PILLAR 4
A DIVERSE AND PRODUCTIVE ECONOMY This pillar is about building on the LGA’s economic potential to create sustainable employment opportunities and realise the ambitions for strategic and town centres.
The goals in this pillar include: • Goal 4.1: Local businesses are supported to help protect jobs and create employment opportunities • Goal 4.2: Outcomes from an Employment Lands Study make sufficient land available for future employment growth • Goal 4.3: The ambitions for Hurstville and Kogarah as strategic centres are realised.
Achievements • We supported the grant applications of two Kogarahbased start-ups who subsequently received federal grant funding. • Our Night Time Economy Study was endorsed by Council in March 2021. • We launched our Rewrite the Night grants program in June 2021 to encourage local businesses to activate their premises across three categories lighting, live music or arts and entertainment. • Our Small Business Month 2020 activities included Springboard Program for businesses offering a strong support package. • Our International Women's Day event in March 2020 showcased local women in business who live and work in the Georges River and to help promote the region as a vibrant place to live and work. It attracted 130 guests and was enjoyed by attendees. • We launched the Georges River Business platform in July 2020, a local online directory to help promote businesses. • We commissioned University of Technology, Sydney to do a pilot research study into the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Kogarah. Research findings shows
that Kogarah has the hallmarks of an innovation district. • Un[contained] Arts Festival invited people from all walks of life across all abilities to take part in a celebration of the LGA’s creativity. • We adjusted our annual grant program to include small local businesses as well as not-for-profit community organisations. We committed $200,000 to the COVID-19 Recovery Grants Program to provide grants to support small business and awarded $13,385 in the Open for Business category, aimed at helping businesses communicate and market themselves; $30,000 in the Small Business category, which supported businesses to adapt and innovate in response to COVID-19 restrictions; $71,843 in the Community Capacity Building category, aimed at supporting community initiatives responding to COVID-19; and $25,100 in the Cultural Sector Resilience category, which specifically supported arts practitioners who were financially impacted by COVID-19 restrictions. • We secured a grant for $855,000 in the Safer Communities Fund over a period of three years for the implementation of heavy vehicle mitigation (HVM). This will be used to procure HVM structures that can be used at our major events as well as creating an HVM art installation.
Challenges • COVID-19 restrictions delayed our city marketing and key branding and identity work with our Leading for Change event for March 2021 rescheduled to October 2021. • As the Kogarah Collaboration Area was gaining momentum, COVID-19 restrictions affected stakeholder engagement due to more urgent and conflicting priorities, particularly for health agencies. • Our Night Time Economy Study and Action Plan was delayed due to COVID-19 restrictions and realignment with the Sydney 24 Hour Economy Study
165
