A payment of just over half a million dollars will go to Greater:SATX for its work last year recruiting potential employers to the region and developing the San Antonio workforce, if City Council approves.
The amount paid by the city into the organization’s annual budget of over $7 million is determined by a performance-based agreement put in place three years ago that was capped at $635,000 for services provided in 2023.
Because the economic development generator fell short of some of the 2023 goals set by the organization and the city’s Economic Development Department, the payment earned by Greater:SATX came to less than that — $506,162.
At a recent meeting of the council’s Economic and Workforce Development Committee, Sarah Carabias Rush outlined the organization’s end-of-year metrics and its proposed 2024 agreement, which was approved by the committee.
Founded in 1974, the mission of Greater:SATX is to increase the number of quality jobs in the San Antonio region by attracting employers and investment to the area. The organization is led by President and CEO Jenna Saucedo-Herrera and board Chairman Randy Smith, CEO of Weston Urban.
In 2022, Carabias Rush joined Greater:SATX as chief economic development officer and has pushed for more proactive business recruitment efforts.
“We have 73 total active projects today sitting in our pipeline that our team is supporting,” Carabias Rush said. “If all of those were to land within our region, it would be 10,000 new jobs and over $7 billion in capital investment.”
City Council will consider the proposed agreement with the organization’s goals for 2024 at a future meeting. The agreement is valued at $829,250.
Most funding — 70% — for Greater:SATX comes from the private sector, with the public sector making up the remaining 30%.
In 2023, the organization missed by about half its goal of adding 4,800 target-industry jobs and several other measurable objectives for 2023. Despite attracting companies like concrete products manufacturer Solidia Technologies and heavy equipment maker JCB, the number of jobs announced last year came to 2,466.
In 2023, Greater:SATX exceeded four of the eight goals on its scorecard. It had 1,256 lead pursuits generated, 56 more than it set out to achieve, and 65 leads converted to active projects, 41 more than goal.
Also, during the past year, almost $365 million in foreign direct investment was injected into the regional economy due to the organization’s efforts, Carabias Rush said.
In 2023, foreign investment came from Freshbook (Canada), JCB (United Kingdom), Alimentos Pacifico (Mexico), Simwon North America (South Korea) and Smurfit Kappa North America (Ireland).
Greater:SATX plans to direct more effort and spending in 2024 on foreign direct investment, Carabias Rush said, increasing its goal this year to $510 million.
“We believe that global economic development is going to be the critical element of our 2024 plan,” she said.
“If you look around the world, there’s a lot of geopolitical activity impacting business, and a lot of those companies around the world are looking to the United States and saying, ‘We need to be operating in the U.S. market.’”
The city is actively marketing San Antonio in Latin America and Mexico, said Brenda Hicks-Sorensen, director of the Economic Development Department.
That leaves Greater:SATX to focus on countries such as Canada, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom and South Korea, she said. Taiwan is also on its radar and a feasibility study on pursuing business in India is underway.
But because it is more costly to attract foreign investment than domestic, Greater:SATX is requesting an additional $194,250 in funding in the new agreement.
In the U.S., it is directing messages to companies in California, Illinois, New York and Washington, D.C., where key target sectors including the biosciences, aerospace and cybersecurity are concentrated, Carabias Rush said.
Last year, the amount of capital investment attracted by Greater:SATX came in at $337,570,000, far short of the $650 million goal.
“That is a really a reflection of what’s going on in the global economy right now,” Carabias Rush said. “We are seeing fewer domestic companies that are picking up and moving and expanding today. We’re not seeing that steady flow that maybe we saw five years ago.”
The goal set for 2024 in domestic capital investment goal is $340 million.
The agreement also calls for Greater:SATX to bring 6,000 new target-industry jobs to the region. Of those jobs, 80% should offer an annual wage of $50,000 or more and 100% should pay wages above the median income for the zip code where the job is based.
In 2023, the wage goals were the same. Of the 2,466 jobs announced last year, 68% were jobs with annual wages above $50,000 and 91% were above the median income by zip code.
That is the result of a shift in the way Greater:SATX pitches the city and its workforce, Carabias Rush said. “We don’t want to be known as the cheapest, lowest-cost market for companies — frankly, we aren’t that anymore,” she said. “But we’re having to turn that perception with companies that we’re engaging with … and that takes time.”
She also said more jobs are being created within the community than what that number shows. “These are specific to corporations that we’ve had the opportunity to support,” she said. Since 2021, Greater:SATX has brought more than 11,830 jobs to the region.
Another goal of the organization is to support business retention and expansion. In 2023, Greater:SATX provided support to 131 groups and has a goal of 200 this year.
Carabias Rush said that function is now led by Romanita Matta-Barrera, chief business advancement officer, and includes assistance with things like air service connectivity and workforce issues.
Several council members suggested that the jobs goals of Greater:SATX align better with Ready to Work, the city’s workforce training and education program started in 2020.
“But if [Ready to Work] is not being embraced by the business community, then we’re training up a bunch of people and that’s not translating into jobs,” said Councilman Manny Pelaez (D8).
