Tallahassee-Leon County Office of Economic Vitality

The Office of Economic Vitality, OEV for short, is the economic development office that the City of Tallahassee and Leon County run together.

Its About page gives the date and the chain of command: OEV was created on February 29, 2016, inside the consolidated Department of Planning, Land Management, and Community Enhancement, known as PLACE, and under the governance of the Intergovernmental Agency. The agency's board of directors is the Tallahassee City Commission and the Leon County Board of County Commissioners. An Intergovernmental Management Committee of the Leon County Administrator and the Tallahassee City Manager administers OEV and recommends policy to the agency.

The City of Tallahassee describes PLACE as a joint department created to better integrate three interrelated programs: planning functions, OEV's economic development programs and Blueprint infrastructure projects. OEV's office is at 315 South Calhoun Street, Suite 110, in downtown Tallahassee, phone (850) 219-1080.

Its stated mission is to lead Tallahassee-Leon County's economic development efforts by leveraging existing resources and assets. As of October 18, 2026, OEV's staff page lists Keith Bowers as Director of the Office of Economic Vitality, Artie White as Director of PLACE and Darryl Jones as Deputy Director for Minority, Women and Small Business Enterprise.

OEV's economic development money comes from the Leon County sales tax extension that voters approved in 2014.

OEV's About page explains that the County and City Commissions approved making Tallahassee-Leon County only the second community in Florida to include economic development in a sales tax initiative. On November 4, 2014, 65% of voters approved a 20-year extension of the sales tax, and 12% of it, estimated at $90.7 million, was set aside to support economic development projects, programs and initiatives. The rest of the extension pays for Blueprint infrastructure projects, which is why both programs answer to the same Blueprint Intergovernmental Agency board.

OEV recruits employers to Tallahassee-Leon County through a Targeted Business Program aimed at four industry sectors, with incentives reviewed in confidence first.

The Targeted Industries page names the four sectors it wants in Tallahassee-Leon County: applied sciences and innovation; manufacturing and transportation and logistics; professional services and information technology; and health care. Under the Target Business Program, funds may reimburse 100% of a project's development fees and a portion of its capital investment based on the ad valorem taxes it pays, with the amount set by a scoring system evaluated by a review committee before final approval.

Negotiations happen in private first. The Competitive Projects Cabinet is a three-member committee of the Tallahassee City Manager, the Leon County Administrator and the chair of the Economic Vitality Leadership Council, which reviews competitive projects for return on investment, fit and due diligence. Its members are required by law to sign non-disclosure agreements and cannot submit or vote on projects that would affect them, their businesses or their organizations. That is why big Tallahassee projects often reach the public under code names first.

MWSBE certification is OEV's program for Minority, Women, and Small Business Enterprises that want to compete for City of Tallahassee, Leon County and Blueprint contracts.

The MWSBE Division certifies minority and women-owned firms and small businesses with fewer than 200 employees and $5 million in sales, assigns uniform aspirational goals to bids and requests for proposals when feasible, and scores RFPs, all for the City of Tallahassee, Leon County Government and the Blueprint Intergovernmental Agency.

The single program is fairly new. The division says these operations were once served separately by Leon County and the City of Tallahassee and are now fully consolidated, following the Intergovernmental Agency board's acceptance of a consolidated MWSBE policy and the 2019 Disparity Study. The study was updated in 2022 to assess whether any changes to procurement policies were necessary.

To qualify, according to the OEV certification page, a firm must be at least 51% owned and controlled by minorities or women, be for-profit, have been established for one calendar year before applying, and be located in Leon, Wakulla, Jefferson or Gadsden counties. Certified firms are listed in OEV's online directory used by city and county departments, join the CapitalLOOP business retention and expansion program and can take MWSBE Industry Academies offered with the FAMU Small Business Development Center, the Big Bend Minority Chamber of Commerce and CareerSource.

OEV publishes Tallahassee-Leon County's economic indicators through its Data Center and Research and Business Analytics Division.

The OEV Data Center says the division regularly monitors and reports on key economic indicators, maintains databases of economic and demographic data, and gives technical help in demographics, economic analysis and GIS to other city and county staff. The OEV home page says its analysts track over 80 metrics, including employment, taxable sales and gross domestic product, and reports that more than 56% of the Tallahassee-Leon County population has an associate's degree or higher.

The Tallahassee data is meant for site selectors as much as for residents. The Data Center offers an economic dashboard, interactive data, data archives and a request form, with information on demographics, development, economic factors, education, innovation, labor force, income and residential and commercial development.

OEV calls Tallahassee the Magnetic Capital of the World because of the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, and it formed a task force around that asset.

The Magnetic Task Force, established in 2017, works to cultivate a magnetic technologies cluster around existing technology assets, including business intelligence to find customers that may benefit from a location close to the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, as OEV continues to promote Tallahassee as the Magnetic Capital of the World.

The research district is a Blueprint concern too. The Blueprint agency describes an Airport Gateway project that creates an east-west corridor across Lake Bradford Road to connect Florida A&M University, FSU, Innovation Park and the airport to the urban core.

OEV is advised by appointed Tallahassee-Leon County citizens and business leaders, chiefly the 14-member Economic Vitality Leadership Council.

The Economic Vitality Leadership Council members are appointed by the Blueprint Intergovernmental Agency board from Tallahassee-Leon County businesses, public entities and nonprofits representing the strategic plan's six initiative areas, which include business formation, technology and commercialization, business retention and expansion, and business recruitment. The council reviews and recommends OEV actions to bring before the board, can recommend task forces, and does not consider or approve funding for projects or programs.

OEV also runs workforce outreach. The Leon Works Expo brings together regional employers, educators and high school students to show career opportunities in high-demand industries, and the participating counties included Leon, Gadsden, Jefferson, Calhoun, Madison, Taylor and Wakulla.

Last verified: October 18, 2026, against OEV's About, staff, committee, MWSBE, certification, Data Center, Targeted Industries, financing, Magnetic Task Force and Leon Works pages, the City of Tallahassee PLACE page and the Blueprint Intergovernmental Agency home page.