Atlanta Business Chronicle - by Carla Caldwell, Morning Call Editor
Two groups that promote economic development in Macon and Bibb Co., Ga., ended what had become a bitter turf dispute when on Friday they announced a new partnership to recruit and retain business, the Macon Telegraph’s website macon.com reports.
Officials with the Macon-Bibb County Industrial Authority and Macon Economic Development Commission have negotiated a three-year contract that stipulates each group keep the other informed of their activities and that they work together to attract industry, according to macon.com.
According to the new agreement, the MEDC will remain the area’s “point of contact” with Georgia officials, developers and prospective companies, while the authority will control public funding set aside for development as well as be more involved with potential projects, officials said, the newspaper reports.
The authority voted earlier this year to do its own marketing and said it would keep MEDC on through June 30. The industrial authority has argued marketing is its role, and that it is the only entity authorized to receive public funding for marketing efforts. The MEDC, which has firmly disagreed, has received funding from the city, county and water authority, as well as private contributions, according to macon.com.
As the Atlanta Business Chronicle reported earlier, the authority voted June 6 to move ahead to sever its relationship with MEDC, prompting some members of the Greater Macon Chamber of Commerce to say the authority’s decision could affect economic projects that took years to build.
At a Friday news conference following the groups’ decision to make amends, MEDC Chairman Mike Dyer said “Economic development is back on the right track,” the Macon newspaper reported.
Monday, June 13, 2011
Friday, June 10, 2011
To get jobs, areas develop industry hubs in emerging fields
By Paul Davidson, USA TODAY
CLEVELAND — Alex Nudelman, a strapping 49-year-old, confidently pushes buttons on a computer-controlled milling machine and suggests it's ready to sculpt a small piece of metal.
His instructor stops him, noting Nudelman has not programmed in all the tools needed to shape the metal block.
A journeyman autoworker who was laid off in 2009, Nudelman is taking a community college class here so he can work on the more sophisticated gear powering the region's growing cluster of medical device makers. If all goes well, he may soon be churning out spinal implants instead of seat brackets.
"I'm trying to compare the new technology with my old experience, and sometimes it's helpful, and sometimes" it isn't, Nudelman says. But, the Russia native adds, blue eyes brightening, "It's the future."
Northeast Ohio is among a growing number of regions that are combating the loss of traditional factory jobs by developing industry clusters in fields such as biomedicine, renewable energy and aerospace. Besides medical devices, the Cleveland area — a more than century-old stronghold for auto, rubber and glass making — aims to carve out niches in clean energy and flexible electronics.
Hubs that group manufacturers, suppliers, training programs, researchers and others in the same region, aren't new. Hot beds such as computers in Silicon Valley, biotechnology in Boston and film in Hollywood developed organically and have thrived for decades.
But with the loss of 8.7 million jobs in the recession, state and local officials are more active in trying to speed the growth of nascent clusters to create new jobs. Emerging industry centers include electric-car batteries in Michigan, clean energy in Colorado and robotics in Pittsburgh. In clean energy alone, 20 regional non-profits have sprung up around the USA in the past three years to coordinate funding and product-launching efforts among companies, universities, entrepreneurs and state agencies.
Now, the federal government is stepping in. President Obama's fiscal 2012 budget proposes a competition to identify 20 potential clusters that would receive a share of $2.5 billion in financial incentives. A separate program involving 16 U.S. agencies aims to advance existing industry hubs. With a report Friday showing job growth slowing, officials say funding for innovation is needed to expand payrolls.
Clusters "are becoming a central framework for how the federal government is engaging," says Assistant Secretary of Commerce John Fernandez.
Some critics say government efforts often fall short by trying to pick winners and losers in the marketplace or create clusters that don't have a sufficient base of companies. Officials in several states downplay such concerns and say they must act to revive a fading manufacturing base. The U.S. lost 2 million factory jobs in the recent recession. Manufacturing employment in the U.S. peaked at about 19 million in 1970, when it made up 21% of the workforce. Today, the USA's 11.7 million factory workers are just 9% of all payrolls, though employment rebounded some in the recovery.
The U.S., with 19.4% of global factory output, was marginally overtaken by China last year as the world's manufacturing leader, according to IHS Global Insight. Cluster development is designed to attract firms and make them less likely to flee for countries with low labor costs or short-term financial incentives.
"Business as usual is broken," says Brookings Institution senior fellow Mark Muro, noting enticing firms with tax breaks alone yields limited benefit.
Cluster theory holds that manufacturers and suppliers often want to be in proximity to collaborate on product design. Companies want to be near universities to benefit from the latest innovations. And bigger clusters attract still more companies that seek access to a large pool of skilled workers.
The class Nudelman attends underscores the synergies of Cleveland's biomedical ecosystem. A year ago, Cuyahoga Community College started the class, which teaches computer-controlled milling to aspiring medical-device and aerospace workers, to supply area firms with more workers at the request of BioEnterprise, a non-profit charged with growing the cluster. The Labor Department kicked in a $600,000 grant, making the class free for students, many of whom lost old-line manufacturing jobs.
BioEnterprise CEO Baiju Shah says business leaders and local officials launched his and other non-profits around the 2001 recession when they realized Cleveland's traditional factory jobs weren't coming back. The Cleveland area has lost 80,000 manufacturing jobs since 2000, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Officials decided to base the area's future on an existing hub of medical imaging and other device makers — as well as pharmaceutical developers and bioscience researchers — and the presence of the renowned Cleveland Clinic and Case Western Reserve University. Until recently, the cluster had failed to draw the start-up firms and venture capital needed to create jobs, Shah says.
State support
Driving the effort was Ohio's Third Frontier, a $2.3 billion state program to nurture new tech-based industries. The initiative has pumped $235 million into biomedical research and start-ups in northeast Ohio since 2002. Non-profits such as BioEnterprise have recruited medical firms to the region, helped start-ups obtain venture capital and state money and matched manufacturers with suppliers.
Since 2001, the number of biomedical firms in the area has more than doubled to 600, and venture capital investments have swelled to an average $150 million a year since 2005, vs. $30 million a year from 1996 to 2001, according to BioEnterprise. The ventures employ a few thousand, a fraction of the jobs lost, but more are expected as fledgling firms grow.
On Euclid Avenue, an unpretentious artery that connects downtown Cleveland with uptown hospitals and universities, shuttered red-brick factories and social-service agencies are interspersed with tony health care office complexes with names such as CleveMed.
Nearby, ground was broken early this year on the $465 million Cleveland Medical Mart & Convention Center, the world's first marketplace for medical industry buyers and sellers.
BioEnterprise is the cluster's nerve center. In earth-toned open offices, venture capitalists sit in windowed cubicles along the perimeter; BioEnterprise marketers toil in the center.
Across the hall is an incubator with 19 biomedical start-ups, which pay nominal rents to BioEnterprise, and in some cases, share offices. One, CardioInsight, developed a vest with sensors to capture electrical signals from 250 body areas to better diagnose weak spots in the heart.
The vest was the brainchild of a Case Western graduate student and partly funded by Third Frontier and a local non-profit venture capitalist called JumpStart. The original prototype was a 15-pound medieval-looking garment strewn with wires. A local design firm, Nottingham Spirk, situated three blocks from CardioInsight, turned it into a lightweight, disposable vest with 250 printed circuits. "The fact that they were five minutes away allowed us to have multiple face-to-face meetings," says CardioInsight CEO Steve Arless. "You need to not only see it, you need to feel it."
The firm could double its 20-person staff in two years after the vest is cleared by regulators.
Nottingham has invented consumer products such as the Dirt Devil vacuum cleaner and a $5 battery-operated toothbrush. Located in a former church, the firm — whose designers rim a rotunda while technicians build prototypes in a workshop a few steps below — has doubled the medical-device portion of its portfolio to about 40%. "We read the tea leaves," says partner John Nottingham, who often stands beside surgeons during operations to see how tools can be improved.
Cleveland also has wrested biomedical start-ups from far-flung locales. In 2002, city and business officials went to Israel to lure Simbionix, a maker of computers that simulate surgery for medical students.
The simulators are made by Astro Manufacturing & Design, which has long produced auto and aerospace parts for other companies but is increasingly cranking out medical devices. In a quiet workshop off the whirring aerospace factory, two former industrial machine workers assemble computers and connect them to syringes and scalpels. They learned on the job.
"I don't know anything about the heart or lower arteries," says worker Ken Valardo, 53.
At another Astro plant nearby, employees make the screws and plates that go into broken spines and bones. That required a culture shift and more exacting procedures. Titanium rods are labeled and stored behind a locked gate until they're ready to be shaped. That way, finished goods can be tracked in case defects are found and a lot has to be recalled. Parts are sandblasted and inspected under microscopes for tiny imperfections.
Don Perish, a lanky, graying 52-year-old, has been turning out bone screws since he lost his job making auto industry tools two years ago. His margin for error is much smaller as he programs computer-controlled lathes to shape the screws to within a human-hair's width of the prescribed dimension. He also has to keep meticulous records of everything he does.
"You have to pay more attention," he says. In his old job, "If I dropped something on the floor, you'd just put it back and keep on going." Perish, whose hourly pay of about $17 an hour hasn't changed, says his new gig is more rewarding. "I know I'm helping somebody out who might otherwise be paralyzed."
Astro officials meet weekly with physicians at the Cleveland Clinic to work on new products. One recent morning, Astro executive Brett Crawford sat at a table in the office of orthopedist Joseph Iannotti to discuss ways to improve a long metal tool they're developing to guide surgeons during shoulder implants.
"The problem is the foot piece," Iannotti said, noting that the device's lower part didn't line up with a badly degenerated shoulder as he held it against a model. Crawford nodded and took notes: "We're doubling the (foot piece's) length." A new version was ready in three days.
Some skills in short supply
There are challenges, including a shortage of skilled workers and entrepreneurs to lead start-ups. Astro, with 275 employees, added 45 last year and is struggling to hire a dozen engineers, managers and machinists. "It's impossible," says Vice President Rich Peterson, adding that many old-line workers lack essential math and computer skills.
