THE OLD MODEL FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN TALLAHASSEE/LEON COUNTY

The Tallahassee/Leon County Community Redevelopment Agency Board has consistently indicated it was in the business of "bricks and sticks."  Exceptions to this approach include the limited, small grants that support community festivals such as those funded in 2014:  the Sci-Fi Film Series, ArtiGras Festival, Living History Demonstration, and more.  

Little support has been given directly to the promotion of economic opportunity, retention and expansion of existing businesses, job creation and retention, and the recruitment of new businesses to encourage growth in areas experiencing insufficient economic growth. Although “economic development” is not specifically defined in the Florida Statues, Chapter 163, the statute governing community redevelopment agencies, it suggests that it includes economic development as described above.  

Economic development can include tourism, mixed-use development, home building, creating infrastructure, acquiring real property, beautification efforts, commercial area revitalization, and transportation.

The tax increment funding from the CRA is one method to finance economic development and is not mutually exclusive to other methods. There are other funding sources available, which include bank community development corporations, federal and state tax credits and incentives, programs through the US Department of Housing and Urban Development such as Community Development Block Grant funding (CDBG), State Housing Initiatives Partnership (SHIP), HOME Investment Partnerships Program (HOME), Business Improvement Districts, state of Florida affordable housing programs such as State Apartment Incentive Loan program (SAIL) and others.  

THE OLD MODEL FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN TALLAHASSEE/LEON COUNTY:

In November 2012, the following list of resources was submitted at the Leon County Commercialization & Technology Transfer Stakeholder Forum identifying resources in Leon County in the following areas:  

• Product Development 
• Equipment 
• Networking & Mentorship 
• Legal, 
• Marketing, 
• IT, & Commercialization Assistance 
• Business Admin. Training 
• Workforce Training

The following entrepreneurial resources were identified:

1. Florida Venture Forum
2. Vision 2020
3. Tallahassee Community College - AMTC
4. Tallahassee Community College - Capitol Center
5. SCORE at Tallahassee Community College
6. FL Institute for Commercialization of Public Research
7. EDC & Workforce Plus - Quick Response Training Program
8. EDC - Entrepreneurial Excellence Program
9. EDC - Industry Sector Roundtables
10. FAMU Small Business Development Center - 1 on 1 Counseling
11. FAMU Small Business Development Center - Business Mentoring
12. FAMU Small Business Development Center - Resource Library
13. FAMU Office of Technology Transfer
14. FSU Office of IP Development & Commercialization
15. FSU Research Foundation - GAP Program
16. Jim Moran Institute for Global Entrepreneurship - General Services
17. Jim Moran Institute for Global Entrepreneurship - InNOLEvation Accelerator
18. Leon County Research and Development Authority/ Innovation Park - Incubator
19. Leon County Research and Development Authority/ Innovation Park - Tech Grant
20. Silicon Tally
21. Startup Round
22. Summit East
23. TalTech Alliance
24. Tallahassee Business Resources
25. Making Awesome (formerly Tallahassee Fab Lab)

Add the business incubator, Domi Station, to this list.  The creation that emerged from this forum.