ORCA City

ORCA City,” Opportunity Resilience Culture and Access will challenge cities participating in the Aspen Institute Latinos and Society City Learning and Action Lab program and offer an innovative model to analyze and demonstrate their competitive advantages, potential partnerships, and workforce development. The objective of participation would include industry attraction, new sources of revenue, and employment via a “Shark Tank” style pitch to potential investors, and a two minute promotional video encouraging economic development and regional growth in support of the Action Lab goals established by each participating city.

Coming
Los Angeles
11.14.22

Action

Continuing the momentum from the Aspen Institute’s Latino Business and Entrepreneurship Initiative, the City Learning and Action Lab will work with Latino-majority communities to spur economic growth in regions where COVID-19 exacerbated long-existing inequities. The initiative is a hub and spoke model designed to support anchor organizations in each city to form an entrepreneurial ecosystem steering committee composed of 8 to 10 key cross-sector leaders. Committee members will coalesce around strategic priorities and implement solutions to boost and sustain the local Latino business economy. 

Who Can Compete

Chicago

El Paso

San Bernardino

Phoenix

Miami

San Antonio

About The Orca

Orcas are highly intelligent and able to coordinate hunting tactics.

Orcas are recognized as among the most widely distributed mammals on the planet, occupying every ocean. They are incredibly social, diverse and ferocious marine predators with a diet ranging from penguins to great white sharks.

An orca’s body is cylindrical and tapers at each end to form a hydrodynamic shape. This shape, along with the orca’s large size and strength, makes it among the fastest marine mammals, able to reach speeds in excess of about 34 mph.

Orcas are apex predators, at the top of the food chain. No animals hunt orcas. Killer whales feed on many different types of prey, including fish, seals, sea birds and squid. They can also take down whales larger than themselves, such as minke whales, and they are the only animal known to predate on great white sharks.

Novel Economic Canvas

Cities will utilize a Novel Economic Development Business Model Canvas that will assist with pitch development. ORCA City will explore advantages, partnerships, and competencies cities uniquely  offer. ORCA City will culminate in a city-level pitch for investment, industry attraction, and workforce development.  

UNIQUE VALUE PROPOSITION

Cities will identify Entrepreneurial Service Organization networks, Action Labs RFA’s, tourism strengths and infrastructures.  All driven by data.

EDUCATION AND WORKFORCE

Learn how city anchor institutions strengthen and advance the workforce. Resources include housing, transportation, childcare and healthcare.

TARGET INDUSTRIES

Identifying target industries that attract and retain talent are critical to compete in a global marketplace. Cities will demonstrate how to strengthen target industries, build commercial corridors creating action.

CHALLENGES

ORCA City will surface city challenges to help implement solutions.  What resources are employers demanding to ensure wages are competitive? What impediments are affecting entrepreneurship. 

 

PARTNERSHIPS & PUBLIC RELATIONS

How cities maximize partnerships and strategically channel their public relations to diverse sets of populations will accelerate action. Backed by data-driven decisions, communications among partners will build trust long term.

COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE

Cities that position their economic competitive advantages by fostering opportunity zones, creating frictionless entry points to access capital, entrepreneurial resources that impact social capital. 

KEY METRICS

Cities will present on key metrics such as  changes in unemployment, changes in Upskilling/Reskilling participation, Improvements to rural areas and target industry impact.

COSTS AND INCENTIVES

What incentive programs do cities have in place and how often are they used? What additional costs, if any are associated with these programs?

IMPACT ON REVENUES
  • Federal funding
  • Changes to tax
  • Licenses and fees
  • Asset monetization