Also, U.S. approval of medical devices can take years. AxioMed, a Cleveland area start-up, has been selling its artificial spinal discs in Europe for 18 months but doesn't expect federal Food and Drug Administration approval until 2012, delaying a planned expansion from 15 to 30 employees. "It's much more difficult in the U.S.," says CEO Patrick McBrayer.
To hedge the region's bets, another non-profit called NorTech is working to develop clusters in clean energy and flexible electronics, which involves putting tiny, malleable printed circuit boards on clothing and other products so ski goggles, for example, can tint with a touch. "If biosciences starts to dip, others can pick up," says NorTech President Rebecca Bagley.
The flexible electronics cluster has only 20 firms, but it's attracted $60 million in state funding, and virtually no other region has a foothold in the space. By contrast, Harvard's Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness lists at least 40 medical-device clusters in the USA.
Critics say cluster development is misguided. Consultant Gary Kunkle says his study of 1.3 million firms showed success or failure is based on companies' distinctive qualities, not location. And, he says, governments are far more likely than the marketplace to fund lemons. "You have a bureaucracy that has no idea about the feasibility of these ideas," he says, noting nearly every state has been trying to form a biotech cluster.
Norman Chagnon, executive director of Ohio's Third Frontier, says officials are simply trying to hasten the development of industries and companies that have obvious strengths. "It would have been foolish and hubris for us to pick an area that's hot and say that's where we're going to go," he says.
CLEVELAND — Alex Nudelman, a strapping 49-year-old, confidently pushes buttons on a computer-controlled milling machine and suggests it's ready to sculpt a small piece of metal.
His instructor stops him, noting Nudelman has not programmed in all the tools needed to shape the metal block.
A journeyman autoworker who was laid off in 2009, Nudelman is taking a community college class here so he can work on the more sophisticated gear powering the region's growing cluster of medical device makers. If all goes well, he may soon be churning out spinal implants instead of seat brackets.
"I'm trying to compare the new technology with my old experience, and sometimes it's helpful, and sometimes" it isn't, Nudelman says. But, the Russia native adds, blue eyes brightening, "It's the future."
Northeast Ohio is among a growing number of regions that are combating the loss of traditional factory jobs by developing industry clusters in fields such as biomedicine, renewable energy and aerospace. Besides medical devices, the Cleveland area — a more than century-old stronghold for auto, rubber and glass making — aims to carve out niches in clean energy and flexible electronics.
Hubs that group manufacturers, suppliers, training programs, researchers and others in the same region, aren't new. Hot beds such as computers in Silicon Valley, biotechnology in Boston and film in Hollywood developed organically and have thrived for decades.
But with the loss of 8.7 million jobs in the recession, state and local officials are more active in trying to speed the growth of nascent clusters to create new jobs. Emerging industry centers include electric-car batteries in Michigan, clean energy in Colorado and robotics in Pittsburgh. In clean energy alone, 20 regional non-profits have sprung up around the USA in the past three years to coordinate funding and product-launching efforts among companies, universities, entrepreneurs and state agencies.
Now, the federal government is stepping in. President Obama's fiscal 2012 budget proposes a competition to identify 20 potential clusters that would receive a share of $2.5 billion in financial incentives. A separate program involving 16 U.S. agencies aims to advance existing industry hubs. With a report Friday showing job growth slowing, officials say funding for innovation is needed to expand payrolls.
Clusters "are becoming a central framework for how the federal government is engaging," says Assistant Secretary of Commerce John Fernandez.
Some critics say government efforts often fall short by trying to pick winners and losers in the marketplace or create clusters that don't have a sufficient base of companies. Officials in several states downplay such concerns and say they must act to revive a fading manufacturing base. The U.S. lost 2 million factory jobs in the recent recession. Manufacturing employment in the U.S. peaked at about 19 million in 1970, when it made up 21% of the workforce. Today, the USA's 11.7 million factory workers are just 9% of all payrolls, though employment rebounded some in the recovery.
The U.S., with 19.4% of global factory output, was marginally overtaken by China last year as the world's manufacturing leader, according to IHS Global Insight. Cluster development is designed to attract firms and make them less likely to flee for countries with low labor costs or short-term financial incentives.
"Business as usual is broken," says Brookings Institution senior fellow Mark Muro, noting enticing firms with tax breaks alone yields limited benefit.
Cluster theory holds that manufacturers and suppliers often want to be in proximity to collaborate on product design. Companies want to be near universities to benefit from the latest innovations. And bigger clusters attract still more companies that seek access to a large pool of skilled workers.
The class Nudelman attends underscores the synergies of Cleveland's biomedical ecosystem. A year ago, Cuyahoga Community College started the class, which teaches computer-controlled milling to aspiring medical-device and aerospace workers, to supply area firms with more workers at the request of BioEnterprise, a non-profit charged with growing the cluster. The Labor Department kicked in a $600,000 grant, making the class free for students, many of whom lost old-line manufacturing jobs.
BioEnterprise CEO Baiju Shah says business leaders and local officials launched his and other non-profits around the 2001 recession when they realized Cleveland's traditional factory jobs weren't coming back. The Cleveland area has lost 80,000 manufacturing jobs since 2000, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Officials decided to base the area's future on an existing hub of medical imaging and other device makers — as well as pharmaceutical developers and bioscience researchers — and the presence of the renowned Cleveland Clinic and Case Western Reserve University. Until recently, the cluster had failed to draw the start-up firms and venture capital needed to create jobs, Shah says.
State support
Driving the effort was Ohio's Third Frontier, a $2.3 billion state program to nurture new tech-based industries. The initiative has pumped $235 million into biomedical research and start-ups in northeast Ohio since 2002. Non-profits such as BioEnterprise have recruited medical firms to the region, helped start-ups obtain venture capital and state money and matched manufacturers with suppliers.
Since 2001, the number of biomedical firms in the area has more than doubled to 600, and venture capital investments have swelled to an average $150 million a year since 2005, vs. $30 million a year from 1996 to 2001, according to BioEnterprise. The ventures employ a few thousand, a fraction of the jobs lost, but more are expected as fledgling firms grow.
On Euclid Avenue, an unpretentious artery that connects downtown Cleveland with uptown hospitals and universities, shuttered red-brick factories and social-service agencies are interspersed with tony health care office complexes with names such as CleveMed.
Nearby, ground was broken early this year on the $465 million Cleveland Medical Mart & Convention Center, the world's first marketplace for medical industry buyers and sellers.
BioEnterprise is the cluster's nerve center. In earth-toned open offices, venture capitalists sit in windowed cubicles along the perimeter; BioEnterprise marketers toil in the center.
Across the hall is an incubator with 19 biomedical start-ups, which pay nominal rents to BioEnterprise, and in some cases, share offices. One, CardioInsight, developed a vest with sensors to capture electrical signals from 250 body areas to better diagnose weak spots in the heart.
The vest was the brainchild of a Case Western graduate student and partly funded by Third Frontier and a local non-profit venture capitalist called JumpStart. The original prototype was a 15-pound medieval-looking garment strewn with wires. A local design firm, Nottingham Spirk, situated three blocks from CardioInsight, turned it into a lightweight, disposable vest with 250 printed circuits. "The fact that they were five minutes away allowed us to have multiple face-to-face meetings," says CardioInsight CEO Steve Arless. "You need to not only see it, you need to feel it."
The firm could double its 20-person staff in two years after the vest is cleared by regulators.
Nottingham has invented consumer products such as the Dirt Devil vacuum cleaner and a $5 battery-operated toothbrush. Located in a former church, the firm — whose designers rim a rotunda while technicians build prototypes in a workshop a few steps below — has doubled the medical-device portion of its portfolio to about 40%. "We read the tea leaves," says partner John Nottingham, who often stands beside surgeons during operations to see how tools can be improved.
Cleveland also has wrested biomedical start-ups from far-flung locales. In 2002, city and business officials went to Israel to lure Simbionix, a maker of computers that simulate surgery for medical students.
The simulators are made by Astro Manufacturing & Design, which has long produced auto and aerospace parts for other companies but is increasingly cranking out medical devices. In a quiet workshop off the whirring aerospace factory, two former industrial machine workers assemble computers and connect them to syringes and scalpels. They learned on the job.
"I don't know anything about the heart or lower arteries," says worker Ken Valardo, 53.
At another Astro plant nearby, employees make the screws and plates that go into broken spines and bones. That required a culture shift and more exacting procedures. Titanium rods are labeled and stored behind a locked gate until they're ready to be shaped. That way, finished goods can be tracked in case defects are found and a lot has to be recalled. Parts are sandblasted and inspected under microscopes for tiny imperfections.
Don Perish, a lanky, graying 52-year-old, has been turning out bone screws since he lost his job making auto industry tools two years ago. His margin for error is much smaller as he programs computer-controlled lathes to shape the screws to within a human-hair's width of the prescribed dimension. He also has to keep meticulous records of everything he does.
"You have to pay more attention," he says. In his old job, "If I dropped something on the floor, you'd just put it back and keep on going." Perish, whose hourly pay of about $17 an hour hasn't changed, says his new gig is more rewarding. "I know I'm helping somebody out who might otherwise be paralyzed."
Astro officials meet weekly with physicians at the Cleveland Clinic to work on new products. One recent morning, Astro executive Brett Crawford sat at a table in the office of orthopedist Joseph Iannotti to discuss ways to improve a long metal tool they're developing to guide surgeons during shoulder implants.
"The problem is the foot piece," Iannotti said, noting that the device's lower part didn't line up with a badly degenerated shoulder as he held it against a model. Crawford nodded and took notes: "We're doubling the (foot piece's) length." A new version was ready in three days.
Some skills in short supply
There are challenges, including a shortage of skilled workers and entrepreneurs to lead start-ups. Astro, with 275 employees, added 45 last year and is struggling to hire a dozen engineers, managers and machinists. "It's impossible," says Vice President Rich Peterson, adding that many old-line workers lack essential math and computer skills.
