Strategies
The crown jewel of all the deliverables in the Regional Innovation Grant is the master plan for economic transformation of the quad-state region. More than just a document, this collection of transformation strategies identified from the SWOT anaysis and regional visioning will become a living covenant that unites the quad-state area around gains in competitiveness and pride in the origins of the economic assets.
Titled something along the lines of “Quad States Transformation Compact”, this accord seeks endorsements from local governmental jurisdictions, business associations, civic organizations, and others, to prepare the economy to thrive in the present and provide prosperity for future generations.
Leading up the master transformation plan, several taskforce groups are rallying around eight strategic priorities. These categories formed and progressed from the regional summits in the Spring and Summer of 2008.
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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 development, 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.
