The time is now 10 a.m.

on May 4th, 2026, and the meeting of the Economic and Workforce Development Committee is now called to order.

Madam Clerk, can you call the roll?

Yes.

Councilmember Castillo?

Councilmember Galban?

Councilmember Mesa Gonzalez.

Councilmember Spears.

Chair Via Gran.

Here.

Chair, we have quorum.

Great.

I'll be allowing the member speakers two rounds of comments per item with three minutes the first round and three minutes the second round.

If y'all want to take your six minutes just straight because you have only that many questions, you can if you'd like to hear from the other members, we can do that too.

Uh item number one first item on the agenda is approval of the minutes.

Are there any corrections to the minutes?

Can I get a motion and a second to approve the minutes?

There's a motion and a second to approve the minutes.

All in favor say aye.

Aye.

All opposed say no.

Motion carries.

Madam Clerk, are there any members of the public signed up to speak?

No, Chair.

All right.

With that, um, we'll move on to item two.

Item two is a consideration of applicants to the ready to work advisory board.

Can we get a staff presentation?

Good morning.

I'm Jamie Nietzel, Assistant City Clerk.

I'll be presenting background information about the San Antonio Ready to Work Board and our overall process.

The Ready to Work Advisory Board advises the workforce development office on an in-demand occupations, training, and local employer needs, allotment of workforce programs from year to year, and client support.

The board is composed of 13 members representing local employers, city workforce program participants, trade labor organizations, community organizations, training providers, and higher education institutions, and two liaisons appointed by the mayor.

Each member serves a four-year term.

On December 11th, 2025, City Council approved an ordinance establishing a new board seat designating to represent an organization serving individuals with high bearers.

For an organization serving individuals with high bears.

The communications and engagement department released a web and social media posting on July 29th and September 16th for the trade and labor seat and on February 24th for the organization serving individuals with high bearer seat.

By closing date of April 2nd, 2026, we had received a total of 15 applications.

The city attorney's office vetted 15 applications, and 12 were eligible.

An ad hoc committee was formed by the chair, and that included district 5 and district 8 council members.

The ad hoc committee reviewed all 12 applications and saw list shortlisted to six applications.

The committee will interview those applicants today and make a recommendation to the full city council.

City council will vote on the full board appointments during an A session.

After the vote, the city clerk will notify the appointed individuals and ask them to complete the proper forms.

Administering the oath of office and inviting them to complete the municipal leadership institute training.

Once these steps are completed, they can be seated on the board.

On this slide, you will find the list of individuals that have been placed on the short list for the different categories.

Marty Garza is not here today and did not provide a written statement.

The process today will begin with each applicant providing a two-minute opening statement.

All candidates will be sequestered during the interviews and will not be able to listen to each other's answers to the questions.

The council committee will interview all applicants, then move into executive session to deliberate.

No formal action may be taken in executive session.

Afterward, the committee we will reconvene, and a committee member will make a motion for a recommendation to the full to forward to the full city council for appointment.

This concludes my presentation.

Thank you.

Are there any questions?

All right.

Okay.

Well, with that, without that, I guess we will start with the interviews.

And I want to thank all the applicants for your interest in serving on the ready to work advisory uh board.

We will now begin interviews.

Each applicant will have a two-minute opening statement, and the committee will ask questions.

I'm asking all except the first applicant to leave the room, and that first applicant would be Mike Pena, if you could stay.

Um, and then committee members, I remind you that if you ask the question, try and ask it of all those that were interviewing for this specific category.

All right, have we removed all the other applicants?

All right.

Mr.

Mike Fenya, the floor is yours.

Thank you.

Good morning.

My name is Michael Pena, and I am a 16-year member in good standing with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, uh, local 60 here at San Antonio, my hometown.

Now it's customary for our members to include their unity card number upon introducing themselves to each other and uh when addressing the general membership of our of our meetings.

Uh my ticket number is 7760787.

Uh, I currently serve as the recording secretary of my locals executive board.

Uh I have sat on our negotiating committees on two separate occasions, and I am the current president and one of the founding members of our electrical workers minority caucus or the EWMC.

Uh I did my electrical apprenticeship with the South Texas Joint Apprenticeship and Trading Committee, where I'm now currently responsible for performing interviews of potential candidates.

And after my apprenticeship, I spent about three years working on the road uh across various uh IBW locals.

Uh that span from Massachusetts uh to California.

Um I've stood on the picket lines and marched with members of Unite Here Local Two during the Marriott strikes.

I've block walked, phone booked or phone bagged for uh labor-friendly candidates, and um I've attended several IBEW conferences um for education and networking purposes.

I'm seeking a position on the ready to work advisory board because I have a commitment to labor with the big L, uh meaning organized or not organized.

Um throughout my travels from coast to coast, um, I've had uh conversation with members from every industry, and um you know, the the desperate need to expand the workforce across all industries uh in order to promote better opportunities, higher wages, and stability seems to be the same regardless of where you wind up at.

Um now, as a member in the chapter president of EBMC, though our stated goals are many, a main focus is to promote equity, equal opportunity, and employment for minorities and underrepresented workers at all levels of the IBW structure.

Plan to take that across uh all industries, not just uh IBW and electrical.

Um I take that goal to heart, and that said, I believe my lived experiences both in and outside of the construction industry give me an insight to uh into exactly what the ready to work program is attempting to achieve.

I appreciate your time, and I look forward to your line of questioning.

Thank you.

All right, we'll let um committee members Spears and Galvan start with questions just because Councilwoman Mes Gonzalez and Councilman Castillo sat on the subcommittee.

So uh Councilman Galvan, would you like to begin with the question?

Well, thank you so much for your uh introduction today, and thank you for applying.

Um, first and foremost, uh basing your experience, what workforce needs or skill gaps are most pressing for the workers you represent?

I'm sorry, what we're saying?

Based on your experience, what workforce needs or skill gaps are most pressing for the workers that you represent?

For me, I would say definitely trying to get more folks into the apprenticeship programs, you know, uh the trade industries.

Obviously, I I come as a union member 16 years.

Um, and so what we've noticed is a glaring lack of electricians, uh plumbers and what have you.

Um, you know, I happen to work uh at the Toyota plant currently and uh work with iron workers and everybody, and so like I said, the conversations we've been having are pretty much the same and universal that moving forward with the with the work outlook for the next five years, we are wildly under understaffed.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Councilman Spears.

Thank you, Chair.

How does your occupation align with the goals and objectives of this board?

I would say that uh again, as it's it's all gonna fall back on being a union member.

Um, being that I've been in the electrical industry for the last um 16 years, I've done everything from you know, obviously spending the five years in my apprenticeship, one year as uh as almost like an intern, I guess, because we were I was uh unindentured, and then the next uh what is it, five or or ten years um as everything from a journeyman in the field, both here in Texas and and across the country, as well as a foreman and and a general foreman?

Um so I've seen kind of like the needs, you know, basically across the board uh for just about everything.

Thank you.

Uh Councilman Castillo.

Thank you, Chair, and thank you, Michael, for your interest in serving uh the city of San Antonio with uh uh serving potentially serving on the San Antonio Ready to Work Board.

I have two questions.

One, right, attendance is really important in terms of ensuring that labor's voice is present in the ready to work conversation.

So uh first question do you have the capacity to attend the set ready to work meetings to participate and engage and represent labor?

And then also my second question is what ways do you feel that you could forge stronger relationships with labor unions beyond IBEW to ensure that they're also included in the conversation?

Absolutely.

Uh so first of all, yes, absolutely.

I know it's what is it every third Thursday between one and three, so make sure I kept that in mind.

Uh the current I hold allows me or affords me the opportunity to kind of take time aside for opportunities like this.

Um that's why I'm able to make my executive board meetings every other Monday.

