Complement, not compete

Complement, not compete!

Cities don't grow by accident.

They grow when the people building them stop working in silos and start working toward the same thing.

On Monday, July 20, four leaders sit down at Founders Square for an honest conversation about how Tacoma actually grows. Not a panel of predictions. A working conversation about what it takes to move a city forward together, and what gets in the way when everyone protects their own lane.

Why this room, right now

This conversation was originally convened for a visiting delegation of entrepreneurs from South Korea who came to see how an American city builds its economy from the ground up. Rather than keep it behind closed doors, we opened it to Tacoma.

If you want to understand where this city is headed, and who is actually steering it, this is the room.

The panel

• Hyun Kim, City Manager, City of Tacoma
• Joe Lawless, Chief Strategy Officer, UW Tacoma
• Katie Condit, Chief Executive Officer, WorkForce Central
• Moderated by Reid Fetters, Founder, Tacoma Rising & UrbanWork

City government. Higher education. Workforce development. The private sector. Four of the pillars a real economy stands on, in one room, on the record.

What we'll get into

• What "Complement, Not Compete" looks like in practice, not just on a slide
• How Tacoma keeps its talent instead of exporting it to Seattle
• Where the private sector, the university, the city, and workforce actually connect, and where the handoffs still break
• What has to be true for Tacoma to be the best place in the Puget Sound to start and grow a business

Details

Monday, July 20
2:00 PM
UrbanWork Rhodes Center, 950 Broadway, Tacoma

Free to attend. Registration required, and seating is limited.

Who should be here

Founders. Business owners. Students. Civic leaders. Anyone who is tired of watching a city get talked about and wants to see the people doing the work.