Also, U.S. approval of medical devices can take years. AxioMed, a Cleveland area start-up, has been selling its artificial spinal discs in Europe for 18 months but doesn't expect federal Food and Drug Administration approval until 2012, delaying a planned expansion from 15 to 30 employees. "It's much more difficult in the U.S.," says CEO Patrick McBrayer.
To hedge the region's bets, another non-profit called NorTech is working to develop clusters in clean energy and flexible electronics, which involves putting tiny, malleable printed circuit boards on clothing and other products so ski goggles, for example, can tint with a touch. "If biosciences starts to dip, others can pick up," says NorTech President Rebecca Bagley.
The flexible electronics cluster has only 20 firms, but it's attracted $60 million in state funding, and virtually no other region has a foothold in the space. By contrast, Harvard's Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness lists at least 40 medical-device clusters in the USA.
Critics say cluster development is misguided. Consultant Gary Kunkle says his study of 1.3 million firms showed success or failure is based on companies' distinctive qualities, not location. And, he says, governments are far more likely than the marketplace to fund lemons. "You have a bureaucracy that has no idea about the feasibility of these ideas," he says, noting nearly every state has been trying to form a biotech cluster.
Norman Chagnon, executive director of Ohio's Third Frontier, says officials are simply trying to hasten the development of industries and companies that have obvious strengths. "It would have been foolish and hubris for us to pick an area that's hot and say that's where we're going to go," he says.
Michigan Eliminates MEGA tax credits
By Nathan Bomey
While he was CEO of economic development group Ann Arbor SPARK, Michael Finney helped growing tech companies apply for tax credits from the Michigan Economic Development Corp.
But, as part of tax reform legislation pushed by Gov. Rick Snyder and approved by the Michigan Legislature last month, MEDC's Michigan Economic Growth Authority tax credits for high-tech companies were killed in favor of a $1.7 billion overall tax cut for Michigan businesses.
And Finney, who once said the tax credits were necessary to help attract new companies, is not shedding any tears for the MEGA tax credits.
The MEGA tax credits, created by former Gov. John Engler and expanded by Gov. Jennifer Granholm, were originally viewed as a way to attract growing companies to come to Michigan and to convince existing companies to expand here.
But over time, the MEGA credits turned into a political curse, as a multitude of companies, including local offices of companies like Atwell Hicks and Google, failed to add the jobs they promised to add in exchange for receiving the credits. And Lansing lawmakers were forced to explain why they distributed tax breaks to companies that weren’t meeting their expansion promises.
During Granholm's eight-year administration, the MEGA board distributed more than $3.56 billion in tax credits to 508 companies, according to an analysis conducted by AnnArbor.com in September.
The purging of business tax credits would frighten most U.S. economic development leaders, who survive on a steady diet of tax credits designated for hot companies.
But Finney is confident that the state’s lower overall business tax rate, a simpler filing system, a governor who is very business friendly and a capped pool of incentives that survived the funding cuts will lead to more jobs and business growth.
The death of the MEGA credits — and all the “saved,” “retained” and “indirect” jobs the MEDC claimed would be created as a result of the credits — is just fine with Finney.
“I’m extremely comfortable with it,” he said in an interview Thursday at the Detroit Regional Chamber's annual Mackinac Policy Conference at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island.
The credits are gone, but the state Legislature devoted $175 million for various MEDC incentives and programs for the 2011-12 fiscal year, which starts Oct. 1. Here’s the breakdown:
--$25 million for the Pure Michigan marketing campaign.
--$25 million for film industry subsidies, about one-fifth of the amount distributed in 2010, when the film tax credits were theoretically unlimited.
--$25 million for entrepreneurial programs.
--$100 million for all other tax incentives and credits, including brownfield projects.
Finney said the types of incentives and tax credits in the $100 million pool would be tailored on a case-by-case basis for each company or project selected to receive a boost. He described it as “a negotiated incentive that can be structured either as a grant, loan or investment.”
“A big part of it is understanding what the company needs,” Finney said.
It’s all part of the MEDC’s emerging “economic gardening” strategy, which favors helping existing businesses grow over “hunting” for outside companies to come to Michigan.
Finney also:
--Declined to say much about Snyder’s statement Wednesday that he would push for a statewide talent enhancement network in November. The concept is modeled after an initiative created by SPARK, which distributes a free weekly newsletter with job openings to several thousand subscribers and tries to help companies connect and hire talented workers. The talent enhancement plan is likely to feature a push to show Michigan’s benefits to people who used to live, work or attend classes here.
“We had a lot of ideas that we couldn’t implement because they weren’t regional,” Finney said. “They really required statewide capability.”
--Praised SPARK’s hiring of Paul Krutko, a Silicon Valley economic development veteran with experience in Cleveland and Jacksonville, Fla., as his replacement as CEO.
“I think they made a great hire,” Finney said. “It really says something about the community and about SPARK that we’re able to attract an executive from Silicon Valley. I think that’s probably the story that no one has focused on. The fact that he’s from the Midwest helps. He brings an awful lot of know-how and opportunity as a result of the relationship he built out there.”
--Suggested MEDC’s incentives would not be directed toward the big auto companies. “They basically just continue to invest and hire, so their impact is obviously being seen right now in Michigan’s economy,” he said.
Contact AnnArbor.com's Nathan Bomey at (734) 623-2587 or nathanbomey@annarbor.com. You can also follow him on Twitter or subscribe to AnnArbor.com's newsletters.
While he was CEO of economic development group Ann Arbor SPARK, Michael Finney helped growing tech companies apply for tax credits from the Michigan Economic Development Corp.
But, as part of tax reform legislation pushed by Gov. Rick Snyder and approved by the Michigan Legislature last month, MEDC's Michigan Economic Growth Authority tax credits for high-tech companies were killed in favor of a $1.7 billion overall tax cut for Michigan businesses.
And Finney, who once said the tax credits were necessary to help attract new companies, is not shedding any tears for the MEGA tax credits.
The MEGA tax credits, created by former Gov. John Engler and expanded by Gov. Jennifer Granholm, were originally viewed as a way to attract growing companies to come to Michigan and to convince existing companies to expand here.
But over time, the MEGA credits turned into a political curse, as a multitude of companies, including local offices of companies like Atwell Hicks and Google, failed to add the jobs they promised to add in exchange for receiving the credits. And Lansing lawmakers were forced to explain why they distributed tax breaks to companies that weren’t meeting their expansion promises.
During Granholm's eight-year administration, the MEGA board distributed more than $3.56 billion in tax credits to 508 companies, according to an analysis conducted by AnnArbor.com in September.
The purging of business tax credits would frighten most U.S. economic development leaders, who survive on a steady diet of tax credits designated for hot companies.
But Finney is confident that the state’s lower overall business tax rate, a simpler filing system, a governor who is very business friendly and a capped pool of incentives that survived the funding cuts will lead to more jobs and business growth.
The death of the MEGA credits — and all the “saved,” “retained” and “indirect” jobs the MEDC claimed would be created as a result of the credits — is just fine with Finney.
“I’m extremely comfortable with it,” he said in an interview Thursday at the Detroit Regional Chamber's annual Mackinac Policy Conference at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island.
The credits are gone, but the state Legislature devoted $175 million for various MEDC incentives and programs for the 2011-12 fiscal year, which starts Oct. 1. Here’s the breakdown:
--$25 million for the Pure Michigan marketing campaign.
--$25 million for film industry subsidies, about one-fifth of the amount distributed in 2010, when the film tax credits were theoretically unlimited.
--$25 million for entrepreneurial programs.
--$100 million for all other tax incentives and credits, including brownfield projects.
Finney said the types of incentives and tax credits in the $100 million pool would be tailored on a case-by-case basis for each company or project selected to receive a boost. He described it as “a negotiated incentive that can be structured either as a grant, loan or investment.”
“A big part of it is understanding what the company needs,” Finney said.
It’s all part of the MEDC’s emerging “economic gardening” strategy, which favors helping existing businesses grow over “hunting” for outside companies to come to Michigan.
Finney also:
--Declined to say much about Snyder’s statement Wednesday that he would push for a statewide talent enhancement network in November. The concept is modeled after an initiative created by SPARK, which distributes a free weekly newsletter with job openings to several thousand subscribers and tries to help companies connect and hire talented workers. The talent enhancement plan is likely to feature a push to show Michigan’s benefits to people who used to live, work or attend classes here.
“We had a lot of ideas that we couldn’t implement because they weren’t regional,” Finney said. “They really required statewide capability.”
--Praised SPARK’s hiring of Paul Krutko, a Silicon Valley economic development veteran with experience in Cleveland and Jacksonville, Fla., as his replacement as CEO.
“I think they made a great hire,” Finney said. “It really says something about the community and about SPARK that we’re able to attract an executive from Silicon Valley. I think that’s probably the story that no one has focused on. The fact that he’s from the Midwest helps. He brings an awful lot of know-how and opportunity as a result of the relationship he built out there.”
--Suggested MEDC’s incentives would not be directed toward the big auto companies. “They basically just continue to invest and hire, so their impact is obviously being seen right now in Michigan’s economy,” he said.
Contact AnnArbor.com's Nathan Bomey at (734) 623-2587 or nathanbomey@annarbor.com. You can also follow him on Twitter or subscribe to AnnArbor.com's newsletters.
Monday, June 06, 2011
Scott visits Canada for trade mission
By Michael C. Bender
Herald/Times Tallahassee Bureau
TALLAHASSEE -- — Gov. Rick Scott on Monday kicked off a five-day tour of Canada’s two largest cities.
Scott will spend five days between Montreal and Toronto in an attempt to lure more jobs to Florida. He was joined by his chief economic development officer, Enterprise Florida Director Gray Swoope, and a delegation from the state’s business community, including Florida Realtors President Patricia Blakiston, Tampa Bay Partnership CEO Stuart Rogel and Tampa Hillsborough Economic Development Corp. President Keith Alan Norden.
