The Tucson City Council will consider realigning its major economic development and community programs under a new office.
The Office of Community and Economic Impact would allow better coordination between the city鈥檚 action plans on major policy goals, including climate change, cultural affairs, prosperity, economic development, and equity, City Manager Tim Thomure said in a memo.
鈥淲e have a shared understanding that climate resilience, economic opportunity, cultural vitality, and equity are not separate policy goals, but interconnected drivers of long-term prosperity and quality of life for all Tucsonans,鈥 it reads.
The Cultural Affairs division, Office of Economic Initiatives, sustainability efforts, and the Office of Equity were already organized under the City Manager, but the city鈥檚 Prosperity Initiative, a partnership with Pima County and several nonprofits, would be moved under the new office, if the council approves the plan at Tuesday's meeting. Thomure鈥檚 current Chief of Staff, Lane Mandle, would oversee the new office as Executive Management Professional, directly under Thomure.
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The proposed restructuring comes as the city continues to grapple with questions over future economic development alongside recent job projections.
Mayor Regina Romeo called the city鈥檚 current economic strategy 鈥渇ragmented鈥 in a 2025 op-ed following the intense backlash to the Project Blue data center.
鈥...no one person can explain clearly and easily what our collective vision is as a region. This is to our own detriment,鈥 she wrote.
Preliminary data suggests Tucson will continue to see slow job growth for the next few years due to a combination of demographic shifts and slow hiring rates combined with federal uncertainty, said Jennifer Pullen, Director of the University of Arizona鈥檚 Economic and Business Research Center.
Tucson City Hall.
鈥淭he Tucson region is solely reliant on migration for population growth now, and then we also have federal policy that's inhibiting migration,鈥 Pullen said.
The first four months of job data show weak signs, according to an analysis from the Economic and Business Research Center.
Preliminary data shows the Tucson metropolitan area, which includes Pima County, lost 1,500 jobs compared to April of 2025, or a 0.4% drop. The EBRC forecasts overall growth for the year to be between 0.1 and 0.2%.
Thomure writes the proposed restructuring is also due in part to the mayor鈥檚 involvement in the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Program, an annual leadership cohort that teaches city leaders how to tackle complex urban challenges, according to their website.
Tucson鈥檚 chosen focus for the program is trying to increase job diversity, with the overall goal of reducing poverty below the state average by 2035, according to a presentation shared at an April council meeting.
The vast majority of jobs created between 2024 and 2025 were in private education and health services, and leisure and hospitality. Pullen said the first step in diversifying employers is looking at the existing workforce.
鈥淎nalyzing who's available to work here, who can we attract to move here to work, and that's kind of your starting component, and then building from there. Something that we talk about a lot, is leveraging what we already have,鈥 she said.
The council will also discuss three new focus areas for economic mobility, according to council documents. These include investments from Mexico, business retention, and business attraction.
However, the new office will also address the city鈥檚 refocused goal of expanding residents鈥 economic mobility, Thomure writes, including workforce development opportunities, training, and employment support.