Um, and of course, my union meetings every uh what is it, second Wednesday of the month.

Uh so shouldn't be a problem.

Um, in terms of trying to expand beyond just you know the IBW electrical industry.

I've actually particular participated in a um it's kind of a conglomerate of trying to put together ideas for climate care uh across not just you know union industries but all industries, carpenters were there, uh there were members of the school, school unions, um, and so I believe that you know, throughout my my travels, throughout my time here in San Antonio on various groups, boards, and whatnot, uh, that I've kind of spread those those uh relationships around and uh continue to plan on working on that.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilman Councilman Meskin Zoss.

Thank you.

Thank you for uh applying and being here today.

Uh in-demand careers are consistent or constantly shifting.

What experiences will keep you uh abreast of those changing dynamics?

So, one of the uh interesting things about the the conferences that I've been to, the most recent one, of course, is talking about the changing industry, uh, obviously in particular, you know, with the IBEW, but um obviously trying to keep abreast of all that when it comes to just about every industry, you know, things are changing with the uh uh the impact of AI and whatnot, which don't know how I feel about that just yet.

But um, you know, uh everything's constantly changing in terms of education, apprenticeships, and trying to refocus our um our curriculum in order to keep us uh relative is is always very important to us.

And so I plan to try and you know promote that throughout all industries.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, uh Mike.

I I just uh I I think all my uh questions were asked by my uh committee members and especially the one on the attendance because it's really important and thank you for sharing that.

So um thank you for this.

I think we'll have you step out and we'll bring in the next person.

I appreciate your consideration.

Thank you.

All right, next up, we are moving to the organization serving persons with high barriers to employment.

We have one seat available, and the first member is Barbara Jean Aquasta.

If we could bring her in Barbara Barbara Jean, they'll help you lower it, and uh you'll have uh you'll have two minutes to open with, and then we'll go around and ask you questions.

Okay.

Good morning.

My name is Barbara Costa, and I am with Big Homies Street Mentoring, where we work front lines with youth and individuals that are impacted directly with incarceration.

Our mission is to guide, mentor, and support those who often feel overlooked, helping them with purpose and a positive direction in life.

Through this work, I've had the opportunity to build real real relationships with people in the communities.

And I've seen the struggle with many families faces lack of access to struggles.

I'm sorry, I've seen many struggles with families that face um lack of access to resources, limited economic opportunities, and cycles that are hard to break.

But more importantly, I've seen the resilience, the talent and the potential that exists when people are giving the right support, and someone who genuinely believes in them.

My background also includes being a small business owner, which has given me the practical understanding of the economic challenges facing working families and entrepreneurs.

I know what it takes to build something from the ground up, and I understand that the importance from of creating opportunities that allow our community to grow and thrive.

I am seeking an appointment with you all here at the city council because I want to build the bridges between the community and here.

And I want to bring real voices to the table, voices rooted in lived experience, and advocate for solutions that focus on prevention access and long-term opportunities.

My priorities include straining, strengthening the youth programs, supporting reentry initiatives, promoting small business growth, and building a safer, more unified neighborhood.

All right, thank you, Barbara.

We'll have the members, committee members ask questions.

We'll start with Councilman Spears.

Thank you, Chair.

Um, thank you for for coming and for being here.

Uh how does your occupation align with the goals?

I'm sorry, wrong one.

I'm sorry.

In this position, how will you apply your experience to advocate to improve outcomes for individuals with high barriers?

Well, we're able to relate to them.

We have a lot of mentors on in our organization that are able to relate to them through live experiences, so we're able to actually know what they've gone through and be able to put that out.

Um, however, we're able to help them.

That's good.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Councilman Galvan.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you for uh your introduction today.

Thank you for applying for the ready to work board.

How do you see ready to work addressing uh such barriers that you see in your work uh for people with high barriers and then uh what external needs are there that the city can work on or other uh programs that currently work on?

Um what extra needs are there for them to continue to address those kind of same needs?

Um so I think being able to actually have the incentives for the employers that are really second chance um opportunities because a lot of employers say second chance, but they still have that barriers, and it gives people who are formerly incarcerated that that discouragement, and then they go back to maybe their old ways or whatever they have to do to survive in here.

So being able to have more employers give people the real second chances.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

All right, councilman Mess Councilman Mesiganas.

No question.

Councilman Castillo.

Thank you, Chair, and thank you, Barbara, and congratulations on the new baby.

Thank you.

Um, I my question that I have is is two part one.

Uh, and attendance is really important to ensure that uh the high barrier population is represented on the committee.

So, one, uh, would you have the flexibility to attend uh the assigned meetings and then as well as what can you highlight as some of the most significant barriers faced by the populations you serve?

Um, yes, I can definitely attend.

Um, thank you.

And so I would say um the second question.

Um, can you repeat it again?

Sorry.

What are the most significant employment barriers faced by the populations you serve?

Um being able to find the being able to find employment for them.

So we have people that come out of prison or juveniles, and they ask for resources.

So of course we give them to we give them that resource, but not they don't get those opportunities as to people who don't have backgrounds or you know, the same, they don't have the same opportunities, so we just being able to provide that or help however we can, even if it's us going or me personally going to the employers to speak to them and make sure that you know there's that understanding so they don't get discouraged.

Thank you.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you.

Thank you, Barbara.

I think you answered all the questions, and thank you again for just taking the time to be here with us today.

Thank you.

Thank you for the opportunity.

All right, next up is Patricia Cantu.

Patricia, you'll have two uh minutes for introduction, and then the members will ask questions.

Sounds great.

The floor is yours.

Okay, well, good morning.

And thank you for this opportunity to interview.

Um, as you know, my name is Tricia Cantu.

I have over 20 years of experience in talent acquisition, workforce development, including leading recruiting initiatives across corporate and nonprofit organizations.

I founded great opportunities back in 2009, and I was a contractor with the Department of Assisted and Rehab Services.

In addition, I recently participated in the UTSA-paced HRCI certification course to further my strength, my knowledge of HR practices and employment standards.

I'm a participant in the San Antonio Ready to Work Program, which gave me a unique perspective on both the strengths of the program and the opportunities to enhance its impact.

I've seen firsthand how the ready to work creates next to education and career pathways.

But I've also identified opportunities to strengthen the alignment between the training and the employer hiring needs.

Definitely improve communication and participate in the navigation to ensure strong outcomes and placement and wage progression.

I'm seeking an appointment because I bring the combination of the employer insight, the workforce development experience, and lived the participation perspective.

Allowing me to contribute in a way that supports accountability and continuous improvement.

I think I thank you.

All right, we'll start with questions.

We'll start with Councilman Galvan.

Thank you so much, Patricia, for applying today and for uh for being here to introduce yourself.

Um two-part question.

How do you see ready to work uh can better address the needs for persons with high barriers?

What other programs or services are needed beyond ready to work to address those same needs for people with high barriers?

I think really um when we're assigned a coach, I think it's really important for that individual to connect with the person that they're working with.

I don't think an email correspondence is the way to get through and making that interpersonal connection.

There's no interpersonal connection when you're only communicating by email.

I think at the beginning, when someone has been accepted into the program, I think like at the end, we did an information session.

I think we should be doing an orientation at the beginning.

Um, because there was a lot of services that I was not aware of that you provide, and that would have been helpful if we had an orientation and an opportunity to connect and establish a relationship with the person that we were going to be working with during this uh process because then once they get to know the candidate, they're gonna see what other areas that they're going to need.

They're gonna need assistance with daycare, do they have support financial support?

What are the other avenues?

Do I need to help this individual in order for them to be successful?

But if you're only communicating by email and it's only giving you instructions, then how are you going to get to learn about the candidate that's going through the program?