Scott’s office declined a request to include any Florida press on the trip.
It is Scott’s second foreign trade mission in three months. Scott traveled to Panama in March and plans to visit Brazil in October.
Canada is Florida’s top international economic development partner, according to Enterprise Florida. Florida trade with Canada topped $7.1 billion in 2010 and roughly 300 Canadian companies have operations in Florida, with 24,300 high-wage jobs.
In 2009, 2.7 million Canadians visited the Sunshine State and spent more than $2.8 billion.
Scott’s office promised an “important economic development announcement” Wednesday but declined to provide additional details.
Scott’s schedule is peppered with meetings with private companies, but a list was unavailable.
On Monday, Scott was scheduled to meet with Quebec Premier Jean Charest, the U.S. Consul General in Montreal Lee McClenny and Power Corp. of Canada, an international holding company with interests in financial services, media and other business sectors.
Scott was also scheduled to attend a reception at the offices of international law firm Fasken Martineau. The itinerary for the rest of the week includes a pair of Visit Florida expos, meetings with the Quebec-Florida Chamber of Commerce and the American Chamber of Commerce and a visit to the Forum Economique Des Ameriques-Conference de Montreal.
Scott will also meet with Toronto Mayor Rob Ford and Kevin Johnson, the U.S. Consul General in Toronto.
Michael C. Bender can be reached at mbender@sptimes.com. Follow him on Twitter @MichaelCBender
Herald/Times Tallahassee Bureau
TALLAHASSEE -- — Gov. Rick Scott on Monday kicked off a five-day tour of Canada’s two largest cities.
Scott will spend five days between Montreal and Toronto in an attempt to lure more jobs to Florida. He was joined by his chief economic development officer, Enterprise Florida Director Gray Swoope, and a delegation from the state’s business community, including Florida Realtors President Patricia Blakiston, Tampa Bay Partnership CEO Stuart Rogel and Tampa Hillsborough Economic Development Corp. President Keith Alan Norden.
Scott’s office declined a request to include any Florida press on the trip.
It is Scott’s second foreign trade mission in three months. Scott traveled to Panama in March and plans to visit Brazil in October.
Canada is Florida’s top international economic development partner, according to Enterprise Florida. Florida trade with Canada topped $7.1 billion in 2010 and roughly 300 Canadian companies have operations in Florida, with 24,300 high-wage jobs.
In 2009, 2.7 million Canadians visited the Sunshine State and spent more than $2.8 billion.
Scott’s office promised an “important economic development announcement” Wednesday but declined to provide additional details.
Scott’s schedule is peppered with meetings with private companies, but a list was unavailable.
On Monday, Scott was scheduled to meet with Quebec Premier Jean Charest, the U.S. Consul General in Montreal Lee McClenny and Power Corp. of Canada, an international holding company with interests in financial services, media and other business sectors.
Scott was also scheduled to attend a reception at the offices of international law firm Fasken Martineau. The itinerary for the rest of the week includes a pair of Visit Florida expos, meetings with the Quebec-Florida Chamber of Commerce and the American Chamber of Commerce and a visit to the Forum Economique Des Ameriques-Conference de Montreal.
Scott will also meet with Toronto Mayor Rob Ford and Kevin Johnson, the U.S. Consul General in Toronto.
Michael C. Bender can be reached at mbender@sptimes.com. Follow him on Twitter @MichaelCBender
Diversified jobs key, says new coalition boss
By John Nolan, Staff Writer
DAYTON — The new head of the Dayton Development Coalition, said Monday he wants to help diversify the region’s jobs base and improve communications with local governments. Jeff Hoag- land said the coalition needs to identify key suppliers of recent economic recruits, like the Caterpillar parts distribution center in Clayton and the WilmerHale law firm’s business services center in Kettering, and work to attract those companies to the area.
“Who do those businesses work with? What do we need to do to get those supply-chain companies here in the Dayton area?” he said.
Hoagland, 43, is a former Vandalia city manager who was hired in December as the coalition’s executive vice president of operations. He was promoted Monday to presi- dent and chief executive officer. Hoagland will receive a base salary of $195,000, compared with the $225,000 base salary paid in 2009 to predecessor Jim Leftwich.
Hoagland said he wants to use his public sector experience to assure member local governments that everyone within the coalition is pursuing the common goal of bringing new jobs to the area. Other priorities include supporting the technology development needs of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, and building aerospace research and development, Hoagland said.
Leaders of organizations that work with the coalition said communication is essential for recruiting and retaining employers.
Edison Materials Technology Center, a state-backed organization in Kettering that helps technology companies get started, has had a good working relationship with the coalition and its state-supported, startup-nurturing Entrepreneurial Signature Program, said David Swenson, EMTEC’s vice president for business initiatives. But the lines of communications must stay open about prospective entrepreneurs and their needs, Swenson said.
“Anytime that you have collaborating organizations, it takes work to make sure that you’re in sync,” he said.
Tips about companies having financial trouble, or those interested in relocating or expanding here, are invaluable for local governments competing with other regions and states for jobs and investment, said Greene County Administrator Howard Poston.
“Our biggest issue always is communications — being informed as to what’s going on and being way ahead of those issues,” Poston said. “The more lead time you get, the better your chances of achieving your objective.”
In recent years, Greene County slashed its annual membership contribution to the coalition to $25,000, down from $190,000. But that was due to tight finances and competing needs, not because of problems with the coalition’s work, Poston said.
Hoagland succeeds Leftwich, who left the coalition in March to become director of the Ohio Department of Development in Gov. John Kasich’s administration.
Hoagland’s background in economic development and his established relationships helped him land the job, said Bruce Langos, chairman of the coalition’s board and chief operating officer of Teradata Corp.
In addition to his six years as Vandalia’s city manager, Hoagland has been the city of Kettering’s assistant city manager and economic development manager and worked in the Montgomery County community and economic development office.
Hoagland graduated from the University of Dayton in 1991 with a bachelor’s degree in political science. He holds a master’s degree in public administration from Wright State University.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2242 or jnolan@Dayton
DAYTON — The new head of the Dayton Development Coalition, said Monday he wants to help diversify the region’s jobs base and improve communications with local governments. Jeff Hoag- land said the coalition needs to identify key suppliers of recent economic recruits, like the Caterpillar parts distribution center in Clayton and the WilmerHale law firm’s business services center in Kettering, and work to attract those companies to the area.
“Who do those businesses work with? What do we need to do to get those supply-chain companies here in the Dayton area?” he said.
Hoagland, 43, is a former Vandalia city manager who was hired in December as the coalition’s executive vice president of operations. He was promoted Monday to presi- dent and chief executive officer. Hoagland will receive a base salary of $195,000, compared with the $225,000 base salary paid in 2009 to predecessor Jim Leftwich.
Hoagland said he wants to use his public sector experience to assure member local governments that everyone within the coalition is pursuing the common goal of bringing new jobs to the area. Other priorities include supporting the technology development needs of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, and building aerospace research and development, Hoagland said.
Leaders of organizations that work with the coalition said communication is essential for recruiting and retaining employers.
Edison Materials Technology Center, a state-backed organization in Kettering that helps technology companies get started, has had a good working relationship with the coalition and its state-supported, startup-nurturing Entrepreneurial Signature Program, said David Swenson, EMTEC’s vice president for business initiatives. But the lines of communications must stay open about prospective entrepreneurs and their needs, Swenson said.
“Anytime that you have collaborating organizations, it takes work to make sure that you’re in sync,” he said.
Tips about companies having financial trouble, or those interested in relocating or expanding here, are invaluable for local governments competing with other regions and states for jobs and investment, said Greene County Administrator Howard Poston.
“Our biggest issue always is communications — being informed as to what’s going on and being way ahead of those issues,” Poston said. “The more lead time you get, the better your chances of achieving your objective.”
In recent years, Greene County slashed its annual membership contribution to the coalition to $25,000, down from $190,000. But that was due to tight finances and competing needs, not because of problems with the coalition’s work, Poston said.
Hoagland succeeds Leftwich, who left the coalition in March to become director of the Ohio Department of Development in Gov. John Kasich’s administration.
Hoagland’s background in economic development and his established relationships helped him land the job, said Bruce Langos, chairman of the coalition’s board and chief operating officer of Teradata Corp.
In addition to his six years as Vandalia’s city manager, Hoagland has been the city of Kettering’s assistant city manager and economic development manager and worked in the Montgomery County community and economic development office.
Hoagland graduated from the University of Dayton in 1991 with a bachelor’s degree in political science. He holds a master’s degree in public administration from Wright State University.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2242 or jnolan@Dayton
Rebuilding a devastated Miami-Dade economy
By Hannah Sampson
hsampson@MiamiHerald.com
On Friday afternoon, a group of nearly 150 business leaders gathered in a hotel ballroom and graded Miami-Dade’s economic outlook for the next five years. The report card would make few parents proud: nearly half the room handed out a C.
With more than $600,000, a crew of consultants and support from a slew of businesses and organizations, the Beacon Council is spearheading an effort to raise that grade through a study called One Community One Goal.
Over the course of nearly a year, the project will seek to identify the most promising business sectors for a region struggling with 13 percent unemployment and one of the worst housing markets in the country — and then provide a plan for how to lure those jobs.
Part of the goal is to ensure that the region’s educational infrastructure is capable of filling the needs of current and target industries.
Avalanche Consulting of Austin, Texas, is conducting the study along with site selection firm McCallum Sweeney and the nonprofit Council for Adult and Experiential Learning.
Adolfo Henriques, chairman of Gibraltar Private Bank and co-chair of One Community One Goal, named the key questions: “How do we retain the jobs we have here? What are the assets we have in this community? What are the obstacles that we have to overcome, whether real or perceived, and what are the industries today and in the future that are going to continue to provide us with attractive employment opportunities?”
