Quarterly Report

City of Chandler — Regular Meeting (2026-04-14)

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IDA Grant 
Quarterly
Update 3
Chandler 
Next Twenty 
Economic 
Vitality Report
SUBMITTED TO: 
CHANDLER IDA BOARD
JANUARY 31, 2026
GRANT AWARDEE:
CITY OF CHANDLER
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Project Update
Next Twenty Economic Vitality Report
The City of Chandler’s Economic Development Division was awarded $150,000 in 
grant funding to engage Arizona State University (ASU) to prepare a twenty-year 
economic vitality plan for the city. The Next Twenty report will address multiple 
topics critical to the city’s future economic prosperity and will complement long-
term planning efforts being undertaken for the city’s 2026 General Plan Update.
This is the third quarterly update to the Chandler IDA Board and covers the period 
of November 2025 through January 2026. The following steps have been taken to 
advance the project over the past quarter:
•	The ASU Seidman Research Institute team completed a first draft of the Next 
Twenty report in mid-January, which is being reviewed by city staff. The final 
version will be presented to the IDA Board during its meeting on April 14, 2026.
•	Stakeholder engagement has been completed with the ASU Seidman team 
conducting in-depth interviews with key industry corporate executives, 
entrepreneurs, civic leaders, and other community stakeholders identified by 
city staff. Two resident focus group sessions were held on Dec. 9 and Dec. 11 
with graduates from the city’s CIVIC program participating.
•	A progress presentation was given to the Economic Development Advisory 
Board during its meeting on Dec. 10.
•	The Thunderbird School of Global Management students completed their work 
for the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) section of the report in early December. 
As a reminder, the city applied for Thunderbird’s Global Challenge Lab, which 
simulates a real-world consulting project for its graduate students. A team of 
five students was assigned to the project and their final deliverable is attached.
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
IDA GRANT UPDATE | 2

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Apr.
May
June
July
Aug.
Sep.
Oct.
Nov.
Dec.
Jan.
Feb.
Mar.
IDA Grant Awarded
Contract Preparation
City Council Approval
Seidman Work 
Thunderbird GCL
Draft Report Due
Final Report Due
IDA GRANT UPDATE | 3
Micah Miranda
ECONOMIC  DEVELOPMENT 
DIRECTOR
We appreciate the Chandler IDA 
Board’s support for this project. 
Please contact us if you have 
questions about the information 
provided in this quarterly update. 
Questions?
Michael Winer
ECONOMIC  DEVELOPMENT 
PROJECT MANAGER
Project Timeline
The final report was originally scheduled to be completed in February. It will now 
be due in March to provide more time for city review and edits by the ASU team.
Project Funding
To date, $104,156.88 in grant funding has been spent. Of the $150,000 awarded, 
most ($145,000) was allocated to the contract with ASU Seidman Research 
Institute. Payment is made in monthly installments with each being one-seventh 
of the total contract amount ($20,714). Five payments have been made to ASU 
Seidman. The remaining $5,000 of the grant award was allocated to transportation 
reimbursements for Thunderbird students working on the FDI piece. They 
commuted from Thunderbird’s campus in Phoenix to Chandler City Hall for onsite 
work and submitted a total of $586.88 in mileage reimbursements.