Regional Summit Tracks Progress
June 25, 2008
Although state lines can be barriers when it comes to economic development, leaders from the area insist they can come together to cross those state lines and work to improve the quality of life for all who live here.
“We all are pursuing these efforts, but we realize that on a regional basis, you’re heard a little better,” said Kim Lester, operations director for the Joplin Area Chamber of Commerce.
As a follow-up to a summit in April, about 50 representatives from chambers of commerce, educational institutions, workforce development and other community development organizations met June 24 in Webb City to fill in the group on progress that has been made since April. The summits are components of the Quad States Regional Transformation effort being spearheaded by the workforce investment boards in Southwest Missouri, Southeast Kansas, Northeast Oklahoma and Northwest Arkansas. During the April meeting, eight subcommittees were formed and all presented the group with an update of what they had discussed so far.
Local media coverage of the Summit
- KZRG/News Talk 1310 Radio (mp3 file)
- Joplin Globe
- KOAM-TV 7
- Downloadable audio of all the summit presentations and discussions
Asset Mapping
Jasen Jones, executive director of the Workforce Investment Board of Southwest Missouri and chairman of the Asset Mapping subcommittee, explained that two of the main goals for asset mapping are to identify and catalog assets relevant to regional development into a searchable, on-line database and to provide market trends and data to support efforts for other communities. The next step for asset mapping will be hiring a project management on the data collection tasks along with contractors for specialized functions such as regional benchmarking, GIS, database developmentment, etc.
Community Appearance
The Community Appearance subcommittee relayed to the group how important they thought community appearance is when promoting the region. “What is important to you?” Lester asked the group. “What attracted you to come here and what attracts you to stay?” She said the group is focusing on what the communities are doing well separately that they can bring together and promote as a region. For example, the group is investigating a “Go Green” program and a highway beautification program.
Education
John Bode, president of the Carthage Chamber of Commerce addressed the group on education. “The workforce we have here is very stable,” he said. “But we have numerous young people graduate high school, leave for universities and then we don’t see them for decades.” He said his subcommittee also discussed finding ways of assisting those students who are “in the middle.” He noted that there are programs for the gifted and at-risk students, but the ones in the middle seem to have difficulties to life outside education because they haven’t been given as much attention.
Healthcare / Social Services
Kim Lester also addressed the group regarding healthcare and social services. In addition to discussion regarding a shortage of healthcare workers, she said the subcommittee noted that there is an overlapping of healthcare events such as fairs and screenings that are not a good use of resources. The committee recommended a regional calendar to alleviate this problem. She mentioned a similar problem of lack of awareness of social services, including those services to address the homeless issue. “There are a lot of resources out there in our communities and people just don’t know what they are,” she said.
Infrastructure
The Infrastructure subcommittee identified several infrastructure components to address, including, utilities, transportation, housing and telecom. Two areas that the group wants to work on first are increasing support and activity for the Highway 69 and I-49 coalitions and helping the Tri-State Water Coalition raise its status and level of funding.
Marketing and Branding
Jasen Jones also presented information from the Marketing and Branding subcommittee. He noted that the group wanted to tap into the regional hometown atmosphere for its activities, but that is has been difficult to develop a marketing strategy that is inclusive of the entire region’s strengths and opportunities. One goal of the subcommittee, for example, is to develop a central information center to promote activities and events.
Regional Economic Development
Job creation by expanding existing businesses and bringing in new ones is the main goal of the Regional Economic Development subcommittee. Marsha Wallace, manager of economic development with The Empire District Electric Company, noted how state lines do not exist for people looking for work or traveling to their current jobs. “We need to be a region working together,” she said. She said the region has a great work ethic and can use that as a strength to promote job expansion.
Tourism
The Tourism subcommittee focused on several goals, including placing links on each community’s web site promoting other community sites, sharing brochures among communities and producing a regional map that promotes events and attractions all across the region.
The next summit is expected to take place in August. Legislators from all four states are invited in an effort to inform them of what the group has been working on and to seek their support.
> Downloadable (PDF) committee reports distributed at the Summit
- Asset Mapping
- Community Appearance
- Education
- Healthcare/Social Services
- Infrastructure
- Marketing/Branding
- Regional Economic Development
- Tourism
- Agenda page listing sponsors and participating chambers
> Audio of the summit presentations
Building Regional Momentum
June 24, 2008
Four local Workforce Investment Boards (WIBs) from each corner of the Quad-State region collectively convened stakeholders from the business, education, and economic development sectors to form a core leadership group as a conduit for the WIRED approach in late 2007. While the group coordinates the deliverables for various WIRED projects, the greatest momentum for the WIRED model comes from the energy and dynamics of the Chambers of Commerce throughout the region.
The Regional Innovation Grant, branded as Quad-States Regional Transformation, gained valuable momentum in April 2008 thanks to the energies of thirteen Chambers of Commerce from across the region. This visioning session was the first of its kind and brought together more than 100 business and community leaders, education representatives and chamber executives to discuss the future of the region. Click here to read about the April 6th Regional Summit.
As a follow-up to a summit in April, about 50 representatives from chambers of commerce, educational institutions, workforce development and other community development organizations met June 24 in Webb City to fill in the group on progress that has been made since April.
Although state lines can be barriers when it comes to economic development, leaders from the area insist they can come together to cross those state lines and work to improve the quality of life for all who live here.
“We all are pursuing these efforts, but we realize that on a regional basis, you’re heard a little better,” said Kim Lester, operations director for the Joplin Area Chamber of Commerce.
The June 24th summit reported on priority areas of Asset Mapping, Community Appearance, Healthcare/Social Services, Infrastructure, Marketing/Branding, Regional Economic Development, and Tourism. Click here for more information on the June summit and links to audio from the event.
As progress continues on each of the priority areas, the Chamber momentum heats up for August. Members of the steering committee plan a legislative outreach to connect strategic priorities with elected officials to advance the region’s prosperity. Stay close to qsrt.org for more information on the August event.
Asset Mapping Provides Baseline for Regional Transformation
June 20, 2008
Competing in the global economy requires the creation of regional innovation ecosystems that drive growth and prosperity. The challenge is to optimize the assets of human, capital (institutional and intangible) around innovation for the future of the region.
Many U.S. regions have yet to fully understand the competitive value of their asset base and few have implemented a systematic process to identify their innovation assets or develop strategies to ensure that these assets are sufficiently linked and leveraged. Using the Council on Competitiveness approach, asset mapping is the premiere resource to help regional business and community leaders support innovation-based growth. Read more