Chris Engle, senior consultant with Avalanche, said during a presentation Friday that the study will look beyond the industries that dominate in Miami-Dade now, naming tourism, finance and trade.
“It’s time that we go a step further and look at how the sectors are evolving and what new sectors are around to help avoid the see-saw economy,” he said.
The hospitality sector so far leads the hiring rebound that began last year, contributing nearly 8,000 new positions, or about 40 percent of the 19,500 jobs added countywide since January 2010, according to an analysis by Miami-Dade economist Robert Cruz.
With tourism hiring at a peak — the hospitality industry’s 112,000-person payroll is larger than before the recession — industry leaders see this as a time for support of the vacation sector.
“I think we should continue to rely on the visitor industry as a top jobs producer, especially as we continue to grow,’’ said Wendy Kallergis, president of the Greater Miami and the Beaches Hotel Association.
William Talbert III, president of the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau, said his office supports the initiative and has a key role in the discussion.
“There’s no better industry than tourism as a place to start and move up rapidly,” he said.
Consultants hope to get more than 1,000 responses on a survey that is posted online at www.onecommunityonegoal.com and being distributed by email to thousands of people around the county.
The process will end with the rollout of a strategic plan next March based on the findings.
“It has to be doable deeds and not just a study,” said Frank Nero, president of the Beacon Council, which is funded by a mix of Miami-Dade tax money and dues from member businesses.
The One Community One Goal effort reprises a similar study completed by the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce in the late 1990s.
That led to a list of eight “targeted industries’’ that stand as the county’s official top priorities for economic development: aviation, fashion and lifestyle, film and entertainment, financial services, international commerce, IT/telecom, life sciences, and tourism.
Education loomed large in the last effort, with a related foundation spending about $2.5 million between 2002 and 2005 supporting career training academies in Miami-Dade public schools for hospitality, finance and technology, according to tax records and school system spokesman John Schuster.
Nero said that while the initial study was effective, a new one was overdue.
“We created the jobs that we wanted,” he said. “Then 2007 and 2008 came and the bottom fell out.”
Complicating the second effort: the most severe economic downturn since the Great Depression, which has cost 92,000 jobs since its start in December 2007 and scrambled past blueprints for growth.
The process got an official kick-off Friday during the Chamber’s annual Goals Conference, held this year at the Hilton Miami Downtown.
The one-year phase is expected to cost $600,000 to $650,000. About $627,500 has been lined up, with the biggest chunk — $150,000 — coming from Wells Fargo.
Henriques, who is co-chairing the study with Alex Villoch, senior vice president of advertising and marking at The Miami Herald Media Company, said once the study is done stakeholders will prioritize what needs to happens first, what is affordable and where the money will come from for everything else.
Bruce Hoch, a New Jersey consultant who conducted a similar study for Broward County, said Miami-Dade would be wise to keep its goals realistic and focus on what can bring jobs back.
“It really can’t be pie in the sky,’’ said Hoch, managing director of DCG Corplan and a finalist to run the Beacon Council study. “A wish list grounded in reality is fine.”
Miami Herald staff writer Douglas Hanks contributed to this report.
hsampson@MiamiHerald.com
On Friday afternoon, a group of nearly 150 business leaders gathered in a hotel ballroom and graded Miami-Dade’s economic outlook for the next five years. The report card would make few parents proud: nearly half the room handed out a C.
With more than $600,000, a crew of consultants and support from a slew of businesses and organizations, the Beacon Council is spearheading an effort to raise that grade through a study called One Community One Goal.
Over the course of nearly a year, the project will seek to identify the most promising business sectors for a region struggling with 13 percent unemployment and one of the worst housing markets in the country — and then provide a plan for how to lure those jobs.
Part of the goal is to ensure that the region’s educational infrastructure is capable of filling the needs of current and target industries.
Avalanche Consulting of Austin, Texas, is conducting the study along with site selection firm McCallum Sweeney and the nonprofit Council for Adult and Experiential Learning.
Adolfo Henriques, chairman of Gibraltar Private Bank and co-chair of One Community One Goal, named the key questions: “How do we retain the jobs we have here? What are the assets we have in this community? What are the obstacles that we have to overcome, whether real or perceived, and what are the industries today and in the future that are going to continue to provide us with attractive employment opportunities?”
Chris Engle, senior consultant with Avalanche, said during a presentation Friday that the study will look beyond the industries that dominate in Miami-Dade now, naming tourism, finance and trade.
“It’s time that we go a step further and look at how the sectors are evolving and what new sectors are around to help avoid the see-saw economy,” he said.
The hospitality sector so far leads the hiring rebound that began last year, contributing nearly 8,000 new positions, or about 40 percent of the 19,500 jobs added countywide since January 2010, according to an analysis by Miami-Dade economist Robert Cruz.
With tourism hiring at a peak — the hospitality industry’s 112,000-person payroll is larger than before the recession — industry leaders see this as a time for support of the vacation sector.
“I think we should continue to rely on the visitor industry as a top jobs producer, especially as we continue to grow,’’ said Wendy Kallergis, president of the Greater Miami and the Beaches Hotel Association.
William Talbert III, president of the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau, said his office supports the initiative and has a key role in the discussion.
“There’s no better industry than tourism as a place to start and move up rapidly,” he said.
Consultants hope to get more than 1,000 responses on a survey that is posted online at www.onecommunityonegoal.com and being distributed by email to thousands of people around the county.
The process will end with the rollout of a strategic plan next March based on the findings.
“It has to be doable deeds and not just a study,” said Frank Nero, president of the Beacon Council, which is funded by a mix of Miami-Dade tax money and dues from member businesses.
The One Community One Goal effort reprises a similar study completed by the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce in the late 1990s.
That led to a list of eight “targeted industries’’ that stand as the county’s official top priorities for economic development: aviation, fashion and lifestyle, film and entertainment, financial services, international commerce, IT/telecom, life sciences, and tourism.
Education loomed large in the last effort, with a related foundation spending about $2.5 million between 2002 and 2005 supporting career training academies in Miami-Dade public schools for hospitality, finance and technology, according to tax records and school system spokesman John Schuster.
Nero said that while the initial study was effective, a new one was overdue.
“We created the jobs that we wanted,” he said. “Then 2007 and 2008 came and the bottom fell out.”
Complicating the second effort: the most severe economic downturn since the Great Depression, which has cost 92,000 jobs since its start in December 2007 and scrambled past blueprints for growth.
The process got an official kick-off Friday during the Chamber’s annual Goals Conference, held this year at the Hilton Miami Downtown.
The one-year phase is expected to cost $600,000 to $650,000. About $627,500 has been lined up, with the biggest chunk — $150,000 — coming from Wells Fargo.
Henriques, who is co-chairing the study with Alex Villoch, senior vice president of advertising and marking at The Miami Herald Media Company, said once the study is done stakeholders will prioritize what needs to happens first, what is affordable and where the money will come from for everything else.
Bruce Hoch, a New Jersey consultant who conducted a similar study for Broward County, said Miami-Dade would be wise to keep its goals realistic and focus on what can bring jobs back.
“It really can’t be pie in the sky,’’ said Hoch, managing director of DCG Corplan and a finalist to run the Beacon Council study. “A wish list grounded in reality is fine.”
Miami Herald staff writer Douglas Hanks contributed to this report.
Sunday, June 05, 2011
Economic development in the region gets a tuneup — but how different will it be?
By Don Fraser QMI Agency
Niagara was in an economic storm in 1991 and the clouds were darkening.
A recession was pounding the region, with huge job losses and economic misery.
Unemployment was at 14% — the second highest in Canada.
General Motors was slashing its workforce. Businesses were folding and broke tourists were staying put.
That's when Brian Merrett got the call — "what do you think about heading up the Niagara Regional Development Corp.?"
Merrett, then Niagara regional chair, remembers having mixed thoughts.
"I asked the question, 'Why do I want this job?'" laughs Merrett, now CEO of the War of 1812 Bicentennial Legacy Council.
"But we rallied and we got to work."
He recalls the corporation playing a vital role as Niagara struggled back to life.
"We knocked on doors, went out and sought companies," he said. "We might assist companies that wanted to move here, who might have had issues, like water or sewage (concerns)."
Adversity brought economic players together, said Merrett.
Some of those parties included businesses, the public sector, labour and sometimes parochial local governments.
Now, Niagara's economy is again at a crossroads.
And so is the arm's-length body created to bolster its business community.
Unemployment is stubbornly high, and new technologies and smaller businesses are overtaking large-scale manufacturing for jobs.
Meanwhile on June 22, a regional task force will present a report that could affect the existence of the agency, now known as the Niagara Economic Development Corp. That comes after a new council decided on the review back in March.
Its recommendations could completely overhaul how economic development services are handled by the Region.
For citizens, it could ultimately affect the types of business and jobs that come to the area.
Any new economic development measures could also influence the kinds of enterprises that are encouraged to stay here and grow.
This, after a previous regional council weighed the findings of a consultant's report from the Randolph Group last October.
Despite critics' calls to scrap the economic development agency, council decided behind closed doors to maintain it.
Options that are still on the table include folding the agency's work into a regional department, or some hybrid of the two.
Merrett agrees the time has come for a revisit.
"Any kind of agency like this needs to get refocused, retooled, freshened from time to time," he said. "The marketplace and issues our local companies are dealing with are changing."
The NEDC itself is a board-run, non-profit body with a $1.9-million annual budget.
Its mandate is to advance economic prosperity in Niagara and promote the region globally, while working with the 12 municipalities to boost investment and attract and retain jobs.
The agency also links with public and private sector partners to market the region for investment, playing a key role in convincing firms to relocate here and find suitable digs.
Patrick Robson, the Region's commissioner of integrated community planning, pointed out one shortcoming by the Randolph report in these efforts: No way to measure concrete results.
Currently, success is measured by things like the number of contacts made, "as opposed to how many deals were closed, jobs created," said Robson, who's helping co-ordinate the task force.
