned Harlem, and a Tour Your Own City program, to encourage residents to explore different parts of the city.
•  London created “Because I’m a Londoner” citywide campaign to inspire a recovery in consumer spending by encouraging residents to responsibly rediscover the capital and support local businesses, organisations, areas and places. It also created the London Alliance, a community of 500+ businesses, which were provided with free assets to use as part of the campaign. The campaign increased consumer confidence by 5% and led to a 43% uplift in frequency of going out.
• Toronto, Canada created a program called Bag of Toronto, which encouraged residents to purchase goods from different city neighborhoods. Cleveland created a similar program, called Cleveland in a Box.
• Visit Houston marketed coupons and deals on its Houston Experience Marketplace to local residents. The marketplace is delivered in partnership with Bandwango’s technology platform, and generates income for the DMO.
• Geneva, Switzerland gave overnight visitors gift cards preloaded with 100CHF (~$110) which could be used at a range of hotels, restaurants, cafes, bars and on activities around the city.
• Explore France partnered with cities to create a campaign #CetÉtéJeVisiteLaFrance, to inspire its citizens to explore 21 city-regions across the country.
• Little Rock convention bureau partnered with the local historic association to create a series of audio guides for walking and driving tours. The tours have been enjoyed by students doing remote learning and will be marketed for visitors to come.

Guidance:

Bloomberg Associates has created a “how to” guide to create a neighborhood tourism campaign, which can be found at Appendix 2.

We have also created a “how to” guide to segment your target audience, which can also be found in the Appendix.

We are not, therefore, able to share a case study of emerging good practice by a DMO at this time.

Action:

Invest in and partner with local CDCs, technical assistance providers, district management associations, merchant associations, and other nonprofit partners, which support MWBEs and businesses in LMI communities. Examples include sponsoring fellows or secondees, building philanthropic support, and providing small grants for board development or succession planning.

How to Adapt This Approach:

• Identify possible municipal or Federal (e.g., CDBG dollars) funding to invest in a nonprofit capacity building program
• Develop goals and grant eligibility criteria
• Determine the staff resources and expertise required to administer the funding and provide technical assistance and program management support to the recipients
• Reach out to nonprofits with local trust and cultural competency, as well as organizational capacity, to support MWBEs
• Use a tool like TCC Group’s Core Capacity Assessment Tool to assess a nonprofit’s ability to achieve its mission
• Facilitate best practice sharing and group technical assistance among grantees
  – Develop cohort learning opportunities including workshops, corridor tours, subject matter trainings, and convenings
  – Create and moderate a platform for grantees to communicate and share successes outside of formal convenings (e.g., Google Group, Slack, Facebook group, etc.)
  – Foster connections with other City agency resources; request staff from other departments (e.g., parks, sanitation, transportation, planning, etc.) to speak to community-based partners about their services
• Design an outreach plan to market fellowship opportunities to residents in priority neighborhoods; post information on local neighborhood anchor websites and brick and mortar locations and with local universities’ alumni networks
• Establish a tracking system to collect data from partners to measure program impact