Thank you.

Thank you.

Uh Councilman Spears.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you for for being here.

Um, in this position, how will you apply your experience to advocate to improve outcomes for individuals with high barriers?

Working with people with disabilities for 20 years, that gave me a huge insight.

We did intake sessions.

We looked at all the aspects of what are the barriers that's going to prevent this individual from being successful.

As I mentioned, daycare, financial stress.

Do they have the proper clothes for an interview?

You know, because I can't have my candidate showing up if they don't have the proper interview clothes.

So all of those things are going to help that individual be successful, but if we're not aware and we're not sitting down to do an intake with this individual, then how are we going to help them be successful?

It's great.

We're giving them a chance to enhance their skill, but there's more to it than by just enhancing your skill.

You need to be prepared for the workforce, and we need to make sure that all those other barriers they can overcome.

We can provide the necessary means to help them be successful.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Councilman Castillo.

Thank you, Chair, and thank you, Patricia, for your interest in serving on this committee.

First question would you have the capacity to attend the signed meetings?

And then, secondly, can you highlight some of the most significant employment barriers faced by the population you serve?

My most challenging population was my clients who are deaf.

Employers can't see past the deafness.

They have the impression that they need a no-sign language.

And I've had to educate them.

There's texting, there's email, there's pen and paper.

But they are the most challenging population that employer cannot see past as far as hiring.

They're thinking of safety.

What if they get hurt?

I could get sued.

And I have to educate them.

I was like, you know what?

They drive, and they are the most observant because they have to use their eyes as their ears.

But yeah, it is very challenging.

It was very challenging, but then when I did have some employers, they were just like, oh my God, they're like the best worker.

Where can I get where can I hire more people that are deaf?

Councilman Mesconzalas, any question?

Well, thank you so much.

And I think the one thing the attendance uh question, just wanted to clarify that.

That's not going to be an issue for you going to the meetings.

Is it?

Oh, no, I'm so sorry.

No.

Okay.

All right, great.

Just want to make sure because that's the one thing is we need we we created these seats and we want the participation.

So great.

Absolutely.

Thank you.

Thank you so much, Patricia.

All right.

Well, we'll go ahead and move on to the next candidate.

Thank you much for your time.

Thank you.

Angelique.

Olivetta.

Can we bring her in?

Okay, we've got uh you've got two minutes for an intro, and then the council committee members will ask questions.

So the floor is yours.

Good morning.

My name is Angelique De Oliveira, and I'm honored to be considered for appointment to the San Antonio Ready to Work Advisory Committee.

For more than a decade, my professional mission has been focused on helping participants overcome barriers to employment and achieve economic mobility.

Today I serve as chief workforce development officer at Goodwill Industry of San Antonio, where I lead a team of 90 professionals who provide education and training, employment and support services to many to over 3,000 individuals each year.

I am uniquely positioned to support this committee by bringing both an employer and a provider perspective.

From the provider side, I know firsthand the barriers that our residents face to competitive employment, and I know how to support them to ensure that they can complete training that lead to work.

From an employer side, Goodwill is a large nonprofit social enterprise focused on inclusing inclusive hiring strategy that employ over 1,800 team members.

As a senior leader in my organization, I know what employers experience when trying to attract, retain, and advance talents.

If it was not for program like I say ready to work, I know I would not be standing in front of you today.

So this work is personal to me.

Thank you.

We'll begin with questions.

Councilman Spears.

Thank you, Chair.

In this position, how will you apply your experience to advocate to improve outcomes for individuals with high barriers?

So I will use my experience by bringing by bringing a perspective that will help build a program that drives outcome.

We know that our participants face barriers to employment.

Primarily some of the barriers that we have seen that are prevent our participants from succeed are transportation.

Some of the barriers are employers being willing to provide opportunities to individuals with criminal background and disabilities.

Those are real barriers that our residents are facing that the programs needs to continue to evolve to better support.

So I'm excited to contribute to the team and bring advocacy support and critical thinking to solve on those issues.

Thank you.

Councilman Galvan.

Thank you for applying today and for being here.

How do you see ready to work can better address the needs of persons with high barriers and what other programs or services are needed beyond ready to work to address those same needs for people with high barriers?

Yes, so I think first of first of all, I think for the ready to work to be an initiative that is going to be supportive of individuals with high barriers.

By virtue of having disability, having a criminal background, those populations are harder to serve and may lead to, in some instances, a lower success rate in gaining employment.

So we have as a community and as an initiative balance our pursuit of higher outcome with not leaving behind those community.

I think that's critical.

To continue to better serve those individuals with high barriers, I think something that is critical is continue to engage employers and to provide advocacy so that and support so that those employers are in a position to provide opportunities also participants.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Councilman Castillo.

Thank you, Chair, and thank you for your interest for serving on the Ready to Work Board.

Two questions.

One, uh, attendance and ensuring that the high barrier population voice is represented on this committee is important.

So one, uh, do you have the flexibility to attend the sign meetings?

And then, secondly, with a high um uh with the signific with the most significant employer.

What are the most significant barriers that the populations you serve have?

And you touched on it within your comment.

Um, but if you'd like to add anything, uh please do.

Yes.

So yes, I'm fully committed and able to attend the advisory committee to make sure that I can bring the value that uh this committee deserve.

Um and so I believe uh a couple of barriers that our population is facing uh that ready to work is effecting at addressing.

Um so when we talk to individuals of who have a criminal background that we are serving, there is a clear education and training gap.

So being able to ensure that those participants are trained with the skills that our employers are willing to hire is definitely uh one of the most important um uh strategy to support this community, and then there is also a whole uh list of uh life needs as you being uh reintegrated into our community from incarceration, um, housing, transportation, uh reconnecting to your family.

So having the wraparound support services is critical.

One barrier that we have seen more significantly affecting our participants is transportation.

Uh I'm speaking, for example, particularly in uh warehousing, um manufacturing, those are background-friendly um industry.

They tend to have the work on the outskirts of our our city and are hard to access.

Many of our participants on our public transportation, and unfortunately, if you don't have a car, you are deprived of many opportunities.

So finding ways to address that uh could be meaningful to increase the success of our participants.

No other questions, thank you so much.

We appreciate you coming forward.

So at this time, um, the time is now 10.35 a.m.

in the economic and workforce development committee will now meet in executive session to consult the city attorney's office concerning attorney client matters under chapter 551 of the Texas Government Code.

Okay, the time is now 1055 a.m.

and the Economic and Workforce Development Committee will reconvene in open session.

No official action was taken in executive session.

Uh as chair of economic and workforce development committee, I want to express my sincere gratitude to all who applied to serve your willingness to contribute.

Your time and expertise demonstrates true commitment to public service and to the future of our growth.

While not all can be appointed, your interest is deeply valued, and we encourage you to remain engaged with the City of San Antonio and our committee, and understand that we have openings for various committees and an upcoming bond committee, bonds committees that we will need help with too.

So please stay engaged.

Can I get a motion and a second to recommend appointments?

Thank you, Chair.

I move the economic and workforce development committee recommend a full city council, the following individuals to serve on the Ready to Work Board through May 31st, 2029.

Michael Pena for the trade and labor category, and Barbara Acosta for the organization serving persons with high barriers to employment category.

We have a motion and a second.

All those in favor, please say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

Motion carries.

All right, we're gonna move on to item three.

It is congratulations and thank you so much for your service.

I I know some of y'all need to get back, but I look forward to visiting with all of you who applied.

Thank you.

Um item three is a briefing on the supply essay small business procurement uh initiative.

Can we get a staff presentation?

Good morning, Chair, good morning, committee members.

Thank you for the opportunity to be here this morning and provide an update on Supply SA and our continued partnership with the City of San Antonio.