Region Chair Gary Burroughs says it's clear economic development in Niagara is at a pivotal point.
"I think the role will be much more clearly defined after this is done," he said.
An update has already been provided that signals the "status-quo is not satisfactory," he said.
"I don't think it meets the needs of this particular council."
Burroughs said it's important to remember the core function of economic development — getting new firms to locate here and helping existing businesses stay vital.
Niagara has thousands of enterprises, he adds. Most are small, with fewer than 20 employees. Burroughs himself was the former owner of the Oban Inn in Niagara-on-the-Lake.
"Many small businesses are just busy surviving," he said. "And this sector is an incredible feature of our community.
"From the hotel standpoint, back then I didn't know the Region and the province might have programs, or about possible connections at Niagara College and Brock University. I didn't know there might be something out there. And I didn't have the time to investigate."
The NEDC has weathered a 40-year evolution of mandates and mergers.
Its origins trace to 1971, when the newly created Niagara Region council took a hard look at developing the region's tourism industry.
The result was the Regional Niagara Tourist Council, whose focus included promotional campaigns and destination marketing. Ten years later, the region was in crisis and mired in a job-killing recession that predated Merrett's economic downturn.
The Niagara Regional Development Corp. was formed out of the need to spur more growth.
By 1996, regional council amalgamated the two and the Niagara Economic and Tourism Corp. was born.
Nine years later, it tightened its focus to business development and investment and became the Niagara Economic Development Corp. In recent years, the role of the 15-employee agency has become more defined.
Now, its top jobs are promoting an economic growth strategy and building a stronger Niagara voice and competitive business environment.
The NEDC also seeks to develop emerging clusters, like biotechnology and interactive media.
It is also marketing the Niagara brand — notably, a Niagara Original small "n" logo used to highlight the area's assets that different businesses can adapt for their own marketing.
The agency has seen a number of undeniable successes.
Last year alone, it helped with the relocation of Attar Metals Inc. and Laurcoat Industrial Coatings to Niagara, leading to the creation of more than 70 jobs.
Meanwhile, a new Niagara Regional Tourism Organization is meant to co-ordinate tourism funding for the region. It's one of 13 similar new agencies across the province.
Yet, the NEDC has its own separate Tourism Niagara website and Gateway Niagara information centre.
Whatever the recommended changes, it's clear something needs to be done, said task force member and Niagara regional councillor Debbie Zimmerman.
"What I found most interesting is not so much that NEDC is broken as a framework," she said. "It's the relationships that need to be repaired."
That includes links to other economic development bodies in Niagara.
"The business community is caught with trying to manoeuvre through these different levels."
In the meantime, NEDC's acting CEO Alan Teichroeb said it's business as usual for the agency.
"On a day-to-day basis, we continue to work on a variety of projects," Teichroeb said, declining comment on the task force and what it might recommend.
History Niagara Economic Development Corp.
— In 1971, regional council creates Regional Niagara Tourist Council;
— By 1981, Niagara Regional Development Corp. is created;
— In 1996, regional council amalgamates the tourist and development agencies into Niagara Economic and Tourism Corp.;
— It is rebranded as Niagara Economic Development Corp. in 2005.
The NEDCs key roles
— implement an economic growth strategy;
— build a stronger collective voice for Niagara;
— create a competitive business environment;
— develop emerging clusters, like tech industries;
— improve transportation and related infrastructure within Niagara;
— market the Niagara brand outside the region;
— develop Niagara's business talent pool.
Niagara was in an economic storm in 1991 and the clouds were darkening.
A recession was pounding the region, with huge job losses and economic misery.
Unemployment was at 14% — the second highest in Canada.
General Motors was slashing its workforce. Businesses were folding and broke tourists were staying put.
That's when Brian Merrett got the call — "what do you think about heading up the Niagara Regional Development Corp.?"
Merrett, then Niagara regional chair, remembers having mixed thoughts.
"I asked the question, 'Why do I want this job?'" laughs Merrett, now CEO of the War of 1812 Bicentennial Legacy Council.
"But we rallied and we got to work."
He recalls the corporation playing a vital role as Niagara struggled back to life.
"We knocked on doors, went out and sought companies," he said. "We might assist companies that wanted to move here, who might have had issues, like water or sewage (concerns)."
Adversity brought economic players together, said Merrett.
Some of those parties included businesses, the public sector, labour and sometimes parochial local governments.
Now, Niagara's economy is again at a crossroads.
And so is the arm's-length body created to bolster its business community.
Unemployment is stubbornly high, and new technologies and smaller businesses are overtaking large-scale manufacturing for jobs.
Meanwhile on June 22, a regional task force will present a report that could affect the existence of the agency, now known as the Niagara Economic Development Corp. That comes after a new council decided on the review back in March.
Its recommendations could completely overhaul how economic development services are handled by the Region.
For citizens, it could ultimately affect the types of business and jobs that come to the area.
Any new economic development measures could also influence the kinds of enterprises that are encouraged to stay here and grow.
This, after a previous regional council weighed the findings of a consultant's report from the Randolph Group last October.
Despite critics' calls to scrap the economic development agency, council decided behind closed doors to maintain it.
Options that are still on the table include folding the agency's work into a regional department, or some hybrid of the two.
Merrett agrees the time has come for a revisit.
"Any kind of agency like this needs to get refocused, retooled, freshened from time to time," he said. "The marketplace and issues our local companies are dealing with are changing."
The NEDC itself is a board-run, non-profit body with a $1.9-million annual budget.
Its mandate is to advance economic prosperity in Niagara and promote the region globally, while working with the 12 municipalities to boost investment and attract and retain jobs.
The agency also links with public and private sector partners to market the region for investment, playing a key role in convincing firms to relocate here and find suitable digs.
Patrick Robson, the Region's commissioner of integrated community planning, pointed out one shortcoming by the Randolph report in these efforts: No way to measure concrete results.
Currently, success is measured by things like the number of contacts made, "as opposed to how many deals were closed, jobs created," said Robson, who's helping co-ordinate the task force.
Region Chair Gary Burroughs says it's clear economic development in Niagara is at a pivotal point.
"I think the role will be much more clearly defined after this is done," he said.
An update has already been provided that signals the "status-quo is not satisfactory," he said.
"I don't think it meets the needs of this particular council."
Burroughs said it's important to remember the core function of economic development — getting new firms to locate here and helping existing businesses stay vital.
Niagara has thousands of enterprises, he adds. Most are small, with fewer than 20 employees. Burroughs himself was the former owner of the Oban Inn in Niagara-on-the-Lake.
"Many small businesses are just busy surviving," he said. "And this sector is an incredible feature of our community.
"From the hotel standpoint, back then I didn't know the Region and the province might have programs, or about possible connections at Niagara College and Brock University. I didn't know there might be something out there. And I didn't have the time to investigate."
The NEDC has weathered a 40-year evolution of mandates and mergers.
Its origins trace to 1971, when the newly created Niagara Region council took a hard look at developing the region's tourism industry.
The result was the Regional Niagara Tourist Council, whose focus included promotional campaigns and destination marketing. Ten years later, the region was in crisis and mired in a job-killing recession that predated Merrett's economic downturn.
The Niagara Regional Development Corp. was formed out of the need to spur more growth.
By 1996, regional council amalgamated the two and the Niagara Economic and Tourism Corp. was born.
Nine years later, it tightened its focus to business development and investment and became the Niagara Economic Development Corp. In recent years, the role of the 15-employee agency has become more defined.
Now, its top jobs are promoting an economic growth strategy and building a stronger Niagara voice and competitive business environment.
The NEDC also seeks to develop emerging clusters, like biotechnology and interactive media.
It is also marketing the Niagara brand — notably, a Niagara Original small "n" logo used to highlight the area's assets that different businesses can adapt for their own marketing.
The agency has seen a number of undeniable successes.
Last year alone, it helped with the relocation of Attar Metals Inc. and Laurcoat Industrial Coatings to Niagara, leading to the creation of more than 70 jobs.
Meanwhile, a new Niagara Regional Tourism Organization is meant to co-ordinate tourism funding for the region. It's one of 13 similar new agencies across the province.
Yet, the NEDC has its own separate Tourism Niagara website and Gateway Niagara information centre.
Whatever the recommended changes, it's clear something needs to be done, said task force member and Niagara regional councillor Debbie Zimmerman.
"What I found most interesting is not so much that NEDC is broken as a framework," she said. "It's the relationships that need to be repaired."
That includes links to other economic development bodies in Niagara.
"The business community is caught with trying to manoeuvre through these different levels."
In the meantime, NEDC's acting CEO Alan Teichroeb said it's business as usual for the agency.
"On a day-to-day basis, we continue to work on a variety of projects," Teichroeb said, declining comment on the task force and what it might recommend.
History Niagara Economic Development Corp.
— In 1971, regional council creates Regional Niagara Tourist Council;
— By 1981, Niagara Regional Development Corp. is created;
— In 1996, regional council amalgamates the tourist and development agencies into Niagara Economic and Tourism Corp.;
— It is rebranded as Niagara Economic Development Corp. in 2005.
The NEDCs key roles
— implement an economic growth strategy;
— build a stronger collective voice for Niagara;
— create a competitive business environment;
— develop emerging clusters, like tech industries;
— improve transportation and related infrastructure within Niagara;
— market the Niagara brand outside the region;
— develop Niagara's business talent pool.
Marketing key to creating jobs, Ohio's czar says
ONN-TV
Mark Kvamme, who oversees job-creation efforts for Gov. John KasichBucking a trend that has sent countless jobs overseas, Suarez Manufacturing Industries is moving production to the United States - from China.
Last month, more than 1,000 people lined up in a cold drizzle to apply for work at the new operation, which will begin assembling portable heaters this summer in a 200,000-square-foot building in North Canton, Ohio, that formerly served as a Hoover vacuum factory.
Unfortunately, 90 percent of those applicants won't land a job with Suarez - at least this time around. Although the Ohio-based company expects to hire as many as 2,500 workers in the next 18 months, just 110 positions are available now.
