Coordinated Education + Training

Chair: Leah McRae
Director of Education City of St. Petersburg


Vice Chair: Dr. Tashika Griffith
Provost St. Petersburg College Downtown


  • Effort mapping around the Grow Smarter target industries
  • Convene groups to address identified gaps from a practice standpoint (i.e., racial gaps in high school graduation rates)
  • Map the cradle-to-career pipeline for each of the target industries identified in Grow Smarter

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Entrepreneurial Growth

Chair: Jessica Eilerman
Greenhouse Manager and Small Business Liaison, Mayor’s Office


Vice Chair: Dr. Cynthia Johnson
Director Florida Small Business Development Center, PCED


  • Mapping the entrepreneurial ecosystem of St. Petersburg
  • Develop agreed upon measurement of entrepreneurial activity
  • Benchmarking with other cities for 2020

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Culture + Community

Chair: John Collins
Executive Director St. Petersburg Arts Alliance


Vice Chair: Pastor Meiko Seymour
Executive Pastor Pinellas Community Church


  • Showcasing diverse local grassroots efforts that are unique to the cultural and community fabric of St. Petersburg
  • Continue the development and promotion of world-class recreation amenities and unique events and attractions that also raise the awareness of St. Petersburg’s destination appeal
  • Develop and promote amenities-in-community as a strategy that embeds arts and culture into projects and programs city-wide

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Districts + Corridor Development

Chair: Alison Barlow
Executive Director St. Petersburg Innovation District


Vice Chair: Jason Mathis
CEO St. Petersburg Downtown Partnership


  • Extend St. Petersburg’s downtown successes to other parts of the city
  • Consider innovative transit-related initiatives to link other areas with downtown
  • Encourage participation in the city’s review/debate about zoning in coastal high hazard areas4. Complete unified map and alignment of key events of all Districts and Corridors from 2018

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Targeted Job Creation

Chair: J.P. DuBuque
President, St. Petersburg Area Economic Development Corporation


Vice Chair: Michael Jalazo
Executive Director Pinellas Ex-offender Re-entry Coalition


  • Update and communicate target industries
  • Create a formalized business retention/expansion strategy team
  • Support the development of the workforce resource map and continued alignment of workforce development

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Housing

Chair: Sean King
Director Of Community Relations at Habitat for Humanity of Pinellas County


Vice Chair: Roy James
Owner, James Insurance Solutions


  • Assess the overall housing needs of the city of St. Petersburg
  • Effort mapping for housing efforts in the city
  • Promotion of Accessory Dwelling Units within St. Petersburg4. Zoning overlay education

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