Urban Manufacturing: An Equity Engine

Inside Nana Joes Granola, the popular handcrafted cereal made in San Francisco, is a secret ingredient. Behind every serving is a thoughtful, nurturing team of producers who grow, learn and thrive together.

Founded by former pastry chef Michelle Pusateri, Nana Joes Granola sells at more than 70 stores. Yet when asked what about her endeavor she's most proud of, Michelle will tell you, "It's one of my missions to ensure that none of my employees will ever have to work in entry-level jobs again." All of Nana Joes' current employees started out as dishwashers and worked their way up to production staff, including the company's production manager.

With a staff composed mainly of Spanish-speakers, Michelle is in the process of hiring a tutor to empower her team to learn English and to help Michelle with her Spanish. No more garbled recipe translations and, more importantly, the staff will learn a vital skill to bolster their resumes wherever they may go in the future.

Such is the power of local manufacturing – one of the few sectors in an advanced economy capable of paving a path to middle-class jobs for people eager to work their way up from and out of poverty or a subsistence lifestyle. Nana Joes is just one of the more than 650 SFMade member companies that are creating thousands of such sustainable jobs in San Francisco.

SFMade's mission is to build and support a vibrant manufacturing sector in San Francisco. It fulfills that mission by offering industry-specific education, networking opportunities and connections to local resources for entrepreneurs and growing small companies. In the six years since SFMade's inception, San Francisco has become a leader in the U.S. urban manufacturing renaissance, posting double-digit growth in manufacturing jobs year-over-year.

Succeeding at seeding new manufacturing jobs matters because:

• They pay significantly more than comparable service sector roles.
• They offer opportunities for individuals with less traditional education or other barriers to employment to work their way up the economic ladder.
• Manufacturing has an "economic multiplier" effect in a local economy. In 2015 alone, San Francisco manufacturers drove more than $614M into the regional economy and generated an additional $816M in indirect economic impact into the Bay Area, according to the Manufacturing Institute.
• Local manufacturing provides designers a unique opportunity to rapidly prototype new products, manufacture in small volumes, gain feedback from the local consumer base, and then repeat, sustaining a culture of innovation.
• A thriving local manufacturing base provides a powerful gateway to more diverse business ownership.

Local manufacturing is also a tool for building more inclusive cities, and Citi Community Development has supported SFMade's goal of advancing manufacturing locally and nationally.

Citi provided early financial support to enable SFMade's establishment and has been a catalyst to connect SFMade with opportunities to expand ever since. Citi connected SFMade with municipal leaders in a citywide initiative to address the skills gap faced by local manufacturers. Citi also helped SFMade advertise and promote its member businesses in 25 Citibank branches across the San Francisco area, while Citi leaders also attended meetings at The White House to demonstrate their support.

With a goal of replicating the success of SFMade's model across the country, Citi -- in collaboration with the Pratt Center for Community Development -- seeded the formation of the Urban Manufacturing Alliance. UMA has grown into an independent coalition of dozens of cities and participating organizations that share best practices and convene regularly to grow their respective urban manufacturing ecosystems. In addition, Citi supports an annual survey and analysis of the local manufacturing sector via SFMade's State of Local Manufacturing report. As a direct result of Citi Community Development's investment in SFMade's work, in 2015 alone, SFMade manufacturers:

• Sustained more than 5,000 jobs, 70 percent of which are low- or moderate-income
• Added new jobs at a 12 percent growth rate
• Raised a total of $47,000,000 in new investment capital
• Drove $614,000,00 in direct economic input into the Bay Area economy

Together with our partners, we're actively locating jobs inside communities composed of people who can most benefit from them. Urban manufacturing has a unique capacity to be a vibrant engine to simultaneously promote greater equity in employment, neighborhood economic development and entrepreneurship.

About the Inclusive Cities Series
Citi Community Development collaborates with America's most prominent local public officials, civil rights leaders and community organizations to expand financial access and build more inclusive cities. Through these innovative collaborations, we harness Citi's expertise, products, services and investments to ensure all residents and families have access to opportunity. Inclusive Cities is a new guest blog series where Citi's leading community partners bring to life, through stories of leadership and ingenuity, how their partnership with Citi is driving real urban progress in communities around the U.S.