2030 Comprehensive Plan Update, April 2024

Economic Development

As of the 2016 Comprehensive Plan Update, substantial progress had been made on several of these: • A new Office of Economic Development & Innovation has been created within the City Manager’s Office to be the lead agency on all economic development activities. • The City Council has adopted and implemented new economic development tools to attract industry and spur reinvestment in areas of the city in need of jobs and commercial activity, including a Business Investment Grant and Building Upfit Grant. • The city has decided to make small business development a strategic focus of economic development efforts. • The new Raleigh Arts Plan highlights the link between economic development and the arts.

• Inadequate employment opportunities for persons who currently have a weak attachment to the labor force; • A desire to increase the amount of base employment; • Pressure to convert competitive employment sites to residential and commercial uses; • Opportunities to harness the benefits of culture, arts, entertainment, hospitality, and tourism to create jobs and enhance the city’s quality of life; • An important base of creative industries, including the arts, sciences, research and development, and architecture and engineering, that should be expanded and enhanced; • A need to target the city’s resources to areas of identified need that also provide opportunities for economic development; and • The need for one city agency to be responsible for Economic Development. Currently, city economic development initiatives are conducted by a variety of city departments.

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