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KITTITAS COUNTY, WASHINGTON <br />Stakeholder engagement is a critical component of the TIP planning model. Throughout the engagement, <br />discussions with local experts, community leaders, employers, and others informed the development of goals and <br />strategies. ln total, eight roundtables were held with stakeholders from key sectors, as well as 30 one-on-one <br />interviews with community leaders, government officials, and key sector representatives. Additionally, regular <br />meetings with the project steering committee provided guidance on the strategic direction of the plan. <br />To ensure continued participation and input through the process, leadership and opportunity workshops were also <br />held. The leadership workshop took place at the end of the discovery phase and gathered the steering committee <br />and additional community stakeholders to determine the direction of the plan. The opportunity workshop was a <br />large, in-person event where participants were able to comment on the initial strategies for accomplishing the <br />goals laid out during the leadership workshop. <br />ln an effort to increase collaboration among economic development organizations in Kittitas County, TIP led two <br />additional workshops targeted at these groups. The workshops included discussions on oppprtunities for relationship <br />building, barriers to collaboration, and protocols and agreements to facilitate working together toward shared goals. <br />Findings from these stakeholder engagement activities were supplemented and refined by discussions with the <br />project steering committee, including the use of Mentimeter (an interactive polling tool) during regular committee <br />meetings. An overview of the stakeholder engagement process is provided in Figure 2. Highlights from the data <br />analysis and TIP's review of the County's strengths, opportunities, weaknesses, and threats (SWOT analysis) are <br />provided in Section 3. <br />Figure 2. Stakeholder Engagement Overview <br />INTERVIEWS AND ROUNDTABLES STEERING COMMITTEE <br />sAsqs$o,90 <br />fr-tr <br />30 <br />lnterviews <br />8 <br />. lndustry leaders <br />n Economic development. Government officials. Communily leaders <br />" Healthcare. Energy. Central Washington University <br />ECONOMIC DEVELOPERS <br />. Agricullure <br />o Real estale. TourismI Young professionals <br />. Manufacturing <br />" Small business (upper and lower County). Technology/remoleworkers <br />TIP PTANNING MODET WORKSHOPS <br />24 <br />Membels <br />r Slruclured to provide broad <br />represenlalion. Facilitated regular meetings to provide <br />insight and guidance <br />. Used inleractive polling tool <br />(Mentimeter) to solicit input <br />Roundtables <br />ooo ,ffi <br />rFilFilet <br />3121 <br />Workshops with Live Polling Discovery 0pportunig lmplementation <br />Facilitated discussions on <br />collaboration with economic <br />development organizations in the <br />County. Solicited input via interactive <br />polling tool (Mentimeter). <br />Presented d iscovery findings <br />to steering commitlee and <br />local leadership. Achieved <br />consensus on plan's five <br />guiding principles. <br />Presented plan goals and high- <br />level strategies to local leaders <br />and communily members. <br />Breakout groups provided input <br />and recommendations. <br />To be in the six months <br />following plan's release. Used <br />to evaluate progress and adjust <br />the plan as needed. <br />PAGE 2 I ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIC PLAN