Mayor Edwin M. Lee has made retaining and growing jobs and connecting residents to these jobs a priority of his administration.  This annual report is our account to residents, businesses, community stakeholders and city leaders about OEWD’s work for the City fiscal year beginning July 2015 through June 2016.   As you read you through this report you’ll see that across seven major areas, OEWD is working every day to improve lives, strengthen the city and create a San Francisco for everyone.

Neighborhoods are the heart of the City and through OEWD’s Invest in Neighborhoods Initiative we are ensuring our neighborhood commercial districts remain unique, vibrant and diverse.  Over the past fiscal year we provided $12 million in loans and grants to new and existing small businesses, filled 119 storefront vacancies in the corridors, and provided one-on-one assistance to 468 business owners, and strengthened local businesses and their workforce.

We believe in the dreams of small business owners and entrepreneurs, and want them to start, stay and grow in San Francisco.  This year we launched major upgrades to the San Francisco Business Portal, the award-winning one-stop online small business resource to help small businesses navigate the permit and license process.  We launched SF BizConnect and Shop and Dine in the 49, two buy local campaigns to help small businesses like Auntie April’s in the Bayveiw with an SF Shines grant and technical assistance.

Our neighborhoods are healthy when they are affordable, accessible, and livable. They must have a network of open space, transportation, and other public amenities to ensure our communities are sustainable. OEWD in collaboration with other City departments, and driven by community input, led several mixed use projects that were approved including 5M and Schlage Lock – all projects combined totaled 19,000 new housing units with 42% affordable to low and middle income families.

And because a San Francisco for everyone means housing and recreation as well as keeping our City as a destination – we led the negotiations of the Warriors Arena and re-activated the Old San Francisco Mint. As we work together to build affordable housing and the amenities that go along with these projects, we must also ensure our workforce can tap into the opportunities as a result of these projects including good paying jobs and skills through San Francisco’s local hire and training programs.

We are proud of our partnerships with community based organizations to connect residents in underserved communities to career pathways.  Over the past fiscal year OEWD’s training academies have provided more than 3,600 residents with employment, training and skills in high demand sectors such as construction, health care, hospitality, and technology.  We placed more than 1,200 participants in construction jobs through our nationally recognized CityBuild program.  More than 26,000 San Francisco youth have been placed in internships and jobs over the past five years through Mayor Lee’s Youth Jobs+.  We remain focused on creating jobs for residents who are unemployed, underemployed or have barriers to employment and connecting them to career pathways to quality jobs with livable wages and opportunities for advancement.

Since 2011, San Francisco has added 114,000 new jobs and as of June 2016 our unemployment rate stands at 3.6%, the third lowest in the State of California.  What’s more, this job growth is broad based with nearly every sector of the City’s economy growing.  But we’re also focused on the future.  As part of his inaugural address, Mayor Lee prioritized creating a Resilient City which is why in 2016 OEWD began work on a first of its kind Economic Resiliency Plan. This plan will provide a framework and recommendations for the City on how to prepare for a future economic downturn.

OEWD continues to implement sector initiatives to retain and grow businesses in manufacturing, nightlife/entertainment, and the life sciences. Through Mayor Lee’s budget, we received $6 million to develop and launch a new Nonprofit Sustainability Initiative to strengthen local nonprofits and help local organizations buy permanent space.  Over the past fiscal year OEWD worked to further diversify the City’s economy through international business development initiatives focused on China, Asia, Latin America and beyond.