What's more, the new assembly jobs will pay as little as $7.50 an hour, considerably less than Hoover paid for similar work.
In some ways, what's unfolding in North Canton is a metaphor for Ohio's overall employment picture: After the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, companies are starting to hire again - but not nearly fast enough for the half-million Ohioans who remain out of work.
And many of the manufacturing jobs that have returned aren't nearly as lucrative as the union positions that disappeared when U.S. companies moved production offshore.
Mark Kvamme, the California venture capitalist who oversees job-creation efforts for Gov. John Kasich, talked about Ohio's employment landscape with Jim Heath of ONN-TV's Ohio Means Business program.
An edited excerpt:
Q: First off, how would you grade Ohio's current business climate?
A: I think it depends on the industry sector. I think, for example, that medical devices - what you have at the Cleveland Clinic, here at OSU and down at University Hospital (in Cincinnati) and other places - is very, very strong. Energy? Very, very strong. Manufacturing engineering? Very strong. Banking? Strong. Information technology? Not so strong.
Q: Why is that?
A: I think because, basically, the coasts have dominated in that area.
Q: Can we get in that game?
A: I actually think we can, because speed of light matters. You know, 60 percent of the U.S. population is within 600 miles of Ohio. Well, guess what? That's where you've got to put data centers; that's where you've got to get, you know, a lot of this application development done.
I'm actually pretty bullish we can do that.
Q: And is JobsOhio (Kasich's evolving privatized development department) the key mechanism to do that?
A: It's one of the mechanisms. Not only do we need a strong economic-development department, but also what we need is equity investors, and so one of the things I'm really focused on is working with folks in the community to bring growth-equity dollars here.
Q: My parents grew up here, and their parents grew up here, but they left Ohio in the '70s because of other opportunities on the West Coast, weather - all kinds of factors. We've watched Ohio lose congressional representation in every census for the last 50 years. How do you turn that around and get major companies interested in at least giving Ohio a look?
A: I think the key thing is that you've got to market yourself. I mean, the Midwestern mentality is, you know, very humble - and that's great. ... But you have to market yourself.
Q: Have you run into anything that's frustrated you?
A: Well, you know, (state government) is a large bureaucracy. There are a lot of things that are in statute, in law, and other things - and a lot of things you have to identify and possibly change.
But I've got to tell you, I've just very much enjoyed working with the legislature. It is a little bit different for me: I'm used to boards of six or seven. I have 132 board members (in the General Assembly), and my CEO, the governor, has 132 board members.
Q: Is the ultimate goal here to position the Buckeye State so that it's competing with the Californias and the Floridas and some of these other states that have been so dominant in the past two or three decades? Or is the first step to be a Midwest leader? Can Ohio position itself in front of Illinois?
A: If I wasn't doing this job, I'd probably start a growth-equity fund here in the Midwest - in Ohio. I think there is a huge opportunity here on multiple different levels, because of the logistics of Ohio, the universities of Ohio (and) the core industries. I mean, huge growth industries are here.
Q: Were you surprised to find that out when you got here?
A: Yes.
Q: So that's part of the problem too, right - messaging?
A: Yeah. I always think - look, I'm an old ad guy, an old marketing guy - I think, "What's the one-page Wall Street Journal ad?" Ohio means business: It's a good place to do business - great talent, great location, great logistics.
Q: You're a Californian, very successful. What sold you on Ohio - and how do you get that message out to the rest of America?
A: If I had one word: people. The people are great here. They just need to know they're great.
Mark Kvamme, who oversees job-creation efforts for Gov. John KasichBucking a trend that has sent countless jobs overseas, Suarez Manufacturing Industries is moving production to the United States - from China.
Last month, more than 1,000 people lined up in a cold drizzle to apply for work at the new operation, which will begin assembling portable heaters this summer in a 200,000-square-foot building in North Canton, Ohio, that formerly served as a Hoover vacuum factory.
Unfortunately, 90 percent of those applicants won't land a job with Suarez - at least this time around. Although the Ohio-based company expects to hire as many as 2,500 workers in the next 18 months, just 110 positions are available now.
What's more, the new assembly jobs will pay as little as $7.50 an hour, considerably less than Hoover paid for similar work.
In some ways, what's unfolding in North Canton is a metaphor for Ohio's overall employment picture: After the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, companies are starting to hire again - but not nearly fast enough for the half-million Ohioans who remain out of work.
And many of the manufacturing jobs that have returned aren't nearly as lucrative as the union positions that disappeared when U.S. companies moved production offshore.
Mark Kvamme, the California venture capitalist who oversees job-creation efforts for Gov. John Kasich, talked about Ohio's employment landscape with Jim Heath of ONN-TV's Ohio Means Business program.
An edited excerpt:
Q: First off, how would you grade Ohio's current business climate?
A: I think it depends on the industry sector. I think, for example, that medical devices - what you have at the Cleveland Clinic, here at OSU and down at University Hospital (in Cincinnati) and other places - is very, very strong. Energy? Very, very strong. Manufacturing engineering? Very strong. Banking? Strong. Information technology? Not so strong.
Q: Why is that?
A: I think because, basically, the coasts have dominated in that area.
Q: Can we get in that game?
A: I actually think we can, because speed of light matters. You know, 60 percent of the U.S. population is within 600 miles of Ohio. Well, guess what? That's where you've got to put data centers; that's where you've got to get, you know, a lot of this application development done.
I'm actually pretty bullish we can do that.
Q: And is JobsOhio (Kasich's evolving privatized development department) the key mechanism to do that?
A: It's one of the mechanisms. Not only do we need a strong economic-development department, but also what we need is equity investors, and so one of the things I'm really focused on is working with folks in the community to bring growth-equity dollars here.
Q: My parents grew up here, and their parents grew up here, but they left Ohio in the '70s because of other opportunities on the West Coast, weather - all kinds of factors. We've watched Ohio lose congressional representation in every census for the last 50 years. How do you turn that around and get major companies interested in at least giving Ohio a look?
A: I think the key thing is that you've got to market yourself. I mean, the Midwestern mentality is, you know, very humble - and that's great. ... But you have to market yourself.
Q: Have you run into anything that's frustrated you?
A: Well, you know, (state government) is a large bureaucracy. There are a lot of things that are in statute, in law, and other things - and a lot of things you have to identify and possibly change.
But I've got to tell you, I've just very much enjoyed working with the legislature. It is a little bit different for me: I'm used to boards of six or seven. I have 132 board members (in the General Assembly), and my CEO, the governor, has 132 board members.
Q: Is the ultimate goal here to position the Buckeye State so that it's competing with the Californias and the Floridas and some of these other states that have been so dominant in the past two or three decades? Or is the first step to be a Midwest leader? Can Ohio position itself in front of Illinois?
A: If I wasn't doing this job, I'd probably start a growth-equity fund here in the Midwest - in Ohio. I think there is a huge opportunity here on multiple different levels, because of the logistics of Ohio, the universities of Ohio (and) the core industries. I mean, huge growth industries are here.
Q: Were you surprised to find that out when you got here?
A: Yes.
Q: So that's part of the problem too, right - messaging?
A: Yeah. I always think - look, I'm an old ad guy, an old marketing guy - I think, "What's the one-page Wall Street Journal ad?" Ohio means business: It's a good place to do business - great talent, great location, great logistics.
Q: You're a Californian, very successful. What sold you on Ohio - and how do you get that message out to the rest of America?
A: If I had one word: people. The people are great here. They just need to know they're great.
City studying 'Auburn model'
By Tori Brock
HUNTSVILLE — What makes Auburn, Ala., so great?
Huntsville and Walker County officials want to know, and they wanted citizens to have the opportunity to find out more, too, by inviting Phillip Dunlap, the city’s director of economic development to Huntsville.
Dunlap will speak at 1 p.m. Friday at the Sam Houston State University Performing Arts Center. Admission is free.
The city of Huntsville, Walker County and the Huntsville-Walker County Chamber of Commerce have organized the Economic Development Initiative to examine the lessons Huntsville and Walker County might learn from Auburn.
Forbes magazine ranked Auburn sixth in its list of the nation’s top 10 best small places for business and careers in 2010. U.S. News and World Report also ranked Auburn as one of the best places to retire, and CNN Money ranked it as one of the best places to live.
The city’s population in 2000 hovered around 42,000 but grew to more than 53,000 by 2010. The greater Auburn metropolitan area, including the populations of universities such as Auburn and Tuskegee, grew to near 135,000.
Forbes’ poll considered metropolitan centers with populations of less than 250,000.
It ranked cities using such metrics as costs of both business and living, past projected job growth, income growth, educational attainment and projected economic growth.
The magazine also factored in quality of life issues such as crime rates, cultural and recreational opportunities, net rate of migration, the percentage of sub-prime mortgages issued in the past three years and the number of four-year universities.
Huntsville leaders began looking at Auburn at the suggestion of council member Wayne Barrett, who is familiar with the area and its business success.
In April, Mayor J. Turner, City Manager Bill Baine and council members Don Johnson and Wayne Barrett traveled to Auburn as part of the city’s economic development ad hoc committee to speak to Auburn’s economic development expert Dunlap.
Turner said he noticed similarities between Huntsville and Auburn.
One key difference between the cities lie in how the two municipalities fund their operations. Huntsville collects sales and property taxes. Auburn is funded by sales tax and a 1 percent income tax on all citizens who work in the city.
“Property taxes in Alabama are one-tenth of what they are here in Texas,” Turner said. “How they come up with money is totally different from how we come up with money.”
Mayor pro tem Mac Woodward said he was interested in hearing Dunlap explain the highs and lows of his 25-year economic development experience.
“The positive thing about him coming here is he has a proven track record of economic development,” Woodward said. “He lives in a community that decided that they want to take an initiative for economic development. They came up with specific guidelines on how they wanted to do that.”
The entire community should want to listen to what Dunlap has to say, Woodward said.
