By Brian CHERNICK

Glendale’s effort to build, nourish and retain better business relationships throughout the city took a major step last month with the announcement of an outreach program GRIT – the Glendale Relationship Initiation Team.

Operating out of the city’s Economic Development Department, GRIT will work as a task force performing block-by-block outreach meetings for local businesses.

The formation of the team was partly motivated by the move of Nestlé’s U.S. headquarters in January to their new location in Rosslyn, Virginia after 27 years in Glendale.

The move, which is expected to take 1,200 jobs along with it, is due to conditions out of the city’s control, according to GRIT’s Principal Economic Development Officer Jennifer McLain.

McLain and her team hope GRIT will help develop a direct line of contact between the city and businesses to field questions and concerns regarding hiring needs and the available workforce.

“We do want to make sure that we have relationships with our office users,” McLain said. “Should they ever have a question or an issue with City Hall or don’t know where to go, they know that they have a friend in the city who is invested in their success.”

The outreach program also comes out of Glendale’s tech initiative, which seeks to buildout citywide broadband internet for businesses in an effort to expand Glendale’s presence in the tech industry.

The first businesses to participate last month included Stila Cosmetics, Salem Media Group and Coldwell Banker located at the 701 and 801 N. Brand Blvd. office buildings.

The goal is to visit 100 businesses over the next 12 months with two meetings being held a month, each lasting about 20 to 30 minutes.

  Brian CHERNICK