LOGANSPORT — As America begins to climb out of its recession, politicians, government officials and business leaders across the country are wondering how to avoid the next downturn and lessen the impact on their communities.
For any city or town, the best way to respond is to increase its economic development opportunities. Yet, as most people know, that’s easier said than done.
Economic development opportunities are what lead to the growth — or survival — of communities.
With that in mind, a number of cities across the country have come to the conclusion that the same old way of doing business isn’t working and a new approach is needed.
Cities — and their suburbs — in areas such as Chapel Hill, N.C., Scranton, Pa., Oklahoma City and the western Michigan cities of Grand Rapids, Holland, Muskegon and Grand Haven are among those who have changed directions.
To pursue economic development opportunities, they’ve combined the individual efforts of various groups under one organization in order to focus all of their resources in the same direction.
At least three areas in Indiana have taken the same approach — Kokomo, Lafayette-West Lafayette and 10 counties flanking Interstate 65 in south-central Indiana.
“If a new business wants to come to town, or a current business is looking to expand, it only has one place to go for information,” explained Don Gentry, a Purdue University professor who facilitated the efforts in Tippecanoe and Howard counties.
“The political entities are involved with the business resources and that means a business doesn’t have to go to four or five places to see what it has to do and how things work.”
He noted that both counties had a number of groups working on economic development.
“In Lafayette and West Lafayette, we had six organizations. Now, we have one,” he said. “It’s caused the board, the staff and the community to focus on economic community development.
“That was the mission of all of those organizations, but they were all heading in different directions.”
The problem, Gentry said, with several groups is that it divides the community’s resources.
“You have a chamber of commerce, economic development organizations and a limited number of people who volunteer. Often,” he noted, “they’re the same people. And, it uses up the financial resources that have to fund all of these non-profits.
“This saves the community resources in volunteers and finances.”
The focused approach isn’t just in large cities, Gentry said. South Central Indiana Economic Development consists of Columbus, Seymour, Corydon, North Jennings, Sellersburg, Madison, Jeffersonville and New Albany.
With its mix of agriculture and light industry, Gentry firmly believes such an alliance should at least be given a good look in Logansport and Cass County.
“I think there is a good possibility Logansport could benefit from some kind of look to see if right it could be the right kind of organization,” he said. “I think it would be a big benefit in Logansport.”
Kokomo first began looking at reinventing its economic development efforts in 2006, bringing in a consultant to look at what was being done and how it could work differently.
“When the consultant came in a few years ago, he said there were a lot of varying groups focused on economic development, but that they politely stayed out of each other’s way,” said Kokomo Mayor Greg Goodnight, who was a member of the city council at that time.
That study led to the 2008 birth of the Greater Kokomo Economic Development Alliance, or GKEDA.
The Lafayette alliance involved the two cities’ political leadership and liaisons of the six different organizations. That was true in Kokomo as well, Gentry said, and it sought out the business leadership too.
“In Kokomo, you have three or four major businesses who have been the major thrust as far as employment,” he explained. “We attempted early on to have them participate in this organization.”
GKEDA combined the individual efforts of the Kokomo Howard County Development Corp., Kokomo Chamber of Commerce, Inventrek, Kokomo Downtown Association and the Urban Enterprise Association.
In doing so, the alliance earned the support of those boards and both city and county government as well as Indiana University Kokomo, Purdue University, Ivy Tech, Howard Regional Health System, St. Joseph Hospital and the leaders of major corporations in the city — Chrysler, Delphi, Haynes International and Duke Energy.
“It’s basically the leadership of the community. We have the right people sitting at the table,” Goodnight said.
“I think it has worked here and we still do not have everyone agreeing 100 percent on decisions. But, by having everyone at the table, it puts us in a very good position to have our best opportunity to understand everyone’s opinions.”
He is pleased with what has happened in just two short years of existence.
“I think it’s gelled much sooner than most would have expected,” Goodnight said. “Most importantly, everyone is pulling together and everything is tied together.”
GKEDA affects not just the large-scale economies, but every sector of Kokomo and Howard County, according to Jeb Conrad, its executive director.
“To be the leader in economic development functions is important. Those programs, whether public or private sector, are intertwined. All of those groups had one common interest — effective economic development to create new jobs and retain job and gain capital investments,” he said.
“GKEDA impacts different elements of community development: Downtown, the current and new U.S. 31 corridor, the West Side Village, Inventrek.
“Even the large employers could be impacted by an exodus or contraction in small businesses and residents. The small business have an interest. By creating foot traffic downtown and other areas then we benefit at the end of the day.”
Conrad backed up Gentry’s assertion of saving on resources. In creating GKEDA, the cost of funding economic development has dropped by $400,000 — mainly by reducing the duplication of efforts.
“We’re in a better position across the board to execute the plan that those groups had on annual basis,” Conrad said. “We’re better as a whole and not as separate parts because it lets us use our resources in a better way. That has made us more effective as an entity.
“It’s been a huge advantage on private sector fundraising. It’s a better story to sell and I think it makes us more effective at targeting what is important to the community.”
Gentry feels that those communities which have combined their economic development opportunities are in a better position for the future.
“As the economy turns around,” he said, “you hope there are going to be more economic development opportunities. A number of organizations have used the downturn in the economy to see how to respond when they do have the opportunity for growth.”
© 2024 Community Newspaper Holdings, Inc.