I want to thank the City of San Antonio, the economic development team, the procurement team, and also ready to work for their continued partnership.

Today I want to highlight um what the current procurement landscape is, what's the role of supplies and what we are doing, and where the opportunities lie to further align with the city's priorities and strength and outcomes.

Today I want to cover a supply as a purpose and strategic context, talk a little bit about the procurement landscape, what some of the opportunities and gaps are, our approach, and the measurable impact that we I want to share with you later, and then some of the opportunities for us to continue to align and partner.

I want to start with supplies A's goal.

Our goal is to build local procurement partnerships that strengthen regional economic growth and development for our small local and veteran-owned small businesses.

Supplies A operates currently as a full service procurement readiness partner.

What we are doing much different than some of the other cities or all of the other cities in America is that we have coupled procurement navigation technically, which is technical assistance, our certification processing, and we are also an agency collaboration into a single coordinated approach.

This is unique and an innovative model, and our work is grounded in three focus areas.

As you can see here, the first one is access.

We really want to ensure that businesses can obtain certification and that they can effectively navigate the public procurement opportunities.

Second, capacity building.

We provide centralized technical assistance and provide small businesses and veteran small businesses with the tools that they need to navigate public procurement.

And thirdly, agency alignment.

Supplies A is governed by a board comprised of the CEOs of those 14 public agencies.

The current board chair is Leo Gomez, president and CEO of CEO of Brooks Development Authority.

I also want to highlight that last year, the board chair was Eric Walsh, city manager of the City of San Antonio.

This level of executive engagement reflects senior commitment and enables coordinated regional alignment.

Supply is A is really a win for the agencies and small businesses.

Over the past 70 17 months, we have focused on building the foundation, and we consider that 1.0.

This includes improving certification timelines.

We established technical assistance for our small businesses, and we developed data tracking and reporting capabilities within Supply SA, and we are working with the agencies to do that across our region.

This position, this work positions public procurement agencies and small and local and veteran small businesses for really strong outcomes.

One of the many results that we will see is that we are will expand our local vendor pool that the city of San Antonio and the other agencies are able to utilize as we are going forward in all of the great new projects that we have upcoming in our city and our region.

And this will be we will be ensure that we measure this impact through the data and reporting effort.

As we move forward, we shift our focus on deepening impact.

As you look at the 2.0 growth phase, we're really looking into ensuring that we support our small businesses with resources that are around capital, around different additional programs, but also for the agencies, we are looking to ensure that there's increased capacity, that there's specialized expertise, that we, as agencies, you receive better quality of bids, and all of that, when we do it correctly and we move forward, we're gonna it's gonna result in economic development and growth for our region and our small local and veteran owned small businesses.

I want to share some of the wins and return on investment for for last year through this year.

Operationally, we were able to issue more than resulting more than 4,000 certifications that we approved last year.

That's around 1,600 applications that we were able to process.

We supported about 1,300 small and local and veteran-owned businesses in our community with certification assistance and procurement navigation.

And we completely eliminated our backlog for certification applications last year in December, right before the holiday season, which is the very first time this has happened in the agency's history.

We also have improved our certification processing time, where right now our certification cycle time is somewhere between 14 and 33 days.

And we delivered multiple trainings last year, and we have we participated in about 50 community procurement events across the region with our partners.

As it relates to veteran small businesses, we were also able to hold a seminar last year and training for about over 100 veterans during San Antonio Startup Week, where we were able to educate them on how supply SAA can help them right here in our backyard, Military City USA in the procurement, public procurement space.

As we started 2026, those 10 trainings were already doubled.

We were already engaging much more.

We were providing more deeper services in terms of procurement navigation, and we continue to do so and continue to build the organization and how we support in our city.

We were also able to connect small and local businesses with resources such as insurance, legal services, and other services where they had previously encountered barriers because they did not know where to turn to.

We are currently providing assistance, technical assistance, which we call our navigation services to over 20 small and local businesses, and we have many more in the pipeline.

We've also engaged, as I mentioned, over a hundred veteran-owned small businesses, reinforcing San Antonio's leadership as military city USA.

As mentioned previously, we are really looking to become the military procurement capital of the United States as military city USA.

When local businesses grow, they create local jobs directly supporting workforce development here in San Antonio.

And we do believe that as those small businesses are able to grow into medium and then larger businesses, there will be a demand for labor in our backyard.

I wanted to share one of the testimonies.

We continue to strengthen the city's vendor base by increasing procurement ready small local and veteran small businesses.

As we align on improving our process improving improving our processes, we reduce barriers for our small and local businesses to do business with the city San Antonio or other local agencies.

As we deepen our partnerships through shared data and insights, we'll be able to recognize what some of the main barriers on hurdles are and able to address those to grow our small and local businesses and veteran businesses right here in our backyard.

The result is stronger competition, increased participation, and also greater regional economic development.

I appreciate your leadership in supporting small local and veteran businesses, and I welcome your questions.

Thank you, Melanie.

We'll go around the room if uh council members have some questions or like to give some comments.

We'll start with Councilman Castillo.

Thank you, Chair, and thank you, Melanie, for the presentation and all that you do in connecting small businesses in San Antonio to opportunities.

I had a couple of questions.

Like for example, with I believe the five million uh of local contracts that have been awarded.

Do we know what that makeup looks like?

Is it the bare is it Bear County, the City of San Antonio?

Uh who do we see there?

Yeah, it's the city of San Antonio.

It's two uh contracts in the construction space uh for a local and small construction company, and then the it's three contracts because it's a little over five million, and then it's a learning learning and development firm that received a contract with UTSA.

Okay, wow, wonderful.

And then on slide six, uh, many of the highlights with the momentum that y'all have uh been successful with.

Can you share any potential uh changes that y'all have uh may have made within the organization to see uh this momentum and this success?

Yeah.

So we're building so most of the support we've done early on was in person.

We're shifting to different modalities because we understand that people, you know, small business owners have to run their business, they may not be able to come see us in person.

So we're we're doing we're supporting also virtually, and we're also putting together a curriculum that can be accessed virtually, so on-demand training and support.

So if some if a small business owner chooses not to engage with us directly because it may not be conducive to their schedule, we want to be able to provide solutions that they can utilize off you know, um, outside business hours that can support their journey.

And then Lassi, can you share about how many businesses are uh registered with with you all?

Right now we have about 2,700 uh businesses registered.

Um, that's been a slight decline from last year, and some of that is driven by the changes in different small business programs and um education that small business certification is still important.

So we're actively out here messaging that it is still very important to be small business certified to do business with these full 14 local agencies.

Great.

Thank you so much, Melanie.

Really appreciate um the tracking in terms of the local contracts that have been awarded, and that's uh very impactful.

So thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you.

I'd like to go next.

Councilman Meskinzalas.

Thank you for the presentation and for all the work that you're doing.

Um I think the numbers really do speak for themselves, and um just glad to see all the small businesses that we're supporting here.

I know that um insurance and bonding tends to be one of the largest barriers.

So wanted to just get your well, first, what Reese says, what resources do we have now that are available to those small business owners?

And you know, what ideas are we thinking about when it comes to the bonding and insurance?

Yes, on the insurance side, we recently held two sessions with an local insurance provider that provided education first.

We also always want to start with education to make sure that our small business owners understand what insurance they truly need, and uh we don't want them to just get blanket insurance.

So we had um two hour sessions where it was discussed about basic insurance, cyber insurance, all of that.

So we have a number of local providers that can meet with our small business owners after the fact to talk about their particular need.

Our navigation is all about identifying the particular need of that small business that is coming to us for help on the bonding side.

Um we we're um looking at some opportunities, maybe in year three to see if there's an opportunity for a bonding program.

Um that has always been on the roadmap.

