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| 10/1/2009 10:02:00 AM | Regional Prosperity Initiative reaches $2.4M
| | Five-year plan | The $3.5 million Joplin Regional Prosperity Initiative is a five-year plan that includes four strategic goals.
1. Supporting and growing existing businesses - The initiative will use $500,000 to help identify existing companies with the greatest growth potential, as well as those companies that may be at risk, to help develop new opportunities.
2. Building a strong workforce - The initiative will use $900,000 to help increase the level of educational attainment and skills training to match the needs of higher paying jobs available in the tri-state area both now and in the future. To do this, the leaders of the initiative will work with the Southwest Region Workforce Investment Board, technical schools and other institutions to develop stronger training programs to supply the employee skills identified and needed by existing businesses.
3. Enhancing innovation, entrepreneurship and small business support - The initiative will use $800,000 to continue and enhance existing programs for development and implementation of programs that enhance an overall innovation or entrepreneurial climate. The goal is to directly impact the creation of 400 new jobs linked to new starts, entrepreneurs, innovation and technology.
4. Attracting new businesses that enhance and diversify the economic base - The initiative will use $1.3 million to identify target markets and business sectors in order to aggressively market the region to specific business sectors and companies.
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by Chris Roberts - Reporter
A $3.5 million campaign being dubbed the Joplin Regional Prosperity Initiative was kicked off at a breakfast for tri-state business partners Oct. 1.
The purpose of the initiative is to stimulate the economic prosperity of the region - much as the "Magnificent Seven Campaign" of five years ago that helped attract businesses such as the AT&T call center and NCO to the Joplin area - and is being coordinated by a partnership of public and private business entities. Included in the umbrella campaign is the Joplin Area Chamber of Commerce, the Joplin Business & Industrial Development Corporation, the Southwest Missouri Development Alliance and the Joseph Newman Innovation Center.
Bill Gipson, CEO of Empire District Electric Co., is serving as the campaign general chair. He said the different organizations within the campaign first started talking about joining forces last fall when the Newman Innovation Center and the JBIDC were looking at starting new campaigns, and it made sense to put the campaign under one umbrella.
"If we were going to do a campaign for economic development, there isn't really a better way to do it," said Rob O'Brian, president of the JACC. "We decided to pull all of the components together and execute it."
The group of tri-state business leaders representing their various organizations decided to hire an outside company to help with the fundraising process. After going through a selection process, the group decided upon National Community Development Services, out of Atlanta, Ga. NCDS is being paid $200,000 over the course of the campaign's five years to implement the initiative.
"My experience with volunteers is at least two-thirds don't know how to ask for money (in a fundraising campaign)," Gipson said. "Having a professional fundraiser who knows how to make presentations and ask for the appropriate amount of money has been a big benefit."
So big, in fact, that the campaign has already reached 70 percent of its goal - or $2.45 million - before it has even been officially launched. More than 25 business partners from the community have already invested in the initiative. Dennis Fuhrhop, the project director with NCDS, said it is always his company's goal to be at 50 percent of the goal prior to campaign launch.
"Anything above that is great," Fuhrhop said. "Our firm has been around since the mid-70s, and we do projects like this throughout the U.S. whose main focus is economic development. We provide a service that helps investors define their return on investment. We're the type of program that has had success, mostly because of the feasibility studies that we do ahead of time that help make it as easy as possible for the leaders in the community to set their goals and make their decisions. It's my job to do the heavy lifting and ask the tough questions."
Bryan Vowels, chairman of the board with JBIDC, said the feasibility study is the thing that has impressed him the most about NCDS. It was the results of the study that helped the group decide upon the $3.5 million goal - a number that O'Brian said is 60 percent higher than the last campaign - as well as layout the breakdown of funds distributed for the five-year plan's four initiatives (see sidebar).
"NCDS will ask for more because of the feasibility study," Vowels said. "The study shows how an investor will see a return on their investment in the long-term. I think being 70 percent of the way there shows how accurate it is. With the economy being what it is, that's tremendous."
Mike Palmer, chairman of the board for the JACC, agreed with Vowels and said that the track record of the various organizations involved over the years has also helped instill some confidence among investors in the community.
"This study is something that will help show (which businesses) we want to bring into this community," Palmer said. "Our track record has put us in a great position, and I think the economy has made people in the area aware of the possibilities. It's all very exciting."
Goals of the five-year program include:
• Creating 4,000 direct jobs and 6,596 total new jobs through new business attraction, business expansion and small business development that provides wages higher than the current average for the area. "If we can raise the expectation level, then it benefits companies and residents throughout the area," O'Brian said. "With the types of jobs that are being targeted, it will raise the bar for our area companies in terms of payroll."
• Creating annual payroll earnings of more than $274 million - $198 million of which will be net personal consumption expenditures.
• Attracting new business capital investment by $300 million.
• Increasing annual business output by more than $916 million.
• Increasing the total estimated annual tax revenue for cities throughout the region by more than $6.5 million.
• Generating 50 new business startups.
• Supporting workforce development to help increase the high school graduation rate to 87 percent.
Joplin Tri-State Business Journal will further explain the campaign and its impact on area businesses and organizations - such as the "Graduation Matters" campaign being instituted by tri-state school districts - in the Oct. 19 issue.
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