CEO Update

What an amazing amount of positive media in the past few weeks: 

Bloomberg, June 22, 2017 – Reno Is Starting to Look More Like Silicon Valley.

A great national piece on the exciting growth in our manufacturing sector, as the community undergoes a transformation.  “Thousands throng to the weekly Food Truck Fridays near downtown, dudes play cornhole while sipping cold brew coffee at a cafe by the river, and a local bartender can’t quite keep track of the number of craft breweries. The hipster scene helps young workers imagine moving to Reno.”  View the Bloomberg article here.

Outside Magazine, July 2017 – 25 of America’s best towns ever. 

 Reno made the list and was highlighted as America’s “best low-key hideout and home to the world’s tallest climbing wall (located at the Whitney Peak), year-round desert mountain biking, a half-mile long downtown whitewater-kayaking park and the 55-degree chutes at Mount Rose.”  Chris Murray, at the RGJ, wrote a great piece that highlighted his top nine reasons why Reno is one of the “best towns ever.”  Go here for the article.

VentureBeat, July 3, 2017 – Reno entrepreneurs praise low costs, but cite capital and talent challenges.

 “Starting a tech company in Silicon Valley is very, very hard, so doing it elsewhere would be even more difficult. But is it?”  Weighing in at a recent VentureBeat event, a panel of three entrepreneurs from Reno, discussed what it takes to build companies there.  Cheaper rent, a supportive business community, and a high quality of life were cited as being among the benefits of starting a tech company in Reno. “If there was one thing I might have done sooner and better, it would have been to move to Reno earlier,” Capstak’s Goldman said. Here is the article.

National Public Radio – July 3, 2017 – In Reno, Nev., Homegrown Startups Fuel Tech Transformation.  

“Reno, NV has been enjoying a tech boom for a few years. Apple and Google are building data centers there. Tesla has an aptly named Gigafactory. As NPR’s Arun Rath found, homegrown startups are helping to drive Reno’s tech transformation.”  Here is the public radio ad.

Politico Magazine, June 25, 2017 – America’s 11 Most Interesting Mayors. 

Congratulations to Mayor Hillary Schieve, The re-inventor. “Reno is best known for its casinos, lax divorce laws and “Reno 911!” But these days it’s also becoming a hub for tech entrepreneurs and companies, pulling coders and data analysts from far more expensive Silicon Valley four hours to the west.  The woman now at the center of this transformation is Hillary Schieve, a 46-year-old political outsider who has her own remarkable transformation story.”  Here is the magazine article.

The EPIC Report with Actual Numbers updated.

Now over two years into the five year EPIC report projections of over 52,400 new jobs, we are still on track as Tesla, Panasonic and Switch continue to ramp up their hiring efforts. Here are the Actual Numbers Graphs.

Housing continues to be a concern, but it looks like we are making progress:

The chart below shows the number of permits for new housings units (including apartments and condos) pulled so far this year, compared to last year and compared to what is a goal of 6,000 per year, the number we were at before the recession.  Permits pulled is the only way to track the progress on a monthly basis.  At, 6,000 units a year we will be meeting the expected demand for housing based on current and projected job growth.

Here is the latest RGJ article: Let’s Take Our Trails and Bikeways To The Next Level! 

While we may have a fair assortment of trails in our region, we are far short of what should be our goal, a connected and maintained system of trials for all to enjoy.  For a community that has embraced the outdoors as a key component of our brand, we have neglected our trails and the many advantages they bring for far too long.  There are so many benefits that come from an integrated, connected and maintained trail system that we must address this important need for many reasons. Read the  full article here.

Prior EDAWN articles, published in the RGJ, are stored on our website.

Here is the link to the library.

Help!!  Taxi-Tops are still available! 

We need your help to clean up our taxi-tops so please consider adding taxi-top advertising to your marketing plan now and in the years ahead. We have 25 taxi-tops available and if we cannot keep the taxi-tops filled with family friendly messages, they will revert to those that are less reflective of the “new” Reno-Sparks. Just $1,000 for the entire year! Contact Tamera Pitts at 775.829.3700 or email pitts@edawn.org.

Business Development

The BD Team closed the fiscal year with the addition of more than 3,200 jobs and 26 new companies to the region.

This trend has had and will continue to have a positive impact on our economy and also as many of the 12 company headquarters have become actively engaged in our communities since relocating here and bring higher paying jobs.

In the month of June, 13 companies met with the BD team, including one that will be represented for incentives at the GOED Board meeting later this month.

Kudos to Chris Ault, Jr. who took the lead in the majority of these site visits. A big thanks goes to our partners who participated in these meetings and in some instances helped to make the client connection for EDAWN.

30 new leads and projects were added to the pipeline in June for a total of 217 for the year (a 50% increase from 2 years ago).

This activity level showed no signs of slowing down going into the summer months, as is often the case.

Partner Section

The Governor’s Office of Workforce Innovation (OWINN) is hosting the Governor’s Workforce and Innovation Solutions Conference on July 14, 2017 in Las Vegas, at the Clark County Government Center.

This statewide conference will highlight innovative ideas, practices, and policies to support Nevada’s workforce. Three key workshops will also be offered on Apprenticeships, K-12 and post-secondary alignment to in-demand industries, and Workforce Policies from the 79th legislative session. The conference is free to attend with registration. Go here to register.

Major Investor Of The Week

Neeser Construction – Turnkey General Contracting firm specializing in Design/Build, CM/GC and Development Services. We deliver successful projects, from purchase of land to occupancy, on time and on budget. Click here for the following article: US Builders Review: Neeser Construction Case Study.