ONE Kitsap

What is One Kitsap?

A five-year strategic economic development initiative
Public/Private Partnership
Intentional
Aligned with Kitsap’s economic development needs and opportunities
Key characteristics:
- Results-oriented
- Long-term thinking with near-term and ongoing execution
- Accountable to public and private stakeholders
- Goals rooted in economic vitality, prosperity and sustainability: Jobs, Incomes and GDP
- Collaborative with relevant agencies, organizations, institutions, and comprehensive plan

View One Kitsap Initiatives

Projected ROI & Economic Impact

Economic Impact Analysis

One Kitsap Plan - Near Term Strategic Initiatives One Kitsap Plan - Longer-Term (2026 -2028) Roadmap

New /Enhanced Work - Investor's Share Thoughts

Let's talk. One Kitsap Interest Form

One Kitsap Investors

WHY DO WE NEED IT AND WHY NOW?

KEDA has been evolving since the pandemic with new leadership, staff, programs and capabilities. As a result, now is the time to invest in KEDA as an entity that’s the “go to, one voice, one place” where stakeholders come together to plan, direct, and execute Kitsap’s economic future.
This plan is a platform for Kitsap to be more “self-determining” instead of defined by Greater Seattle, the State of Washington, and the Federal Government.
In Puget Sound and nationwide there’s intense competition for jobs, investment, companies and talent. For Kitsap to realize our best economic future, we need a robust, impactful, best-in-class economic development organization.

Who?

Led by a re-focused, re-energized KEDA
- Targeted economic development orientation based on studies, analyses and plans
- Increased private sector influence and direction
- Focus and resources directed by strategic plan
- Investor-led and directed
Partners & collaborators
- Private employers
- County, municipalities, neighboring counties
- Tribal Nations
- Education (Olympic College campuses, university partners, K-12 system/districts, trade schools)
- Port of Bremerton and Other Industrial Parks
- Real estate: Developers, builders, associations
- Chambers of Commerce and community nonprofits

Additional Notes about One Kitsap:

Funded and delivered as a five-year initiative, this plan is intended to establish capacity for KEDA to deliver solutions, impact, and value for many years in the future. The first few years will focus on building new organizational capacity.
Stakeholders, investors, and community leaders will be deployed through ad hoc and committee tasks as needed to supplement KEDA staff capacity and advance the collective agenda effectively.
KEDA staff will be encouraged to pursue appropriate professional development opportunities.
Implementation of One Kitsap requires investments in research capabilities and data acquisition & analysis. Research will include identification of best practices in other communities that can be emulated in Kitsap.

Five-Year Goals & Outcomes:

This plan is intended to directly help produce the outcomes below for Kitsap with regard to commercial space, vacancy at major employers and GDP. The Kitsap Economic Development Alliance’s actions will directly help produce the following outcomes by 2029:

Increase overall industrial and commercial inventory (+350,000 square feet in buildings)
Decrease vacancy rate at major employers by 25% from 2022 highs
Increase in Kitsap County GDP by 3%

Want to get involved?

Contact KEDA Executive Director Joe Morrison 360.377.9599

Interest Form

Near-Term Strategic Initiatives (2024-2025)

New Business Development

Evaluate prospects’ five-year needs (identifying what POB can do to be ready for long-term opportunities)

Key Tactics & Objectives	Timing
1. Survey. Assess Kitsap’s potential for existing business expansion and new firm attraction (industrial, commercial) by first understanding its available land and buildings for growth, via a survey product.
Contract/purchase KEDA comprehensive survey of current land/shorefront uses and ownership	Q1 2024
Deliverable: 1.) Produce study 2.) Executive Summary on recommendations for county, cities and community	Q2-Q3 2024
Debrief county, cities and community on One Kitsap business approach for expansion and attraction	Q3-Q4 2024
Implement next steps after jurisdictional advisement	2025
2. Comprehensive Plan Deliverable: KEDA Comprehensive Plan Recommendations all jurisdictions and county (economic development chapters, land use, issues, infrastructure). Suggest code revisions if requested/appropriate 3. Port of Bremerton / PSIC-Bremerton	Q2 2024
3. Port of Bremerton / Puget Sound Industrial Center (PSIC)-Bremerton. Ready area lands for development along the Highway 3 corridor. Substantial development of the lands at maturity could yield an additional 1,250 jobs, $375M in labor income, $490 million in local business and $1.28 billion in regional income (KEDA estimate based off 2023 economic impact analysis and WPPA 2021 Job Creator of the Year Data).
a) Port of Bremerton. Per annual contract, market Port assets:	Q1 2024
Meet with Port staff to identify their properties/priorities for marketing	Q1-Q2 2024
Key Performance Indicator (KPI): Conduct 16 related outbound outreach/recruitment efforts	Q3 2024
Meet to discuss marketing / data needs, producing relevant collateral where possible	Q1-Q2 2024
Evaluate prospects’ five-year needs (identifying what POB can do to be ready for long-term opportunities)	2025
b) Convene Southside Working Group (Kitsap + Mason/Belfair)
Drive quarterly public/private multistakeholder working group meetings that align comprehensive plans between private landowners, Port of Bremerton, Mason County and others in order to bring southside lands to market / development per owner interests as rapidly as possible. Aid in associated policy / infrastructure. Determine if additional regional subarea planning is needed / can occur.	2025