“The communities are similar in a way. They have a university, we have a university,” he said. “I think we as council members have to keep ourselves educated and look at things other cities are doing where they’re successful.”
Woodward acknowledged that economic development can mean something different to anyone you ask, but that Auburn’s model of development works for one key reason.
“They looked at their community and their economic area and they tailored their economic development to suit what their community wanted,” he said. “To me, that’s exactly the way you do it. If we can do new things and not change what we really like about Huntsville, then that’s a win for everybody.”
Auburn is evidence that even industrial development can add to a community’s beauty rather than detract from it, Huntsville officials said.
Auburn has several business parks, including one for light industry and one for technology. The appearance of the parks has changed over the years, Baine said, updated with greenery and landscaping. He took several pictures during his second trip to the city in May to illustrate how even a business park can look like a city park.
“You can see the sidewalks,” Baine said. “Their retention pond has a water feature. If you went to their first industrial park, it doesn’t necessarily look like this.”
Baine said he was eager to hear what Dunlap had to tell city and county leaders.
“I asked council for help in telling me what they wanted to do, and the mayor appointed a committee,” he said. “I went back for a second trip because I wanted to know the dirt. You want to know where they overcame the difficulties.”
Johnson agreed, and said he believes community leaders, business owners and citizens will benefit from hearing Dunlap speak.
“We hope all interested citizens will take advantage of this opportunity,” he said.
For more information about Dunlap’s presentation, call the city at (936) 291-5442 or (936) 291-5428.
HUNTSVILLE — What makes Auburn, Ala., so great?
Huntsville and Walker County officials want to know, and they wanted citizens to have the opportunity to find out more, too, by inviting Phillip Dunlap, the city’s director of economic development to Huntsville.
Dunlap will speak at 1 p.m. Friday at the Sam Houston State University Performing Arts Center. Admission is free.
The city of Huntsville, Walker County and the Huntsville-Walker County Chamber of Commerce have organized the Economic Development Initiative to examine the lessons Huntsville and Walker County might learn from Auburn.
Forbes magazine ranked Auburn sixth in its list of the nation’s top 10 best small places for business and careers in 2010. U.S. News and World Report also ranked Auburn as one of the best places to retire, and CNN Money ranked it as one of the best places to live.
The city’s population in 2000 hovered around 42,000 but grew to more than 53,000 by 2010. The greater Auburn metropolitan area, including the populations of universities such as Auburn and Tuskegee, grew to near 135,000.
Forbes’ poll considered metropolitan centers with populations of less than 250,000.
It ranked cities using such metrics as costs of both business and living, past projected job growth, income growth, educational attainment and projected economic growth.
The magazine also factored in quality of life issues such as crime rates, cultural and recreational opportunities, net rate of migration, the percentage of sub-prime mortgages issued in the past three years and the number of four-year universities.
Huntsville leaders began looking at Auburn at the suggestion of council member Wayne Barrett, who is familiar with the area and its business success.
In April, Mayor J. Turner, City Manager Bill Baine and council members Don Johnson and Wayne Barrett traveled to Auburn as part of the city’s economic development ad hoc committee to speak to Auburn’s economic development expert Dunlap.
Turner said he noticed similarities between Huntsville and Auburn.
One key difference between the cities lie in how the two municipalities fund their operations. Huntsville collects sales and property taxes. Auburn is funded by sales tax and a 1 percent income tax on all citizens who work in the city.
“Property taxes in Alabama are one-tenth of what they are here in Texas,” Turner said. “How they come up with money is totally different from how we come up with money.”
Mayor pro tem Mac Woodward said he was interested in hearing Dunlap explain the highs and lows of his 25-year economic development experience.
“The positive thing about him coming here is he has a proven track record of economic development,” Woodward said. “He lives in a community that decided that they want to take an initiative for economic development. They came up with specific guidelines on how they wanted to do that.”
The entire community should want to listen to what Dunlap has to say, Woodward said.
“The communities are similar in a way. They have a university, we have a university,” he said. “I think we as council members have to keep ourselves educated and look at things other cities are doing where they’re successful.”
Woodward acknowledged that economic development can mean something different to anyone you ask, but that Auburn’s model of development works for one key reason.
“They looked at their community and their economic area and they tailored their economic development to suit what their community wanted,” he said. “To me, that’s exactly the way you do it. If we can do new things and not change what we really like about Huntsville, then that’s a win for everybody.”
Auburn is evidence that even industrial development can add to a community’s beauty rather than detract from it, Huntsville officials said.
Auburn has several business parks, including one for light industry and one for technology. The appearance of the parks has changed over the years, Baine said, updated with greenery and landscaping. He took several pictures during his second trip to the city in May to illustrate how even a business park can look like a city park.
“You can see the sidewalks,” Baine said. “Their retention pond has a water feature. If you went to their first industrial park, it doesn’t necessarily look like this.”
Baine said he was eager to hear what Dunlap had to tell city and county leaders.
“I asked council for help in telling me what they wanted to do, and the mayor appointed a committee,” he said. “I went back for a second trip because I wanted to know the dirt. You want to know where they overcame the difficulties.”
Johnson agreed, and said he believes community leaders, business owners and citizens will benefit from hearing Dunlap speak.
“We hope all interested citizens will take advantage of this opportunity,” he said.
For more information about Dunlap’s presentation, call the city at (936) 291-5442 or (936) 291-5428.
Thursday, June 02, 2011
Regional effort on business retention hopes to create jobs
By Chelsey Levingston, Staff Writer
A new regional initiative takes to heart the saying, “Your best customers are your existing customers.”
The Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber’s economic development arm, the Cincinnati USA Partnership, is using the same tools it would use to attract new employers to meet the needs of existing businesses in the Cincinnati metro region to help fuel job growth.
GrowthForce launched May 13 as an effort by the chamber to include private business volunteers, economic development professionals and Workforce One Investment boards to focus on helping existing businesses grow by connecting them with community resources, said Julia Muntel, the partnership’s director of investor relations and business retention.
The group hopes to visit 450 businesses by year’s end in the three-state, 15-county region, which could include companies in Butler and Warren counties.
“The focus on attraction will not go away,” Muntel said.
But with 74 percent of $2.4 billion in total business investment in the region last year made by existing businesses, she said, “We feel as though the timing is perfect now more than ever.”
The Cincinnati chamber has received a $250,000 grant from Ohio Department of Development for the effort, including publishing a resource guide and improving a related website. A third party is conducting research into high potential, income-generating companies to prioritize one-on-one visits, she said.
The most common business needs have been identified as: financing, potential tax incentives and abatements, assistance with training and recruitment, networking and marketing opportunities and advocacy.
Visits will be made typically by one to two people from the relevant municipality, Workforce Investment Board, a volunteer and/or the state. Afterward, the GrowthForce representatives will do the follow up — referrals for training or informing them of financing options. Much of it will be case by case, and meetings are confidential, she added.
The preliminary legwork done by the chamber, such as setting up meetings, is something Butler County Department of Development doesn’t have as much time to do with the smallest staff it’s ever had, said Mike Juengling, the county director of development. This way, business retention doesn’t fall through the cracks, he said.
A lot of work will be done together with the chamber and local development officials.
“It’s a way to show the businesses it’s not just the local community that’s interested in them, it’s the region,” Juengling said.
Another regional initiative kicked off about the same time. Employers First Regional Workforce Network was formalized May 17, a collaboration of Workforce Investment Boards and the Greater Cincinnati Workforce Network to address work force development issues.
Because that’s one part of what GrowthForce hopes to tackle, Muntel said there’s room for collaboration between the two.
Chris Kemper, Cincinnati chamber spokesman, said, “At the end of the day, that level of cooperation with both initiatives is great for the region.”
A new regional initiative takes to heart the saying, “Your best customers are your existing customers.”
The Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber’s economic development arm, the Cincinnati USA Partnership, is using the same tools it would use to attract new employers to meet the needs of existing businesses in the Cincinnati metro region to help fuel job growth.
GrowthForce launched May 13 as an effort by the chamber to include private business volunteers, economic development professionals and Workforce One Investment boards to focus on helping existing businesses grow by connecting them with community resources, said Julia Muntel, the partnership’s director of investor relations and business retention.
The group hopes to visit 450 businesses by year’s end in the three-state, 15-county region, which could include companies in Butler and Warren counties.
“The focus on attraction will not go away,” Muntel said.
But with 74 percent of $2.4 billion in total business investment in the region last year made by existing businesses, she said, “We feel as though the timing is perfect now more than ever.”
The Cincinnati chamber has received a $250,000 grant from Ohio Department of Development for the effort, including publishing a resource guide and improving a related website. A third party is conducting research into high potential, income-generating companies to prioritize one-on-one visits, she said.
The most common business needs have been identified as: financing, potential tax incentives and abatements, assistance with training and recruitment, networking and marketing opportunities and advocacy.
Visits will be made typically by one to two people from the relevant municipality, Workforce Investment Board, a volunteer and/or the state. Afterward, the GrowthForce representatives will do the follow up — referrals for training or informing them of financing options. Much of it will be case by case, and meetings are confidential, she added.
The preliminary legwork done by the chamber, such as setting up meetings, is something Butler County Department of Development doesn’t have as much time to do with the smallest staff it’s ever had, said Mike Juengling, the county director of development. This way, business retention doesn’t fall through the cracks, he said.
A lot of work will be done together with the chamber and local development officials.
“It’s a way to show the businesses it’s not just the local community that’s interested in them, it’s the region,” Juengling said.
Another regional initiative kicked off about the same time. Employers First Regional Workforce Network was formalized May 17, a collaboration of Workforce Investment Boards and the Greater Cincinnati Workforce Network to address work force development issues.
Because that’s one part of what GrowthForce hopes to tackle, Muntel said there’s room for collaboration between the two.
Chris Kemper, Cincinnati chamber spokesman, said, “At the end of the day, that level of cooperation with both initiatives is great for the region.”
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