Agenda Information Sheet
DEPARTMENT: Economic Development
CM/ ACM: Bryan Langley
Date: March 21, 2017
SUBJECT
Title
Receive a report, hold a discussion, and give staff direction regarding amendments to the Management Agreement between the City of Denton and the Dallas Entrepreneur Center.
Body
BACKGROUND
On February 21, 2017, staff presented a work session to Council regarding Stoke Denton, including the project's history, budget information, and occupancy/activity. Council's discussion centered on the management agreement with the Dallas Entrepreneur Center, in particular how members of Stoke Denton are vetted, how to establish performance metrics for the Dallas Entrepreneur Center's management of Stoke Denton, and proposed amendments to the management agreement with the Dallas Entrepreneur Center.
Councilmembers requested information outlining the similarities and differences between services provided by the Dallas Entrepreneur Center/Stoke Denton and Denton's Small Business Development Center. That report is attached as Exhibit 1.
Councilmembers also requested a "community snapshot" of current technology sector activity in Denton. City staff is preparing a survey to be distributed to the community in April. For comparative purposes, current Stoke Denton members were asked to complete the same survey; 27 members received the survey and 8 completed it for a response rate of 30%. The Stoke-specific results are attached as Exhibit 2.
During the work session, Councilmembers emphasized their desire to keep Stoke Denton focused on technology entrepreneurs and providing employment opportunities for Denton's university students and graduates. Stoke Denton staff has developed a six-month action plan in response to Council's direction, including:
* Hosted Denton Data Day at Stoke on March 4th. This event was put on by Jesse Hamner (of UNT and Kubos) and Abdulrahman Habib (of UNT) and brought in about 50 individuals who work in tech and data to Stoke for the ...
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