Um, so we're in the early stages of um understanding what that would require, what's available to us, what others are doing, and we're exploring an opportunity in year three bonding will be on the horizon.

Um okay, those are all my questions right now.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Anyone else?

Councilman Galvan.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you, Melanie, for the presentation and all the work you do every day.

Um I think well, the future goals in particular looks really, really good.

I think I really appreciate what we see, slide uh slide five, and then of course the future goals and just tying those together about what we're looking forward to.

Um, related to slide four and the participating public agencies.

Can you talk to me a little bit about the noticeable differences between the participating agencies' procurement processes?

Are there any big distinctions between them?

Yeah, that that's a thank you for that question.

There's a lot of fragmentation between from agency to agency.

Everybody does business differently, and their procurement processes are different as well.

And so that was one thing as identified as trying to address fragmentation.

Uh Vendor bid portal is number one, um, trying to find the opportunities, and that's where we talked about access.

Just where do I go to find an opportunity within the agency?

So when you go on supply SA's website, with one click, you can be at that right portal for that particular agency.

But we want to peel the onion back a little bit more because instead of doing business with all 14 agents or agency or trying to do business with all 14 at once as a small business, we want to help them identify who their customer truly is.

Does the city of San Antonio procure what you're selling or the services that you provide?

And if the answer is no, then we need to identify what agency really does.

So when we do that navigation, we help them identify where the opportunities for them are and then navigate them to the right place to find those.

Okay, got it.

Are there things that uh certain entities are doing that are uh that they're seeing more small businesses or new small businesses to work with them compared to the city of San Antonio, or are we seeing I guess is there any big difference in the kind of numbers that they're taking in on that side or on their own sides?

So I I don't have that insight.

What I can share is from an outreach perspective, and and that's kind of where we are involved on the outward reach part.

The city of San Antonio has really ramped up their outreach.

Right.

And I'm not just saying that because I'm here in the city, and I partner with the economic development team quite often, and and it's a great relationship, but they have really stepped up on how often how much and where they reach out.

So there's not just communication and emails, but there's also in-person things that they do where we partner together where we're seeing really great turnout, and I believe the city of San Antonio is getting more interest because of that and the opportunities that you guys have.

Got it.

Thank you.

Um, one last thing I think was uh could you remind me a little bit about I guess the the platform used?

Um are they all separate for each one that a small business would be applying to?

And if so is it more IT it's a barrier, or is it also those kind of like different uh procurement processes that are as that there are to try to make it streamlined all into one application for type of work, et cetera?

Is that the goal?

Well, I would have to ask my board if that's the goal.

Fair enough.

I I would love one platform, and I would love to build that.

Uh that is not currently on the horizon.

I I think there are many different platforms, as you said, and so that bec also is a constraint for vendors that they have to learn how to navigate those platforms, but we are here to support them.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you.

Councilman Spears.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you, Melanie, for that presentation.

Um I really appreciate the emphasis on supporting our veterans.

Um they're a wonderful, a wonderful group in our community that needs our support.

So I really appreciate that.

And you brought that up several times in your presentation.

Um, I think this really does align with our broader goals for economic mobility and supporting our local business growth.

Um, how would you say your model is different from other city partner programs?

What what makes you stand out?

I I can sort of see things I see, but what is your opinion?

I think the model is unique, not only unique because we focus on local procurement, um, which a lot of our other partner uh business development organizations or chambers do not necessarily focus on that, but also how we interact with them.

So we don't try to do everything for our small businesses.

We focus on procurement, but we partner in services that they need along the journey.

So we really want to get the small businesses where they start with us and to carry them along the process.

We're not handing them off and saying come back later to us.

We're saying, okay, here's a resource, and we'll check in with you, and then here's a resource, come back to us.

So we're really walking side by side with them until they're contracting ready.

And I think that's unique.

Um the other unique is this is working with city partner or the agencies in the procurement space and economic development, because those are usually the organizations where small businesses can't see in, they don't understand and they don't have insight.

We're able to bridge that gap between insight for small business owners, but also for the agencies to understand the hurdles of small businesses.

That's good.

That's good.

Um on slide five, looking at at the plans for the future, is there a way that you see this becoming more self-sustaining, or do you think this will always require city funding?

I do hope it becomes more self-sustaining in the future.

Uh, we are looking not just at uh public partners, but I think there's an opportunity to partner with corporate partners.

Um, and um potentially looking at some legislation for funding and support.

When we were at SADC, we had a number of conversations, and one particular was with the committee chair of the small business house committee, Roger Williams, who was very interested in what we're doing here in San Antonio.

He's out of Fort Worth in that area going down to Austin.

And he was very uh interested and intrigued by small and local and supporting um through uh local procurement.

He's a champion of federal procurement, and when we had a conversation, he's interested in um discussing more and possibly sponsoring uh piece of legislation.

So I think there are a number of ways we can move forward.

Okay, that's good.

Um can you just expand real briefly on the current certification timeline and if there's other opportunities that to make this process more accessible for small businesses.

The reason why I gave the 14 to 30 days as a cycle time was it depends on um us g receiving the documentation that we need.

How we um we we have received various applications where we do not have the documents that we need.

How we bridge that gap now is we ask small businesses to meet with us before submitting it up submitting an application so we can ensure that they have all the documents that they need, and that cuts down on processing time and also cuts down on small businesses having to um repetitively submitting documentation where they're not aware of what good looks like.

So we're asking a lot more at the front end, just meet with us so we can help you and being more hands on with our small business community.

Okay, thank you.

Appreciate all you're doing.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Melanie.

I think uh I mean you've you've kind of heard we we want to see it continue, we want to see it expand as a committee.

Uh the one thing I, in terms of uh slide number four, who are the participant participating public agencies.

I'd like to uh get an update, and this could be through uh this could be through uh just an email or maybe have a second presentation of where the school districts are uh because they don't see the school districts, and the other is if the public school districts aren't going to help, we do have charter schools that are taking public funds from the state that should be part of this participation also.

So I'd like I'd like to see what we can do to help hold them, help you hold them accountable to see how they can get plugged into this program.

The other is in terms of um, I don't know that we need to get as minuti into districts, but it would be nice if we could get it uh kind of broken into regions, um north, south, east, west, in terms of where these certifications are coming from, and what the stages are of these groups.

If they are stuck in that middle stage because they cannot just they cannot get the insurance they need, they they cannot apply for some of our big projects, and the other is what we have a lot of here in San Antonio for is we have on call, and what does that mean, and how do they incorporate that into that with the certifications and um the other is categories?

We I think we um in terms of uh in the supply SA and some of the businesses we have making sure we have that diversity, so then when we're looking, and I'm thinking who's not up there, but you know they're still raising money, is the arboretum.

What specifically is the arboretum going to need where we can supply SA here?

Do we have those businesses in the city of San Antonio for whatever an arboretum is going to need?

Because I know it's going to be a lot of of um a lot of lawn service, a lot of things like that.

So, what what are they going to need?

Are they going to do contracts?

How do they do it up in DC and in Houston and uh kind of forecast?

Are we developing those businesses?

We work for with ready to work and we look at entrepreneurs come up, making sure that we have that regionally.

So I I really I look forward to it.

I think I think we're on the right track.

I think like anything else, as we as we look at this economy and what we do and what industry starts to come to San Antonio, is how we kind of um just move with the flow of of how our uh our industry is moving, understanding that even though um we may have we may not have uh Army North and South here headquartered here, we are still very much an attractive space where people where veterans come and retire to and they have a skill set and how do we plug that in?

So I appreciate that.

I believe this item was um a briefing only.

So we look forward to hearing uh from you again or getting that um that update about if you could just let us know in terms of regions so we can get the message out to our small businesses if they're if they're in our area and they aren't participating.