Business Retention & Expansion

Deliverable	Deadline
1. Government Contracting Washington APEX Accelerator (formerly PTAC
KPIs: 44 Training Sessions, 440 Attendees, 72 New Clients, 24 Manufacturers	Q2 2024
2. Deliverables per Washington Department of Commerce contract (Interactions).
2024 KPIs: 100 Business Retention and Expansion; 30 Recruitments; 18 Startups; 6 Export Assistance; 30 Trainings	Q2 2024
2025 KPIs: 110 Business Retention and Expansion; 32 Recruitments; 20 Startups; 8 Export Assistance; 35 Trainings	Q2 2025
3. Microbusiness Accelerator. Reproduce and/or scale if grant or other funding allows.	Q3 2024
4. Business Visitation Program. Visit high value employers to identify their opportunities, risk of departure from Kitsap, and business assistance. KPI: 50 Visits.	Q4 2024

Workforce

Key Tactics & Objectives	Timing
1. Navy workforce. Create program for Kitsap employers to access Navy transitioning personnel and family members, adding to the strength of our community’s workforce
Research program’s feasibility, best examples, and stakeholders participation requirements with community, Navy, industry and others	Q2-Q3 2024
Design project, earning commitment from partners to train and hire workforce	Q3-Q4 2024
Deliverable: Pilot effort and evaluate performance	Q1-Q2 2025
Launch/scale full program	Q1 2026
Produce qualified workers for committed stakeholders, KPIs determined during program	Q4 2026
2. Healthcare. Multiyear Priority: Partner and advocate to help deliver the proposed OC Poulsbo Campus Allied Health Center.
Healthcare Working Group Drawn from Kitsap County Healthcare Stakeholders, this KEDA=driven small group convened by KEDA will: identify positive outcomes in Kitsap healthcare, amplifying and tell those stories as well as the corrective actions being taken by the community to alleviate our current areas of healthcare deficiency.	Q2-Q3 2024
Launch business or talent recruitment programs (as appropriate) for healthcare, informed by needs & data	2025
3. Publish Top 10 Necessary Jobs.	Q4 2024
Maintain inventory of targeted top 10 unfilled jobs: occupations, skills, pay. Update semiannually

Entrepreneurship & Innovation

Deliverable	Deadline
Define and measure Kitsap’s current entrepreneurial ecosystem. Make recommendations and prioritize missing pieces	Q1-Q2 2024
Launch economic development training series relevant ot community coworking spaces (ex: "How to Buy a Small Business).	Q3-Q4 2024

WAV-C (Washington Autonomous Vehicle Cluster)

Key Tactics & Objectives	Goals
Priority: New operational funding necessary for WAV-C to continue. Existing grants run out Fall 2024.
1. Apply for Grant to Fund Operations	Quarterly
Have Demonstration Projects Underway (2)	Q1/Q2/Q3 2024
KPI: Maintain 50 or more members	Q3 2024

Research

Key Tactics & Objectives	Metrics / Timing
1. Economic reports.
Top Employers Report	Apr/May 2024
Kitsap One Pager - Economic Snapshot	Q2 2024
Economic Profile	Q3 2024
2. Warehouse local economic data.
Cost of Living Index via Western Washington University Median apartment and housing costs by Kitsap jurisdiction/region Housing starts under permit at Kitsap jurisdictions Commercial/Industrial under permit at jurisdictions	Obtain quarterly (where possible) beginning Q1 2024

Communications & Events

Key Tactics & Objectives	Metrics / Timing
1. Execute economic development events for Kitsap and community
KEDA Annual Meeting and Economic Forecast	Q1 2024
BIPOC Business Forums (1-2 annualy)	Q2/Q4 2024
Investor Business Briefings (2)	Q2/Q4 2024
Kitsap Industrial Readiness Summit	Q3 2024
Fall Forum	Q4 2024

