In a recent assessment completed by Resource Development Group, a consultant engaged by the Lorain County Chamber of Commerce, the economic development approaches in Lorain County was criticized as disjointed and ineffective. According to the report there is broad consensus of local stakeholders, both public and private, that feel a dramatic and bold change is required to “get Lorain County back into the economic development game”. A vibrant economic future for Lorain County will require strategic collaborations between stakeholders from business, government and education that capitalizes on our resources and provides a platform for new thinking and cultural change. These stakeholders must be engaged in a process that prepares Lorain County for the competitive environment of the 21st Century, where everyone agrees to and works on a common agenda, an agenda that encourages entrepreneurship, retention and expansion of our existing businesses, the attraction of new business, and the creation of new jobs.

What is the “best” way to structure the economic development process to maximize the advantages of both the public and private sector entities? And what approach is the most effective? These questions are not easily answered, and every community should attempt to address them on the basis of the strategies that have been chosen to accomplish local economic development goals.
An important trend, which has emerged across the country, is the effort to cultivate new relationships between the public and private sectors within a framework of cooperation and involvement.

Lorain County has been working on public/private partnerships over the last 12 years. In some instances these relationship has aided our ability to advance the cause of economic development in Lorain County. In other instances we have seen provincial attitudes create obstacles for a smooth economic development process, thereby hindering our success. A public/private partnership in economic development is much more than the public sector merely offering cooperation to the private sector to facilitate the profitability of local firms. It is far more than an occasional meeting between local city councils or the county board of commissioners and the local business organizations, like the chamber of commerce.

While these activities are important, and perhaps integral to good business/government relations, they do not constitute true partnerships. Partnerships are shared commitments to pursue common economic goals that are jointly determined by the community’s leadership. This collaborative effort can lead to a more rational allocation of both public and private sector resources so that these goals are accomplished.

A review of successful public/private partnerships suggest the following: A positive community culture that encourages leadership and citizen participation is important to creating long-term development strategies that positions a community for success. The goals for the development process must reflect the desires and interests of the leaders and residents of the community. An Economic Development process that focuses on creating jobs and stimulating the local economy must form effective partnerships. On the other hand, organizations that are primarily self-serving, ambiguous in their purpose, or overly concerned with who gets credit for what, will have a difficult time finding common ground for a partnership. A realistic and commonly accepted vision of the community is one that is based on the area’s strengths and weaknesses as well as on a common understanding of the potential for the area. Without a common understanding of what the community is or what it can become, it is difficult to build a better community. Furthermore, unless the leadership shares a realistic vision of the potential for the area, the community will never come together to achieve its goals.

An effective community process is one that can blend the self-interest of its members with the broader interests of the community. Self-interest is undoubtedly the spark to most action taken by individuals or organizations in a development context. If the individual interests of local leaders and key development organizations can be collectively marshaled through some structure to achieve common ends for the total community, the development process is more likely to work.

With all of this in mind, in 2004 the Lorain County Chamber engaged Resource Development Group, an economic development consultant, to perform an assessment of the Lorain County Chamber and the economic development processes in Lorain County. RDG performed nearly 70 interviews of public and private sector stakeholders, who evaluated the economic development process in Lorain County. At the conclusion of the assessment, RDG recommended a series of strategic visioning sessions to build consensus around a new countywide economic development structure to redefine Lorain County’s economic development future. As we attempted to blend the self-interest of its members with the broader interests of the community, over 120 county stakeholders were engaged from April to September working to design a new platform for economic development work in Lorain County.

The outcome of this work was the recommendation in September to approve the creation of a new economic development model, the Lorain County Growth Partnership, a collaboration that will encourage the realignment of economic development priorities for both the public and private sectors. This new model will join the stakeholders together under the growth partnership umbrella. Two working divisions, Team Lorain County, and the Lorain County Chamber will provide different facets of the economic development process.