And Chairwoman, I'm working on it by district.

Um, councilwoman Mesa Gonzalez had already asked me for that, so I'm um just uh betting it with the city now, so you will receive it by district who your small businesses are.

We currently only have 40 24 small businesses in the queue to get certified.

We are working closely with them.

So we are thank you.

Thank you.

I appreciate that.

Thank you.

All right, okay.

So we will now move on to item four.

Item four is also a briefing on the second chance workforce initiative.

Can we get the staff presentation?

Thank you, Chair Viergran.

Background on this item, Councilmember Castillo submitted a council consideration request on October 2nd of last year for second chance workforce initiative and incentive program.

The objective was to utilize an interlocal agreement between the City of San Antonio and Bear County to establish the program and the strategy to mitigate barriers individuals face in obtaining gainful employment after incarceration.

The CCR has several elements, including coordinating with Chrysalis Ministries and Bear County Reentry Center to identify initiatives and employers practicing fair chance hiring, explore federal grants to expand proven models outlined in the manufacturing institute second chance initiative case study, research best practices that utilize background checks and familial criminal history to not impede hiring opportunities, review options for implementation regarding employers that receive City of San Antonio incentives and city contracts, research best practices and ordinances that promote individual laws assessment and hiring for justice impacted applicants, and emphasis on city employment practices, certified contractors and private industries receiving city tax incentives.

Research best practices and ordinances that promote individualized assessment and hiring for justice impacted applicants, and emphasis on city employment practices, certified contractors, and private industries receiving city tax incentives.

Explore incentives to develop apprenticeship, pre-apprentip, and boot camp programs, producing certifications for justice impacted individuals.

Develop incentives for employers who support rehabilitation and reintegration of individuals with felonies, including case management and postemployment stabilization services.

Ensure the city's legislative agenda supports state federal legislation that expands fair chance hiring practices.

Collect available data on employers receiving city, state, and federal incentives on how employers are retaining and supporting second chance employees.

This item was before the governance committee on December 11, 2025, and assigned to the Economic and Workforce Development Committee.

The requested action committee to review and evaluate best practices around second chance hiring and the use of incentives for employers.

Staff to engage your Bear County staff to determine their interest in developing an interlocal agreement to establish a joint second chance workforce initiative and incentive program for residents with felony convictions.

So COSA engagement.

So collaboration included the following internal partners the city attorney's office, the economic development department, our government affairs department, HR, the Finance Department and Procurement Division, and the Workforce Development Office.

And staff has established communication with the Bear County Reentry Center.

The city's attorney's office.

So from the city attorney's office, the guidance was that targeted contract incentives and structured vendor requirements for discretionary contracts could be viable opportunities to advance workforce inclusion of justice involved individuals.

Statutory considerations may limit applicability in some proposed areas.

And careful policy design and oversight is necessary for risk management.

Ready to work is of course serving justice impacted individuals, self-identified.

About 787 have already completed training through ready to work and 459 have found approved jobs.

Their training rates and job placement rates are a few percentage points below what we typically see for ready to work participants, and their average salary in a new job is 44,000, but it's about a 483% increase over when they came into the program with over 300 employers hiring individuals with self-identified justice involvement through ready to work.

I'm sorry, also of this group, um a hundred and forty-five of our participants took advantage of a wraparound support through Ready to Work to have their records expunged.

That's a valuable benefit to make this group more employable if they're able to get items off of their record to make those employers more likely to give them an opportunity.

The COSA and Bear County Collaboration, the re-entry uh coalition initiated meetings made up of Bear County, the City of San Antonio Reentry Center, Adult Probation, and the specialty courts.

We participated with Council Merva Castillo in a re-entry lunch and learn.

Bear County hosted this event on February 25th.

Um, it was a very employer focused.

53 employers attended.

Um, and since that time, on April the 15th, we also participated in the second chance hiring fair with Bear County, where 58 employers and 717 job seekers attended.

Today with us, we have Ada Negrant.

Um, she's with us representing the county, and Deborah Carter is here also representing the Carter, proud partners of uh the Ready to Work Initiative and to show their commitment to developing that interlocal agreement that really focuses on marketing the benefits of hiring this group to local employers.

There's lots of benefits that are available through tax credits and other resources through the federal government, and we want to make sure that employers are aware and are taking us up on our proposal to hire individuals that have been trained through efforts throughout the community.

Further meetings will continue as we look to create alignment with funding and outcomes across all partners.

So the economic development department, um, there's a survey that they'll be developing, of course, to be reviewed by city attorney's office to be sent out to local employers that will include questions surrounding second chance hiring, an updated economic development strategic framework in the fall of 2026 will guide those recommendations for included within those incentive agreements.

And uh Alfred Hombre and Anna Brass are here.

The city implemented ban the box in 2016, where they remove criminal history disclosure on all city applications, individualized assessments, the level of offense, the recency of offense, and relation to the job are all factors that are considered when employment decisions are made.

And then intentional outreach to the Bear County Second Chance Job Fairs that we talked about earlier, as well as the jail re-entry program and mark interview events that the city has participated in along without reached at Haven for Hope.

We have representatives from the HR department.

Natalie Bullock is here as well as Sharon Frey.

Um may only be applicable as allowed per state statute for solicitations such as low bid and requests for competitive SEAL proposals.

By law, the city may not be able to require particular requirements on hiring second chance population, requires additional contract compliance review to include a review of confidential information, may require additional coverage from vendors on bonds, insurance to cover the risk, and initial requirements may reduce the number of responses to city solicitations.

That was a feedback, and Helica Mata is here if there's additional questions from the procurement division.

And then for government affairs, as government affairs prepares for the start of the 9-8th state session and the 120th Congress in 2027, the workforce development office will coordinate with government affairs to include second chance legislation and funding in the city's legislative priorities.

Support would include the reauthorization of the federal second chance act of 2018 and continue funding for its programs and exploring opportunities at the state to expand on previously passed or proposed legislation.

For any questions in this space.

So across the state of Texas, um we found various programs being implemented.

Of course, their fair chance hiring ordinance requiring provident employers to implement ban the box.

Um, but due to Texas legislation, parts of those ordinances are no longer enforceable.

Um research did not indicate any Texas cities currently implementing dedicated second chance provisions for city contracting or employer incentives.

So we would be a trailblazer in that regard.

So some national best practices, Los Angeles, California, um, fair chance hiring campaign.

Um we included these so that you guys can skip some ideas of what can be gleaned upon within policy here in San Antonio.

Not all of it will apply, of course, because of the state parent of law, but providing employment opportunities for just involved residents via city contracting agreements, applies on city solicitations over a half a million dollars.

10% of total project work hours must be completed by formally incarcerated individuals.

Sign a fair chance hiring pledge to certify compliance with individualized assessment and ban the box standards.

Access to employer support such as federal bonding and the work opportunity tax credits.

So Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the fair criminal record screening standards ordinance requires all employers, public and private, including city contractors, to delay any background check until a candidate has been selected for the position and received a conditional offer of employment.

This is ban the box.

Umployers must now provide a written pre-adverse action notice, including specific convictions considered, a copy of the background report, a summary of the applicant's rights, and 10 business days for applicants to dispute anything that was found on those background checks and applies to solicitations at the city of all values.

So our next steps um we're here today to um make sure that we're heading in the right direction on this, but to consider to leverage ready to work and serving the second chance population, continued coordination with Bear County Reentry Council, including the development of an interlocal agreement, particularly to enhance the partnership that already exists, but to increase marketing to local employers of the benefits of hiring from this subgroup, finalized economic development strategic plan in the fall of 2026 for potential inclusion of second chance hiring incentives, and HR will continue to implement best practices such as the ban the box and individualized assessments for city applicants and government affairs to prioritize second chance legislation.