Organizational Capacity

Key Tactics & Objectives	Timing
Launch Investor Relations Committee, meeting tri-annually to monitor and evaluate One Kitsap progress.
a) January meeting: Evaluates previous year’s performance according to plan, adjusts upcoming year’s plan	Q1 2024
b) July meeting: Evaluates Q2 deliverables (most critically, for Associate Development Organization (ADO)/Department of Commerce)	Q3 2024
c) October meeting: Check in on progress toward year-end	Q4 2024
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
a) Relaunch DEI Task Force, 6x Meetings Annually, New Co-Chairs	Q1 2024
b) Deliverable: Identify DEI Measurement Success Criteria/KPI for KEDA	Q2 2024
c) Develop and implement economic development tactics to achieve desired outcome (informed by KEDA’s 2023 DEI Report from NEXT Consulting Group)	Q3 2024- Q4 2025
Board Retreat. Provide a biannual retreat for board members, critical since adopting One Kitsap	Q3 2024
Economic Development Manager obtains Certified Economic Developer credential (CeCD) from International Economic Development Council.	2025

Longer-term (2026 – 2028) ROADMAP

New Business Development

Tactics & Objectives	Timing
1. Business/Talent Recruitment Program. Targeted sectors:
Maritime	2026
Defense	2027
Construction and Project Management - “Right sized” (relative to footprint, wages, # of employees)	2028
2. Project Artisan
Evaluate space need and growth forecast for key private sector employers(s). Aid in facility procurement if needed, taking actions to retain key large scale employers in Kitsap.	Begin 2026
3. Silverdale Land Use. Plans, site/buildings and development strategy
Identify plans to increase residential densification of city	2026
Redevelopment of Silverdale effort should include: Cost estimates, incentive evaluations Cultural aspects Infrastructure Considerations Partnership with Greater Kitsap Chamber Old Town Silverdale	2027-2028
4. Increase New Business Capabilities
Build Capacity (data, tools, hire staff/contract relationships if needed) to issue and respond capably and quickly to Requests for Proposals (RFPs) and Requests for Information (RFIs) Expand relationships with site selectors	2028
Ongoing
Monitor opportunity for local landowners (including Port of Bremerton to create lay down yard space for Shipyard Infrastructure Optimization Program (SIOP) Position KEDA as the private sector expert on the Shipyard Infrastructure Optimization Program.

Workforce

1. CTE. Increase certificated graduates from CTE programs in high schools, emphasizing trades and other careers in Kitsap that do not require 4-year college degrees.

Key Tactics & Objectives	Timing
1. Career & Technical Education (CTE) program
Increase certificated graduates from CTE programs in high schools, emphasizing trades and other careers in Kitsap that do not require 4-year college degrees.	Q1 2026-Q3 2027
2. Apprenticeships.
Enlist industry partners for top 10 apprenticeships (or job skills training programs / internships) for expansion (e.g., businesses active in the schools, students learning at businesses)	Q3 2027 - Q4 2028
Ongoing: Participate in community dialogue around housing to advance the solutions workforce agenda

Business Retention & Expansion

Tactics & Objective	Timing
Regular adjustment of all Key Performance Indicators (KPIs): Our government contracting program (APEX Accelerator formerly known as PTAC), WA State Dept of Commerce, Business Visitation Interview Program	Annual

ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND INNOVATION

Tactics & Objectives	Timing
1. Evaluate feasibility of Kitsap business plan competition w/ higher education partners	2026
Continue facilitating opportunities for Kitsap’s entrepreneurs to grow, network and collaborate	Ongoing

WAV-C

Key Tactics & Objectives	Goals
To be determined
Future feasibility is tied to new operational funding that must be obtained by Fall 2024	Fall 2024

RESEARCH

Key Tactics & Objectives	Metrics / Timing
1. Gap study
Comprehensively evaluate the adequacy of products and professional services available in Kitsap.	Q1 2026-Q3 2027
2. Migration and Growth study
Evaluate who has moved to Kitsap during the pandemic, how demographics have changed, and whether growth remains on a strong trajectory	Q3 2027-Q4 2028
Ongoing:
Continue to maintain, research, publish and disseminate information about Kitsap’s economy (both through large scale projects and individual efforts to assist Kitsap firms / economic interest)

COMMUNICATIONS & EVENTS

Key Tactics & Objectives	Metrics / Timing
Ongoing
Market Kitsap as business-friendly, innovative, with a strong quality of life, convenience and connectivity to Greater Seattle. County Requirement: Outreach and marketing of Kitsap as a talent destination.