The Office of Economic Vitality is an economic development model that ensures accountability, transparency, citizen engagement, and professional management of economic development projects. The Office of Economic Vitality aims to develop programs and initiatives while simultaneously leveraging ideas, innovations, and intellectual capital through the continuous coordination of the community’s economic development partners.
The Office of Economic Vitality is here to assist clients in securing local, state, and federal support to keep the cost of doing business in Tallahassee-Leon County competitive yet equitable. We want you to succeed by providing:
- TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE in identifying the resources and capital you need to grow your business.
- SITE SELECTION GUIDANCE to ensure you find a location tailor-made for your business.
- INFORMATION GATHERING on consumer spending patterns, real estate trends, and labor market statistics to help guide your decisions.
- MWSBE CERTIFICATION to set your business apart from the rest by attaining procurement opportunities.
- PERSONALIZED WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE so your business can find and growthe workforce of tomorrow.
- RESILIENCY SUPPORT for all businesses, including developing robust resiliency plans to help recover from any future natural disaster.
At OEV, we maintain a personalized approach to helping our local businesses and will customize programs and assistance to meet your specific needs. Contact us, we’re here for you.
For our community to truly move the needle, it will take all of us and the Office of Economic Vitality will serve as our community’s keystone economic development organization in our ecosystem. What does this mean for you? It means that the Office of Economic Vitality team will engage our community partners to ensure that a sustainable, transparent, and collaborative economic development process is in PLACE.
Governance
Our community is fortunate to have a stable local economy supported by strong local businesses, excellent schools, progressive local governments and a wealth of talent due to the presence of our institutions of higher education. Recognizing the need to invest in and cultivate this evolving landscape, the County and City Commissions approved becoming only the second community in the state of Florida to include economic development as part of their sales tax initiative. On November 4, 2014, 65% of the voters approved a 20-year extension of the sales tax, which included 12% (estimated at $90.7 million) set aside to support economic development projects, programs, and initiatives.
In order to support, sustain and propel our collective economic development efforts, a new model, the Tallahassee-Leon County Office of Economic Vitality, was created within the consolidated Department of Planning, Land Management, and Community Enhancement (PLACE) and under the governance of the Intergovernmental Agency (IA) on February 29, 2016. The IA Board of Directors is comprised of the Tallahassee City Commission and Leon County Board of County Commissioners. For more information on the IA Board and agendas for upcoming meetings, visit the Blueprint Intergovernmental Agency website. The Intergovernmental Management Committee was established to administer OEV, recommend policy to the Agency, and carry out its long-range direction. The Committee includes the Leon County Administrator and the City of Tallahassee Manager.
Staff
The Tallahassee-Leon County Office of Economic Vitality staff has a highly-qualified and dedicated team committed to supporting the business community. We are actively engaged in fostering a business-friendly environment and are here to help with all of your business needs. Meet the Office of Economic Vitality staff.