That concludes the presentation.

Thank you, Mike.

We will start with uh the council members' comments.

Who would like to begin?

Councilman Casillo.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you, Mike, for the presentation, uh, and to your team for the in-depth research that you all did in terms of what are the trends, what's being done, and of course, as we know, state preemption prohibits um uh let me let me think about how I phrase this.

We're we're mindful of state preemption.

Um, but I also did want to commend the individuals already doing this work, of course.

Ida with the Bear County Reentry Center and her team, uh, Lazikanthu, which uh her work has served as a model on how we saw opportunity to replicate and scale up to support uh that great work that you're doing.

So just thank you all.

And as well as to our community members who helped draft this council consideration request, there was Nino, Barbara and Tommy who helped go over the draft to ensure that we were covering the experience of impacted individuals and the barriers that they saw, so that way we can get to the meat of how we can connect more individuals to more opportunity.

I shared her story in which she texted a picture of her in front of the St.

Phillips College sign, just eager and excited.

And what she shared with her experience was that since her transcripts were in paper from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, there are issues in terms of how those can get connected to St.

Philip's College, right?

So again, going back to having that lived experience at the table to share, you know, what is and what is not working.

But can you uh talk about uh uh like one, right?

Just reiterating that typically this is uh self-identified.

Uh so there likely may be other individuals that aren't checking the box.

Can you just share a little bit about that?

Absolutely.

Yeah, all of our participants are self-identified, meaning that is voluntary that they disclose that and a lot of us with the relationship of the coach that they're working with.

Some of them will feel comfortable with sharing that information, others will not.

Um, if they do share, they're more access to support and resources because then we can connect them to agencies such as Easy Expunctions that may be able to get if things off of their records if they sell choose to go down that pathway and if they're eligible, um, but also connect with a network of employers that are justice involved hiring friendly.

Mike Leslie Cantu, thank you so much for mentioning her and Toyo Tetsu, they do an amazing job of really focusing on this group.

And there's a group of employers that are more friendly towards hiring, and we need to expand that group.

Um, I tell people all the time if we have more employers like Leslie and Toyota Tetsu that see the value of this hidden talent pool, then there'll be a lot more opportunities for people who are just as involved.

Thank you for that.

And then in terms of the interlocal agreement, can you share a little bit about uh one the work that has been done and also what you and your team envisioned that path forward looking like?

And also just want to thank Joel as well for his work on this initiative.

Absolutely.

Yeah, Joel Morgan has been spirit heading that work.

Um he spoke on a panel with you um recently with the Bear County reentry program, and it's in a very early stages, but the willingness is there for an interlocal agreement with the county.

Of course, there are other areas that will have to be brought in from the county with part of those discussions, especially as you talk about having a joint plan for incentivizing employers to hire from this group, which is the biggest challenge.

You heard about it earlier for applicants with high barrier populations.

One of the biggest things they face is getting more employers to the table to want to hire from this group.

Um but we plan to work with them and continue partnering on the hiring fairs, bringing more employers together.

Um, we've convened employers as ready to work.

We want to add those to the reentry center's um employer base so that we can continue to provide more opportunities for people, specifically focusing on marketing to employers the benefits of the group.

I think a lot of the work that Leslie's done with the manufacturing institute kind of created a blueprint for what that can look like.

And manufacturing is one of those industries is very friendly to hiring people with backgrounds.

So we want to make sure that we're using that same example across other industries and employers or across San Antonio together.

Great, thank you for that.

And um I know there's a timer.

Uh, but I did want to highlight again, going back to state preemption.

Uh, are there a couple of examples of bills that have been filed in the past that you can share?

Um, but offline I'd like to see what those bills look like and how we can uh whether it's within the the IGR committee or if uh full council B session that we know what's being done, who are the sponsors, and how can we have follow-up conversations if they intend to refile and how we can support as a city with those uh initiatives?

Yes, we'll follow up, we'll continue to meet with government affairs for that information.

Yes.

And then uh on the cities and in terms of ban the box, grateful to see, and it was 2016, I mean I said 2017 earlier, um, with the band the box initiative.

I'm interested in seeing City of San Antonio HR data uh in an individual briefing in terms of how many folks are um are we uh interviewing, and then what is the success rate, right?

Because what I hear from community, and this isn't limited to City of San Antonio folks applying for City of San Antonio uh jobs, but um they have shared that okay, while they're not checking a box, once they get to the the interview process, they're then not uh um selected to go on to the next step.

So it's just like delayed uh rejection.

So I'm curious what those numbers look like for us, um, so that way we can do a little uh internal reflection and see where there's opportunity for us recalibrate uh if necessary.

How do you think uh how has your team identified how we could better package what that looks like, what those resources and opportunities look like for employers?

It's a great question to Max Joel to come up and address that one for us.

Hi, good morning.

Uh great question.

A couple of different tactics that we're looking at is an awareness campaign, obviously, to make the employers aware of what resources are available, and then also kind of looking at the landscape locally on some different incentives and opportunities that maybe we could package uh to make it more attractive.

Having someone like Leslie, who is a champion, um, Avanzar, who's another uh Toyota supply uh supplier that's actually been fantastic and using them to kind of connect out in the community is another part of those tactics.

Okay, thank you for that.

And share if I may if uh Ida or Leslie or Deborah have anything they'd like to share, highlight in terms of things that we should be considering with this initiative.

I'd like to welcome y'all to share any insight y'all may have well, thank you so much for having us and for this initiative.

Um, so Deborah Carter, director of economic economic development with Bear County.

Um, I'm proud to represent also Texas Fast Track, where 23% of our alumni have justice involved backgrounds.

We intentionally recruit from vulnerable populations and with great employers like Toyotetsu and Avensar, we have an 86% placement rate within 60 days post-graduation, and a 93% completion rate for the program going into manufacturing.

And we are excited to announce that in July, we're opening our second location on the west side at the neighborhood place, and Judge Sakai has committed to a third location on the east side.

So we intend to expand this program and intentionally recruit justice-involved individuals.

So thank you for your support.

Wonderful.

Thank you for that.

Good morning, everybody.

My name is Aida Negron, and I am the Bear County Reentry Center manager.

And I'm so thankful that y'all are bringing this to light, especially um councilwoman Castillo.

Um I started in the jail back in the 1993s, and I I tell you, nobody wanted to hire our guys and um our women.

And now that this momentum has you know come to where it is right now, I am just so grateful and thankful that this is coming to light.

And we want to be involved as much as possible.

Um, we all have family members and people that we know.

One in three Americans have uh criminal background, and anything that we can do to make this um where their sentence is done when they leave their facility and starting new is what I would like to see before I retire.

And so I'm so happy to be here, and I'm so grateful, and I'm so proud of all of y'all because y'all are giving people the second chance, y'all are opening the minds of others, and hopefully we can pass that on to the employers because our employers are very much needed and and the stigma needs to go away.

And that's all I have to say.

Thank you.

Good morning.

I'm Leslie Cantu with Toyotetsu Texas.

Again, thank you for the invitation, and thank you to Mike and Joel for inviting me to be here today.

Um, I know you've heard a lot about uh the kind of the work that Toyote is doing.

We started on our journey as a fair chance employer back in 2018 and have had a lot of success um along that path.

We partnered very closely with the Manufacturing Institute out of Washington DC to have a broader impact nationally.

We've helped them with the marketing campaign to try to recruit more employers locally.

We've had two stories on KSAT, one in uh 2022 and one in uh this year, earlier this year, following the success of one of our very first hires.

Um, I think it's important to get the participants or the job seeker story out there so that those employers can see the great workers that are out there in our community but have missed out on opportunities because employers have been apprehensive.