Team Lorain County will position itself to be the lead economic development organization promoting and marketing the advantages of locating businesses in our County. Its strategic program will implement the following plan:

Execute an aggressive marketing campaign to include advertising, direct mail and public relations;

· Develop a top quality printed collateral material and enhanced web-site technology to deliver regional economic development information.

· Strengthen our relationships with the State and regional economic development organizations, site consultants and other major networks of influence and lead referrals and leverage these relationships to recruit targeted business clusters including information technology, advanced manufacturing, financial services, clinical medicine & medical devices, chemical applications, distribution and value-added suppliers.

· Engage the local business network to further target and identify downstream supplier attraction opportunities and new business leads.

· Increase new qualified business leads through direct mail campaigns, attendance at targeted industry trade shows, print advertising and site consultant presentations.

· Develop and maintain an industry-leading prospect response and handling system.

· Develop enhanced data systems and research capability that provide current and accurate information to support decision making of business leaders and site consultants.

To ensure a seamless network of local economic development service delivery of value-added programs to existing businesses and new prospective companies throughout County, Team Lorain County will also:

· Create and fully utilize a modern One Stop Center to facilitate and support local business expansion and new business recruitment activities.

· Serve as the central resource center for information and data to support economic development activities. Maintain a comprehensive database of all industrial sites and buildings throughout Lorain County.

· And provide ongoing support services to local units of government and public sector officials in data gathering, proposal development and client handling

The Lorain County Chamber, the small business division, will be responsible for the delivery of a comprehensive entrepreneurial support program designed to provide business assistance to companies navigating through the process of growing or expanding operations in Lorain County. The Chamber will accomplish this work by:

· Continue to provide companies and entrepreneur’s access to the Lorain County Small Business Development Center, a partnership between the Lorain County Chamber and the Ohio Department of Development.

· Promote innovation, technology development and commercialization, new business formation, and new venture opportunities to facilitate entrepreneurship.

· Continue to provide stewardship of the Small Business Development Center and the Great Lakes Innovation and Development Enterprise with our partners, the Lorain County Commissioners and Lorain County Community College.

· Provide Value-added-business services that give our members an operational and financial competitive advantage over their competition.

· Provide leadership to further enhance the economic development environment in Lorain County by developing public policy positions for the business community on major issues that will have an impact on the economic development competitiveness of Lorain County.

· Represent the interests of Lorain County and our membership at local, state, and federal levels by advocating for issues of importance that support the economic health of Lorain County.

· And continue to offer one of the greatest benefits of any local professional affiliation -- a vast network of business contacts. Through the Chamber, this program component will provide opportunities to network with potential clients and suppliers at events and activities throughout the year.

The implementation of the Lorain County Growth Partnership will require the stakeholders to be engaged in ongoing collaborations to create strategies that will focus on future economic development opportunities. By establishing protocols that identify rules of engagement for economic processes, the Growth Partnership will create a level playing field for economic development collaboration. The Growth Partnership must also build a community-based process that will identify “Best Practice” strategies to assist local communities in benchmarking their capacity and readiness to take advantage of future economic opportunities. This process would build a self-evaluation tool that would identify the gaps in capacity for each community and design a strategy and timetable to remediate their inadequacies. The success of this partnership will be determined by the effectiveness of the collaboration. Each community’s participation will strengthen the partnership. A true Team Lorain County will exist, when all Lorain County communities are engaged.

Our 5-year goal will be measured in Jobs, Payroll, and Investment. The Chamber Board hopes that as a stakeholder, you will join us as we pursue this new opportunity to bring Lorain County into the 21st Century. We are not at the end of this process; we are at the beginning of it. It’s time Lorain County begins to work as a team. In the coming months we will be convening work groups to begin the process of creating a working model for a seamless economic development system.

Lorain County will become a better place to live, work and play when the individual interests of local communities, economic development organizations, businesses and educational institutions are collectively marshaled to achieve a common goal. The Lorain County Growth Partnership can bring everyone together. We know that competition for new investment is fierce, and the Lorain County Growth Partnership will provide a platform for a new innovative approach that will allow Lorain County to get its fair of future investment by working together.