Watson Wire: Announcing AWE

During SXSW in March, a bunch of mayors, ministers and ambassadors from foreign cities and countries came by City Hall to visit with me. I teased that there must be some international rule that requires an official to attach a picture of themselves with the Austin mayor to get their travel reimbursed.

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Austin is envied around the world as a focal point in a worldwide economy. Other cities — other nations — look at us and want to be a part of our success. They want to partner with us, be our Sister City, engage in trade.

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Many of the people and businesses moving here are coming to capitalize on our region’s incredible economic growth. And for those who’ve been able to take advantage of our success, Austin has been a land of opportunity. But along the way, lots of folks have been left behind, including many long time Austinites, who can no longer live in the city they love.

Changing the Paradigm

For a while now, many have judged the success of Austin’s economic development approach by almost exclusively focusing on how many new jobs we created each year. We count the number of new W-2s, pat ourselves on the back and then start all over again in the new year.

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I absolutely want us to keep creating jobs. But it’s time for us to evolve our model and create a greater focus on getting more of the people living here participating in the economy — by putting them into those new jobs and by providing better help to those who live here and want to create jobs. We need to focus on the person — the Austinite — we want in the created job and not just the creation of the job.

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As we address Austin’s affordability, we’ve tended to focus on subsidizing housing or building more units to address supply and demand and drive down costs. Another important way to make meaningful progress on this issue is by adding solutions to the family income side of the equation — helping Austinites make more money, so they can more afford living in Austin.

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My goal is to shift Austin’s economic development paradigm to be unapologetically focused on helping the people in Austin participate in and enjoy more of our prosperity.

The Mayor’s Task Force for Austin Women Entrepreneurs

A key part of my overall plan is creating the Mayor’s Task Force for Austin Women Entrepreneurs (AWE). AWE is charged with exploring actions the city, our higher education institutions, non-profits and private sector partners can and should take to more robustly support women entrepreneurs.

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This town is loaded with enterprising, talented women ready to take the risks to start and grow businesses. It’s also loaded with resources for helping those women achieve success. But our entrepreneurial ecosystem needs to be more inclusive and equitable. I’m excited that?Carla McDonald, founder and managing director of the investment firm Dynabrand Ventures, will be the Chair. The initial AWE members will be?Cristina Silingardi,?Lauren Washington,?Jan Ryan, and?Mellie Price. We’ll announce additional members later.

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I’ve asked this excellent group to report back shortly after the first of next year with pragmatic, actionable recommendations. We will immediately begin implementing those things that will enhance the ability of Austin’s entrepreneurial women to see dreams fulfilled in business and successful job creation.

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I’m excited to see the coming recommendations. AWE will be a great catalyst for Austin, helping us align our assets to make Austin the #1 city in the world for entrepreneurial women to start and build businesses.

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There’s More?—?Building Community?

AWE isn’t the only way we’re looking to shift our eco devo model. In the coming years, there will be $25 billion in transportation infrastructure in the works for our community, including the airport expansion, I-35 reconstruction and Project Connect. This essentially creates a distinct economic development sector —workforce for creating infrastructure.

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Austin should see mobility and infrastructure projects not as building a rail line or a tarmac or a road, but as community building, providing the means for Austinites to build careers and financial security for their families.

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We’re going to use these public investments to relentlessly focus on making sure Austinites have the training and education to access good careers while we improve mobility.

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We have an opportunity to invest in our local talent — in particular, our young people, to capture these high-opportunity jobs with the right training and support. These are well paying jobs that lead to careers and economic mobility.

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One of the biggest obstacles for anyone to take advantage of job training and other economic opportunities is access to affordable, quality childcare. For many Austin families, childcare is the second-biggest monthly expense, behind only housing. When parents can’t find affordable, accessible childcare, it impedes their career growth. And a lot of the times — it’s women who see their career opportunities dwindle due to this lack of childcare.

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The pandemic shined a bright light on the childcare crisis and we’re not going to squander this moment. We’re working with community leaders, business leaders, and providers to put together a plan of action to invest in childcare.

Imagine if the recommendations made by AWE helped us partner and assist some of the women entrepreneurs running home-based small businesses that provide quality early childhood care and education. I think that would be something pretty neat.?

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We’re still in the formative stages on some of this and there will be a lot more in the coming months. But we’re absolutely focused on fostering opportunity for everyone in this community.