So please know as as uh city council continues on your journey to figure out how you can best support justice impacted individuals.

We hope that you see Toyotetsu as a resource.

Um we're here to support the work that workforce development office is doing to be an advocate to be a voice to other employers.

We know oftentimes employers like to hear from other employers.

Um, I think it's key though that we're getting to those decision makers at the employers.

Oftentimes we have activities and we have those that are maybe more boots on the ground that believe in the work, they see the value, but they're having some challenges with those decision maker levels and getting them engaged.

So again, anything that I can do or my company can do to be a resource and help move this work forward, please don't hesitate to ask us for help.

Wonderful.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And uh in closing, just want to thank all the organizations and the folks over at the county that have uh been doing this work, uh, making the impact, and I'm supportive of staff's recommendation for next steps.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you.

Uh anyone else members uh Councilman Spears.

Well, thank you, Chair.

And I thank you, Councilwoman Castillo, for bringing this to the forefront.

Um everyone deserves a second chance, and to the extent that they can integrate into society and turn things around, we need to be supportive of that and create a pipeline for that.

Also, hi Deborah, it's good to see you.

Um, but um my qu I just was wanted to comment, kind of expand on maybe um on slide seven, it's saying careful policy design and oversight is necessary for risk management.

If you can help us understand that a little more clearly, what they're wanting specifically so that we can uh design around that.

Councilman, thank you.

Um so when staff has developed a policy, uh, it doesn't matter in what regard we want to make sure that the way that it's implemented is strategic.

So if there's gonna be a contract, for example, for um an incentive, we want to make sure that the requirement in the incentive is worded in a way that we um, for example, we'll take preemption.

Uh we want to make sure that we're staying within those bounds.

So that's the kind of risk that we would um try to mitigate in that situation.

But for every kind of program that city might implement, there'd be a different strategy that we'd uh recommend.

Okay, that's helpful.

Um and then also given how many city departments and county departments are involved.

I just want to make sure that we're in alignment and not we're building on their current efforts that we're doing and not creating more work.

You know, just use what we've got going and and and avoiding overlap of duties and and and let the best one at that skill do it, is really what I want to.

I would like to see is just if the county's better at something, let them do it.

If we're better at it, then we do it.

We just can't duplicate efforts and and build bureaucracy in the process.

That I want to see this successful, and I think it's a great great idea, great path forward.

And I too am interested in seeing what the isla is gonna look like.

And um, yeah, I think this will create a really um clear pathway forward for uh a vulnerable but hopeful population in our community.

So thank you again for bringing this forward, Councilwoman.

Councilman Galvan.

Thank you, Chair, and thank you for the presentation.

Thank you, Councilman Castillo for pushing this forward.

Um of course, this is a critical need in our community as we're looking to uh build upon breaking generations uh of cycles of poverty, making sure that we're reaching the folks who are most impacted and who are often caught in a system that makes even more difficult uh to break that cycle is extremely critical, and I think there's a good way we can do it here.

I don't have any too much more to add.

I'd support what my council colleagues have shared.

Um one question was around slide eight on um the rate of work component.

Um probably is better than a follow-up memo, but asking about excuse me, hold on asking about the um the folks, the participants who are hire, I'm sorry, the employers who are hiring uh ready to work participants who are just as involved.

Uh, do we have any details on um the type of industry, the percent of employers out of the total employers here locally, um the kind of pay skills and the benefits availability?

Just kind of more details on those uh employers follow up on that.

Okay, absolutely.

Thank you.

I appreciate that.

I think it's be helpful to kind of see what that ecosystem looks like a little bit more.

Um the other thing I was gonna ask was I know you mentioned the Philadelphia um kind of case there and the work they do.

Uh, do we know maybe it's because with Councilman Castillo's kind of HR evaluation, uh, but do we know if the City San Antonio um uses background checks for the pre-screen of applicants, or do we know that that's specifically looked at already?

Or is it something that we're gonna look at in the future?

Uh Sharon or Natalie, y'all want to take that one.

Thank you, Sher.

Hello, thank you for your question.

My name is Sharon Fry, I'm the recruitment and staffing administrator.

Um, we do conduct criminal background checks on all candidates who are selected for hire, but only after that conditional offer has been made.

Okay, that's what I was asking.

All right, thank you so much.

Yeah, you're welcome.

Those are all my questions.

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you.

Councilman Mesa Gonzalez.

Thank you, Chair, and thank you for the presentation and to Councilman Castillo on pushing this forward.

Um, I just had a couple of questions on the I guess slides 10 and 14.

When we're talking about the employers that were gathered and um the committees that we formed, I just I want to make sure that the private sector is involved in some capacity, whether it's through the chambers.

I know uh I was as we were talking, I was looking up uh the Texas Second Chance Employers Coalition through the um Texas Association of Biz through TAB.

And so how are we really involving our chambers?

Because this is really about expanding our our pool, right?

Of employers, and uh the need is there to hire folks, and so um I just want to make sure that we incorporate that to see how we can get champions to support these initiatives that we're working on, right?

And that we're talking about here.

So I don't know if that's just a rant or just like how do we that's a great point, and uh we'll make definitely make sure that we include our chambers as a part of these conversations and making sure that they're working with our membership to highlight the importance of empowerments group and um when the economic development department sends that survey um out, I'm sure they'll make sure that they're a part of the group that receives it.

Yeah, and it looks like um just looking this up, and maybe we can get more background on what uh TAB is doing in this space, and that could impact the um legislative priorities that we have.

Um and and learning what other cities are doing around this because um if there is a role that the chamber plays in other cities in promoting these efforts, I think it's important that we, if it's working right, that we do the same thing.

So I agree.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Uh thank you for your comments.

We are in an era where we cannot continue to work in silos, and as leaders, we must have a we all win state of mind in working together.

So I want to recognize my colleague, Councilman Castillo, who has been a constant champion and brought this CCR forward.

Uh so glad she's sitting on this committee with me again.

Um, because we continue to work through economic growth and job resiliency, we need to consider our entire population, and some of them have been or will be with your stats justice involved, and how do we eliminate that stigma?

There are gonna be City of San Antonio jobs because of federal requirements.

You can't you cannot access the some of the information from PD, but there are other city of San Antonio jobs where you can and you you can work for us and you can you can do this job, and how are we leading uh by example?

And so I really am very happy with whenever uh we can work with Bear County and build that relationship and move forward on the same page.

I think it m moves us as a city here in Texas forward.

So what I'm asking is as we have and I do appreciate all your efforts, is in terms of government affairs when we prioritize the second chance legislation, because not all of us are on IGR committee.

If Sally and your team can work together and work with the committees that Eva Lee has mentioned so that our team, anybody from economic workforce and development, given the opportunity, can head up to Austin to make sure we have a second chance legislation there, and also can head up to uh DC when necessary and see where they're moving forward there.

We need to get our community involved and back to work.

And I think um we we've done a great job recognizing we we are working every day and to eliminate that stigma, and and I think as we continue to do that, it it no longer becomes one of the the the questions of we know it's competitive, we know it's competitive for our our hiring and our recruitment, and if they're looking for a discernment, we do not want it to be oh, they were just disinvolved, so let's take them off the pile.

That's not what we want.

We want it to go back to skill.

Can they get the job done?

Do they show up on time?

What do they understand what we align with?

And so I think that this is how we need to move forward if we're gonna see the city succeed.

So thank you for this.

I look forward to getting a briefing from Sally about what we need to know to head up to Austin because I am just one person, right?

I will definitely go.

I know councilman Castillo would, but uh committee members, if you are interested in heading up, we'll get you that one page or two so we can make sure you're ready to go also.

Thank you.

Um that is our final item.

This was for briefing only, so the time is now 11 55 a.m.

Oh yeah we didn't work